Amaya Perez

Animal Keeper

Reptiles Alive Name: Amazing Alligator Amaya (aka Triple A)

Hissstory: Amaya got her Masters in Telecommunications Engineering in her native Pamplona, Spain.  Amaya’s adventures since migrating to the US in the summer of 2001  include performing research on different species of bats and working  as a  Keeper Aide at the National Zoo.  Amaya joined the Reptiles Alive! team in September 2010.

RA Diet: Leftovers or a frozen meal heated up in the super amazing RA microwave. That thing is on steroids!. Oh yeah, a coffee in the morning is a must.

Natural Diet: Even though Amaya’s natural diet is Mediterranean food, she loves to try new flavors.   She is the ultimate omnivore and will eat just about anything with gusto.

Range: “Amayas” or “Amaias” are most often found in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula. They are a hardy and adaptable species and can now be found in several continents.

Habitat: You can regularly find Amaya roaming the wonderful natural parks in the DC metro area guiding her offspring and teaching them survival skills. Playgrounds are likely to produce sightings as well. When away from her offspring you can find Amaya at RA’s headquarters baby-talking to the animals or at the National Zoo coming up with fun and crafty enrichment ideas  in between cleaning and feeding.

Size: Amaya is about 5’7” and would rather not disclose her weight.

Lifespan: Amaya rarely gets a good night sleep so she is afraid years are being shaved off of her life. If sleeping patterns improve, Amaya could live up to 80 years or more.

Reproduction: Amazing Alligator Amaya has been mated for 10 years and has produced three rambunctious offspring with our very own Boa Brad.

Conservation: Amaya has always been in love with animals. Her biggest dreams when she was a little girl was going to Africa to be amongst some of the coolest animals on Earth and becoming a veterinarian.
Even though her background is in engineering her life has been dedicated to animals (including juvenile human primates) since her migration across the Atlantic.
Amaya enjoys caring for animals greatly and also loves sharing her knowledge and love for animals with the public when working at the zoo. Amaya also enjoys training animals and learning about animal behavior.

Cool Facts: Amaya has been an animal keeper since 2002 and has worked with a wide variety of non-reptilians. Amongst the creatures on her list are: lions, tigers, spectacled bears, sloth bears, giant pandas, gorillas, orangutans,Sulawesi macaques, gibbons, lemurs, coatis, caracals, servals and red pandas.
Amaya has only recently discovered how cool reptiles are and loves learning about them.
She has made it her mission to always soak the elderly animals in comforting warm baths at RA  every day she works.  Amaya also loves to hear Jeremiah the Bullfrog sing in happiness after she gives him a tasty treat.

Cope’s Gray Tree Frog

Hyla chrysoscelis

Reptiles Alive name: “Hyla”

Hissstory: Hyla was an unwanted pet sent to live with us in March of 2010.

RA Diet: Crickets and meal worms.

Natural Diet: insects.

Range: Gray tree frogs are found throughout the eastern United States north into Canada.  They are native to the Washington DC area.

Habitat: Forests, backyards, and urban parks.

Size: Gray tree frogs grow to about 1.25-2 inches, the record is 2 and 3/8 inches.

Lifespan: Can live 5 + years.

Reproduction: Males gray tree frogs begin to call in mid to late Spring.  They form large groups called choruses. Their song is a flute like trill, a bit like a telephone. They breed March – October. Eggs are laid in water – usually ditches or puddles that form in the spring and dry up in the summer.

Conservation: Threats to gray tree frogs include:  air & water pollution and habitat destruction.  They require access to clean pools of water each spring in order to reproduce.  If the pools of water are gone or polluted, the population of tree frogs in that area will disappear.

Cool Facts:  Gray tree frogs have remarkable camouflage – they become almost invisible as they perch in the trees where they live.  They can also change their skin color from a dark gray to almost white to a light green.  If frightened, however, they flash bright gold on their thighs as they leap which may startle a predator.

Tree frogs also have suction cups on their hands and feet that allow them to stick to almost any surface.  You might find a gray tree frog stuck to the outside of the  glass window looking into your bedroom!

Jennifer Houha Pennington

Curator and Wildlife Educator

Reptiles Alive Name: RattlerJen

Hissstory: RattlerJen spent her early years leading her terrified mother  around the reptile house at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Her mother kept her eyes covered the entire time.  Jen also spent many hours after school exploring the desert around her home for snakes and lizards.  She was very careful not to bring any home, however.

RA Diet: It is well known that RattlerJen will eat nearly anything.  Except canned peas, those are just gross.

Natural Diet: Jen is a bit of a foodie. Her favorite foods are flavorful cuisines from around the world.  Sushi, curry, linguine, pho, steaks, ribs, gyros, and especially green chile cheeseburgers. Her favorite foods are cooked by her awesome husband, who cures and smokes his own sausages and bacon from local free-range, humanely raised, organic, heritage animals and includes herbs from her very own garden.

