Kitty
You rang?
Husband has a reptile removal service/rescue he does on the side. He managed to find (through that unmentionable site) a woman claiming to run a rescue/sanctuary in our area. My suspicions were aroused when we found she actually lives four hours' drive from here, but ... whatever.
Last week, we found out the local animal shelter had a snake. They were looking for someone to take it off their hands. A mutual friend stopped by and identified a cornsnake. Both Husband and sanctuary-woman found out about it around the same time. The afternoon we learned about it, I went to get the snake. The shelter admin lady couldn't help me fast enough after I told her I was there for the snake.
Yup, cornsnake. About three feet long, in a ten-gallon tank with towels over the top, sitting in a 95* garage. There was a small, live mouse in the tank with it. At least the water bowl was full and there was care-fresh for it to hide under.
The next day, sanctuary-woman calls and, in no uncertain terms, tells Husband he is stepping on her toes because the town doesn't need two reptile rescues and she was there first. She's already made all the contacts and people know her name (which, of course, explains the blank looks we get when she's mentioned). Husband is a little hurt by this because he genuinely liked this woman. I was so fried, I could have cleaned her clock (well, maybe not really. She does have a good 50 lbs. on me).
Why fried? ... Because:
* Husband helped her with a caimen rescue. He wrestled it out of the garbage can it was brought in, taped its jaws so it couldn't bite, and calmed it down before getting it into her car. No reward necessary. The animal is better off. Oh, but wait! A month later, we find out she traded this caimen to some guy for a pair of hard-to-find bearded dragon morphs that turned out not to be what she expected. So, she's suing the guy for breach of contract. ... But, hey! It's all about saving the reptiles, right?
* Husband removed a gravid bullsnake from someone's property. She asked for it. He turned it over to her. He has offered her the most recently removed bullsnake we have and won't renege on his offer. But I'll release it on someone's ranch before I turn it over to her. That's a moot threat right now, because as soon as she found out it was not male and not gravid, she lost interest.
* She's the one with whom we placed the Eastern racer we rescued last fall.
* She's the recipient of the Terrestrial Garter we saved this spring.
* Depending on which story you get, she either doesn't like corns because they always bite her; or she doesn't raise corns because she didn't want to offend the local herp society's organizer. Take your pick.
Okay, rant over. Where's the karma?
I told Husband to stay professional and genuine. The one truly concerned about the animals becomes obvious; and the animals are the winners. Well, it happened. Husband went to the animal shelter this afternoon to give them feedback about the corn. It seems just before she called Husband and accused him of ... omg, competing with her! ... she had called the shelter to verify we had picked the snake up.
According to the employees, she used profanities and told them she was the only reptile handler with whom they were contracted. ... Odd, the shelter supervisor told us they don't contract removal services of any kind because it would cost the city money. But if someone is willing to remove reptiles and not charge the city or the homeowner for their service, he has no problem.
How 'bout that? She's shown herself as a money-grubber who's mad at the world because she can't maintain her monopoly.
What? The bullsnake and the cornsnake? Elizabeth and Magnus are doing well in their 30-day quarantines - eating mice, 'suffering' through regular handling, and being fussed over like the rest of our collection. I'm hoping to get pictures of everyone up, but I go on a four-week work assignment out-of-town Monday. Photographing the zoo requires both of us to wrangle critters. 'Sides, Magnus is all itchy-opaque right now, so he isn't pretty and is a bit 'tetchy.'
If you've stuck around this long ... thanks. This was making me crazy the last couple of days. I guess I needed to get it off my chest.
Last week, we found out the local animal shelter had a snake. They were looking for someone to take it off their hands. A mutual friend stopped by and identified a cornsnake. Both Husband and sanctuary-woman found out about it around the same time. The afternoon we learned about it, I went to get the snake. The shelter admin lady couldn't help me fast enough after I told her I was there for the snake.
Yup, cornsnake. About three feet long, in a ten-gallon tank with towels over the top, sitting in a 95* garage. There was a small, live mouse in the tank with it. At least the water bowl was full and there was care-fresh for it to hide under.
The next day, sanctuary-woman calls and, in no uncertain terms, tells Husband he is stepping on her toes because the town doesn't need two reptile rescues and she was there first. She's already made all the contacts and people know her name (which, of course, explains the blank looks we get when she's mentioned). Husband is a little hurt by this because he genuinely liked this woman. I was so fried, I could have cleaned her clock (well, maybe not really. She does have a good 50 lbs. on me).
Why fried? ... Because:
* Husband helped her with a caimen rescue. He wrestled it out of the garbage can it was brought in, taped its jaws so it couldn't bite, and calmed it down before getting it into her car. No reward necessary. The animal is better off. Oh, but wait! A month later, we find out she traded this caimen to some guy for a pair of hard-to-find bearded dragon morphs that turned out not to be what she expected. So, she's suing the guy for breach of contract. ... But, hey! It's all about saving the reptiles, right?
* Husband removed a gravid bullsnake from someone's property. She asked for it. He turned it over to her. He has offered her the most recently removed bullsnake we have and won't renege on his offer. But I'll release it on someone's ranch before I turn it over to her. That's a moot threat right now, because as soon as she found out it was not male and not gravid, she lost interest.
* She's the one with whom we placed the Eastern racer we rescued last fall.
* She's the recipient of the Terrestrial Garter we saved this spring.
* Depending on which story you get, she either doesn't like corns because they always bite her; or she doesn't raise corns because she didn't want to offend the local herp society's organizer. Take your pick.
Okay, rant over. Where's the karma?
I told Husband to stay professional and genuine. The one truly concerned about the animals becomes obvious; and the animals are the winners. Well, it happened. Husband went to the animal shelter this afternoon to give them feedback about the corn. It seems just before she called Husband and accused him of ... omg, competing with her! ... she had called the shelter to verify we had picked the snake up.
According to the employees, she used profanities and told them she was the only reptile handler with whom they were contracted. ... Odd, the shelter supervisor told us they don't contract removal services of any kind because it would cost the city money. But if someone is willing to remove reptiles and not charge the city or the homeowner for their service, he has no problem.
How 'bout that? She's shown herself as a money-grubber who's mad at the world because she can't maintain her monopoly.
What? The bullsnake and the cornsnake? Elizabeth and Magnus are doing well in their 30-day quarantines - eating mice, 'suffering' through regular handling, and being fussed over like the rest of our collection. I'm hoping to get pictures of everyone up, but I go on a four-week work assignment out-of-town Monday. Photographing the zoo requires both of us to wrangle critters. 'Sides, Magnus is all itchy-opaque right now, so he isn't pretty and is a bit 'tetchy.'
If you've stuck around this long ... thanks. This was making me crazy the last couple of days. I guess I needed to get it off my chest.
).
