Welcoming Autumn: September at the Reptile Rescue

As autumn gently settles in and the days begin to shorten, there's a palpable shift in the air — and not just for us, but for our scaled friends as well.

Animals Birthday

Did you share a birthday with anyone below?

8th September – Macaroni the Royal Python. Macaroni arrived in 2023 and were believed to be around two years old. Macaroni was an emergency rescue and arrived scoring 0.5/5 on body score, and our vet was concerned about chest infections due to how they were kept. Macaroni needed a lot of care, and we gradually restored her to full health and prepared her for her new home, which she will hopefully be going to soon. Their name was chosen because we think snakes being named after pasta suits.

17^th September – Artoria the Leopard Gecko. Arty was our first reptile. In 2016, a colleague of Matt asked us if we would like to have their gecko as their dog needed surgery, and they kept forgetting about Leo. We said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history. We have learnt so much in the last 9 years, and the care and advice for Leopard Geckos has changed. Their name came from Dark Souls.  We were told Arty was male, so we named him Artorias, like the character in Dark Souls. When they laid eggs, we dropped the s at the end.

17^th September – Henrietta the turtle. Henritta arrived in 2023. She was in a mixed group of turtles and had been given to her previous owner as a gift. Henritta should not have been living in this group and was split from them. Henrietta is the same species as Harley, so as soon as she was the right size, they were put together. We often catch the two of them sunbathing together. As we had Harley, we decided to go with another H name, and Henrietta was randomly chosen. Henrietta will live at the rescue.

17^th September – Leonardo Di Swimzie the Pink Belly Slider. Leonardo arrived in 2023. They arrived in the same mixed group of turtles as Henrietta. Like Henrietta, Leonardo should not have been living in this group and was split from them. Initially, they had their own aquarium, and as they were not fighting for food, they quickly grew. Leonardo now lives with Squirtle, and they are a fun pair to watch.

17^th September – Clone Army, the Musk Turtles. We had a few turtles arrive throughout the year; however, telling them apart is nearly impossible, so we celebrate all Musk turtles on the same day. Two of the turtles were in the same group as Henrietta and Leonardo, so this date was chosen to celebrate all the turtles that arrived in the same year. Musk turtles can live with each other; however, they can fight. Due to this, we have two separate groups of Musk turtles. We named the Musk clone army, as they look almost identical to one another. The turtles within the Musk group are available for adoption.

30^th September – Huffles the Leopard Gecko. Huffles arrived in 2019, before we became a rescue. An ex-colleague of Shelly found a gecko in a bedroom of a family member who had moved out. When they asked this person, they said they thought it had died and told them to let nature take its course. Instead, the person spoke to Shelly at work, and we went to collect the mystery gecko. Huffles could not lift her head up and arrived very skinny. We worried that she might have Cryptosporidiosis. Thankfully, she did not have this but had severe Metabolic Bone Disease. Due to the MBD, her limbs were twisted. Huffles has never let this stop her and happily climbs up everything she can. Huffles will remain at the rescue, where her story will be told to show how, despite bad care, animals can improve and live a good life with the right care.

Adoptions This month, we celebrated the successful adoption of,

28^th September – Gnocchi, the Royal Python. Gnocchi arrived on the rescue's doorstep in March 2025. Gnocchi's previous owner was moving abroad, and despite agreeing on a time, they arrived two hours late and left Gnocchi outside. No information was provided, minus a rough age of two to three. Gnocchi was a little nervous but ate and shed well. With time, we built up his confidence, and he was ready to be adopted. Gnocchi was adopted by a couple who had just moved home and were now able to have their dream pet. Best of all, Gnocchi went to a colleague of Matt's, so we can get all the updates and pictures.

Animals we were asked to take in, but we had to turn away due to space. We have been asked to rehome 57 animals this month, and this is minus the ones we have already taken in. This also includes animals we offered to take in.

·       22 Snakes

·       8 Turtles

·       7 Leopard Geckos

·       8 Bearded Dragon

·       2 Tortoise 

·       3 Tarantulas

·       1 Crested Gecko

·       1 Ackie Monitor

·       1 Iguana

·       1 Uromastyx

·       1 African land snail

·       2 axolotls

Reptile of the Month:

Each month, we will feature one of our residents to help raise awareness about the diversity and beauty of reptiles. September's resident is Nevvie, a White Tree Frog. Nevvie arrived on 14/07/2018 after the owners discovered them abandoned in their garage by a family member who asked if they could store space vivariums. They went into Matt's work to get some advice on how to care for the frog, after explaining the care they had for their new charge. However, after sleeping on it, they decided to rehome the frog to someone more knowledgeable and went back to the shop and offered Matt the frog, who at this time was called Winston, as they had been told it was a male. Once in our care, we discovered that Winston was female and renamed them Nevvie. Unfortunately, during cleaning, we did find another frog that had passed away some time ago, and we were more concerned about illness. Thankfully, Nevvie was healthy, and after a few months, we got a second adult frog that she lived with. When we opened the rescue, we got more white tree frogs, and after quarantine, they joined the growing army. Nevvie has always been the supreme commander Nevvie. Recently, Nevvie has developed cataracts in both eyes. This is due to her age; however, she still hunts for bugs and has a good quality of life.

·       Species: Ranoidea Caerulea / Litoria Caerule.

·       Diet: Carnivore, their diet can include hoppers, roaches and crickets.

·       Fun fact: Male frogs croak at night and set each other off. We referred to this croaking as singing. Mimicking them or playing a video can also trigger their response, as can other animals, such as the green-eyed gecko's calls. We often have choruses of frog songs.

Animals available for adoption

Snakes	Lizards	Tortoise	Other
Colin – King Snake 3 years old.	Ozzy – Bearded Dragon, 2 and a half years old.	Cyril - 11 years old	Clone Army - Musk turtles’ range of age.
Merlot - Corn Snake Unknown age.	Daffodil – Leopard Gecko, around 10 years old.	Donald - 11 years old
Angelina - Corn Snake 8 years old	Petrie – Crested Gecko, 3 years old.	George - 12 years old
	Heafty - Giant Day Gecko around 3 years old.
	Gary  – Crested Gecko, 4 years old.