Miss Iggy  - Miss Iggy, a beautiful green iguana, came to us in March, 2000 and was our very first rescue and the inspiration behind the formation of a reptile shelter.  A lady found her in her mother's back yard and brought her to me.  She was so sick that she couldn't move anything, not even her head.  She was taken to the vet who claimed she was too sick to survive; she was severely dehydrated, suffering from mal nutrition and an advanced case of pneumonia.  Determinedly, we told the vet we would not let her die without trying to save her life, thus we took her home, armed with antibiotics and several cans of Ensure.  After a week, she could barely hold her head up without assistance.  She was finally able to walk by using her front legs and dragging her back legs behind her.  Finally, she was strong enough to move her back legs and broke out of her cage.  That was the last time Miss Iggy was ever in a cage.  It had been our intention to get Miss Iggy well and then find a suitable home and adopt her out.  What happened is that Miss Iggy made us realize she was in a suitable home and she was not about to adopt us out and we became a family.  While she was animated with us and very trusting with us, she didn't take to many strangers.  Her favorite food was rose petals.  We lost Miss Iggy last July while we were out of town.  Her absence in our home is still very noticeable and we miss her very much.

Cheyenne - On December 26, 2003 we took Cheyenne into our home.  Cheyenne, an African Rock Python, was about 6 feet long at that time.  She had been badly neglected by her first owner who kept her in a shed and occasionally threw in a couple of mice to her.  Her second owner was not much better.  Whenever he opened her cage, he would slam a board down on her head and pin her head to the floor of the cage.  She was fed one rat a month.  This treatment continued for several months before we got her.  The former owner had intended to destroy her because, according to him, she was aggressive.  We have never found her aggressive.  What we have found is a snake that is terrified of people.  Whenever her cage is open, she tries to hide her head in fear that something will again be pressed to her head and pin her to the floor.  We work with Cheyenne on her terms.  She likes to watch what goes on around her and will allow herself to be touched but cage cleaning is still a major stress for her.  We have learned to keep an extra cage just for her so that when one cage is in need of cleaning, we can simply move her to the clean one.  We then clean the dirty one and have it ready for the next cleaning.  We do not intend to ever adopt Cheyenne to another home.  She has a routine here and we realize a move to a new home would be a horrible stress to her.