Reptile Rescue

Reptile Rescue number - (904) 703-0249
 

The Reptile Rescue is a service provided by the Jacksonville Herpetological Society to assist in capturing and/or relocating reptiles and amphibians that are imperiled or pet reptiles that can no longer be taken care of properly.  Please do not call this number to try to "sell" animals.  We take this service very seriously and provide it to the community free of charge.

More success stories from rescues will be added soon.

Karl Fethe was called out on a rescue in Middleburg,  When he arrived he found a blackracer entangled in some fence wire.  The blackracer had a couple scraps on him so Karl took him home and treaded the injuries with Neosporin.  He was later released in a safe location.
 

Karl Fethe was called for another rescue. Another black racer. The lady said it was in her sunroom.  When he arrived there he found a healthy black racer which he captured and took it to a safe wooded area and released it.  Three days later the same lady called back with another black racer in her sunroom.  Yes, there were more.  I guess the whole family lived there.  So Karl once again captured another black racer from the lady's sunroom. This one was also taken to the safe wooded area and was reunited with his family.

I got the call that someone had a softshell turtle in their pool, so I
called the people and went to their address, armed with only a laundry basket to catch the turtle with. I got there and realized that I was dealing with a very large turtle and that my laundry basket was probably too small. after a few minutes, we cornered it in the shallow end and I scooped it up and got it out of the water. from the picture you can tell just how too small my basket was, but regardless we took the turtle to the river and let it go. while I was there, the owners found a scarlet snake in their pool filter and I let it go as well. ~Karl Fethe
 

A picture of the box tortoise which I removed from the middle of a 6 lane highway. Fleming Island area. Moved him back into the wooded area near where he was found. ~Shannon Creamer
 

A picture of the young tortoise which had fallen into the groove of a RR track and unable to get out, was run over by a car. I kept him until sure he was ok, then released him into the woods.  ~Shannon Creamer

I rescued a little yellow rat snake from a palm tree around the playground of O2B Kids at Fleming Island. This little guy was not very happy to be saved. He was a little biter. :o) But seems overall healthy otherwise and was later released in a safe location away from the school.  ~Rick Creamer
 

Rick releasing him

Comical Rescue Call

A reptile rescue call came in just after Liz and Bob ordered dinner Friday night. The caller said he would watch the snake if we would send someone over right away.  Liz called us and asked if we would be willing to take the call. It was out of the way but we were already out and after calling the man he assured us the snake was still there and he could wait for us. He described it as large, and grey with stripes. We figured rat snake, maybe even garter. So we took off from the westside for Kernan Blvd just after 8pm. It was 50 minutes before we managed to find the house.  As we pulled up we noticed car lights shinning into the garage. The family was all sitting in the car, watching the snake and waiting for us to get there!!! They had come home, started getting out of the car, spotted the snake and jumped back in the car!! They backed the car up and then began calling around looking for help via their cell phone and would not exit the car until we showed up and contained the snake.  The snake in question turned out to be a nice size, very healthy,  banded water snake!  He was safely caught and is in the process of being relocated to an appropriate location. The gentleman was very thankful and said he plans to tell all his neighbors about us.  Have to admit it was one of our more interesting rescues.
 
Shannon and Rick