Range: RattlerJen has been away from New Mexico for over a decade now, but she still considers it her native home.   She is completely enamored with the DC area as it has everything.  (Although she believes you can have your traffic DC)

Habitat: You might encounter RattlerJen performing a show at a school or special event.  She can also be commonly seen driving the reptiles to shows.  When not in public view, RattlerJen spends time working on the Reptiles Alive website, the Reptile Ranger Certificates, and assists with managing the office and the animal collection.

Size: Fluctuating.  (See natural diet for further details)

Lifespan: Depending on bacon intake, she could live for 80 years or more.

Reproduction: Early on in their dating relationship, RattlerJen’s husband lost track of her while on a hike in the desert. He found her standing on the side of the trail with a live rattlesnake’s tail in one hand with the rest of it happily looped over a branch held in her other hand.  She was talking to it as if it were an adorable puppy while moving it to a safe place off the trail.  From that point on, he realized he was not allowed to be afraid of anything.

Conservation: Before coming to Reptiles Alive!, RattlerJen had a huge amount of experience working with reptiles and other animals. She worked as keeper and educator at the American International Rattlesnake Museum, home to the largest collection of live rattlesnakes in the world.

In 2000, she transferred to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Florida. While at Busch Gardens, she gained experience caring for a variety of animals including: crocodiles, giant snakes, giant tortoises, and Komodo dragons. In 2001 she moved to Northern Virginia and became the curator at the Reston Zoo.

Cool Facts: Most of RattlerJen’s free time is spent hiding in the woods from search and rescue dogs.  She is a member of a wilderness search and rescue group as a dog handler.  Jen is training her dog Grom to find lost people in the woods.

Did you know she also is training many of the animals at Reptiles Alive too?  Gary, the plated lizard, knows how to sit up and beg.  Splash, the water dragon, is learning to do her taxes.

Bearded Dragon

Pogona vitticeps

Reptiles Alive name: “Mr. Beardie”

Hissstory: Mr. Beardie was an unwanted pet that came to live with us in 2006.

RA Diet: Mr. Beardie likes to eat: crickets, super worms, roaches, dead mice, greens, fruits and dry food made for bearded dragons.

Natural Diet: Bearded dragons are omnivores – so they eat both meat and plants.  Insects, small animals, greens, fruits, and flowers are all part of their diet in the wild.

Range: Central Australia.

Habitat: Bearded dragons live in the “Outback” – desert and open woodland where they bask on branches and rocks.

Size: Bearded dragons are medium sized lizards that can grow to 16 – 22 inches long.

Lifespan: Bearded dragons can live over 10 years.

Reproduction: Female bearded dragons lay 11-30 oval eggs in a shallow nest dug in the sand. The babies will hatch about two months later.

Conservation: Australia has banned the exportation of its native wildlife for the pet trade, so any bearded dragons sold as pets in the United States have been captively bred here.

Cool Facts: When threatened, bearded dragons puff out their spiky bodies and throat so they become bigger and spikier!  Predators will usually avoid the sore throat they would get from swallowing such a prickly meal.

2010 has been a great year at Reptiles Alive!

We have been very busy performing shows at:  schools, birthday parties, scout meetings, libraries, summer camps, parks, nature centers, festival, fairs, shopping centers, senior centers, toy stores, and all kinds of other special events.  Between September 30, 2009 through October 1, 2010  we performed a total of 792 programs for approximately 61, 100 people of all ages.

A new show, “Wetlands Alive!”, was introduced this summer.  Our Wildlife Educator Rachel Walker produced the new show which introduces audiences to the importance of wetlands and features some really cool animals including an alligator, water monitor lizard, snapping turtle and more.  This show is now being offered as a school assembly, scout show or library show.  The teacher’s guide to “Wetlands Alive!” should be finished soon, and we will post it on our site.

In addition to performing shows, we provided help to injured wildlife and abandoned exotic pets.  Box turtles hit by cars, snakes caught on glue traps, and a stray albino Burmese python found in a park in Fairfax City are just some of the animals we were able to help this year.

We also provided advice and assistance to local animal shelters, animal control agencies and the public with reptile related issues.  A large collection of exotic snakes was turned in at a local animal shelter and two Reptiles Alive staff people worked with the shelter staff to make sure each animal was housed and cared for properly until it could be adopted or transferred to a reptile rescue group.

There have been a few new additions to the team at Reptiles Alive.  Brad Pratt is our new Wildlife Educator and Lead Animal Keeper.  We also now have Amaya Perez who is both an Animal Keeper and a graphic designer for us.  Our new iguana t-shirts, postcards, show posters and other designs are created by Amaya.  You can check out many of her designs at our new online store.

The animal collection went through a few changes this year as well.  Sadly, a few of our older animals died this year including our:  Eastern glass lizard, tokay gecko, and both of our marine toads.  New animals we accepted into the collection included a:  crested gecko, white lined gecko, and a young iguana we named “Juan Amigo.”

2010 Reptiles Alive Animal Inventory