[Pet!] Reptile Enthusiasts Club

[TNHawke]

That requires finding my long lost tweezers... lol

However, in better news, Isaiah scratched the skin on his head loose last night and spent the entire night soaking. This morning I was able to peel almost all of it off his entire body! Looks to be just one front leg and the two back feet left. WHEW. I feel so much better about him now. Some of the skin on his belly, there was more than one layer. Poor little kid. He's all vibrant and green now. *grins*

[ShenziSixaxis]

Was wondering where this went.

Alright, let's get this in here.


So earlier (Monday) morning a big time reptile breeder's building caught on fire. Not sure what caused it, but over 3000 animals died, either from smoke inhalation, the plastic bins they were housed in melting on them, or from being burned alive.

All except a few incubators with eggs, a few colubrids (like rat snakes), and one boa.

Photos:
http://shenzisixaxis.imgur.com/6YY3W

Here is a post on fauna from Robyn:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...9&postcount=24

Thank you all for the well wishes and support. It means so much to me, and our entire PE team.

It has been a rough couple of days. More remain ahead.

We met with insurance folks today. Just trying to get a basic understanding of what is covered. Things look good on that front, thankfully.

Our facility is in a warehouse/office district. Our space had offices up front, with 4500 sq ft of snakes in the warehouse. 8 snakes of nearly 3000 lived. It is a total loss, total devastation. With the smoke and water damage, everything has been lost. We tried to salvage some personal items today, but everything has been touched by fire, smoke, soot or water.

It is an older building, no sprinklers, and the landlord wasn't about to spend a million dollars to install them. No one envisioned such a tragedy was even possible.

We have another building across the parking lot housing our monitor lizards and rodent breeding. That is untouched. We are grateful.

I don't know what the future holds. There are months ahead just dealing with insurance folks. We DO have gap coverage that will help pay employee salaries and expenses, thank goodness.

I don't know that even with the graphic pics at facebook Pro Exotics, I don't know that folks understand the devastation.

There are NO cages left, we have no inventory left (20,000 temp guns melted, books, thermostats, etc. all ruined), we found 8 amazing survivors, but we have no cages to put them in (Sloan Reptiles are housing survivors locally for us). Phone system is dead, computers are all wet. There are no boxes to pack orders in, nor any tape to close the boxes. Total devastation, for real.

And it is just surreal. When I stop to rest, it starts to hit, and hard. The outpouring of support from the reptile community is amazing, uplifting, and just awesome. Thank you all, it means so much.

I can't get the smoke stink off of me, my clothes, or out of my car. But I am lucky. No people were hurt, and when I feel weak, the reptile community gives me strength. Super lucky. Thank you for the support, it means SO much.

[FlameTheShingaw]

Those poor reptiles. That's just horrible. Do they know what started the fire?

[Kitsuune]

Poor PE. I read about it on their facebook page. The pictures are really hard to look at.. Especially since you can see deceased animals in some of them.

[ShenziSixaxis]

They're investigating that and we'll know in a few days. No one's sure about the cause whatsoever. Last I checked they hadn't even found the origin yet.

[FlameTheShingaw]

Damn. Poor snakes. 8 out of 3000 lived? That's just crazy.

[ladyrose]

WHAT thats horrible!!!!!!

[helsinkivampiress]

I read about that on Facebook on Monday. Those images... they're just heartbreaking. They think it was a malfunctioning thermostat/power strip/something like those kind of things that started it but dunno if that's for sure what it is. (That's what was mentioned in one video interview I watched) I'm probably going to try donating to the fund raiser thing they posted on their Facebook, if I can. I've never bought anything from them or anything like that but want to give a little something if I can. Crazy how fast the majority of the reptile community can come together when things like this happen or ridiculous bills threaten the herp community pop up. I remember when HR669 was all over pretty much any reptile forum/group.

On a less depressing note, I held my crested gecko for the first time without him freaking out immediately last night. It was only for a few minutes and inside the tank but it was definitely an improvement. Maybe I can finally get some updated pictures soon.

[TNHawke]

Wow... That's just awful. All those poor animals. And basically a store going under.
Not meaning to cast blame... but if the building wasn't up to code with no sprinklers and all, why in the heck were any businesses in there in the first place? Damn... just awful. Wow...

I remember when HR669 was all over pretty much any reptile forum/group.

What is HR699?
And congrats on your cresty! Yay!

In my own news... I now have a little baby garter snake! Hopefully, I can keep him alive. Depending on when I get the keys, I may have a car tomorrow! If it's early enough in the day, I may christen it with a trip to Boise to pick up herp supplies from storage. Otherwise, I'll have to get them next weekend, assuming I have gas money after paying for registration and insurance.

[ShenziSixaxis]

I second the HR699 question.

Nice to know you're cresty's growing up!

Garters seem to love earthworms, Hawke.