As we near the 20th Anniversary of proudly providing the best live reptile shows in the DC Metro Area, Reptiles Alive LLC continues to present tons of fun, exciting, and educational programs.

From September 30 2014 through October 1 2015, Reptiles Alive LLC presented 706 educational programs to approximately 52,880 people. 

As always, we presented shows for children’s birthday parties, school assemblies and classes, scout meetings, summer camps,  libraries and all kinds of fun special events.  More than 50% of our bookings each year are for repeat clients including:  Mason Neck State Park, Celebrate Fairfax, Loudoun County Libraries, Maryland Science Museum, and so, so many more.  We also provide education programs for animal first-responders and this year we held a workshop for the staff at the Washington Humane Society’s DC Animal Shelter.

 

New faces, both human and animal, are part of every year at RA.

At the end of December, Wildlife Educator and Keeper Stephen Maddox (aka SidewinderStephen)  transferred from the RA team to RA’s veterinarian Dr. Anne HIss’s team at Town & Country Animal Hospital  where he is working as a veterinary technician.  Stephen plans on attending vet school next year and becoming a DVM.  We all miss him, but we are also super excited and happy for him to be working towards such an awesome career helping animals!

As soon as Stephen notified us, we started our search for a new Animal Keeper/Wildlife Educator.  It takes just the right kind of person to fill the RA keeper/educator position.  In addition to so many skills including a general knowledge of herpetology and public speaking, the winning applicant must:

• Have a super positive, can-do anything attitude
• Love SNAKES and children, and all kinds of other animals too
• Be comfortable driving in metro DC area including downtown during rush hour
• Enjoy spending lots and lots of time cleaning cages and caring for animals

We are very happy to have found Liz Thompson (aka LizardLiz) who has filled this specialized job fantastically.  She is a quick learner and says working at RA “is my dream job!”  Liz works so hard as our Animal Keeper caring for all of our many animals and keeping all their homes scrupulously clean.  In addition, she has already performed 91 shows since starting in Februrary!  And all of her reviews are glowing – kids, moms, teachers, and RA animals all agree that LizardLiz is a real keeper!  (pun intended ha ha – sorry.)

We  had a few new animals join our team as well this year including an:

• African Bull frog transferred from a reptile rescue organization
• Bearded Dragon and Green Iguana adopted from the Washington Humane Society
• Crested Gecko given up by its owner
• Eastern Box Turtle, Albino Corn Snake, and California King snake all adopted from the Loudoun County Animal Shelter

The new green iguana we named “Little Jerry Garcia” was found on apartment balcony in NW DC.  The apartment dweller called the Washington Humane Society who sent an animal control officer to capture him.  His story made it into the Washington Post’s Sunday Metro section’s animal column.  After spending a few months in quarantine, Little Jerry is now a part of our regular animal star team.  And he is adorable (but with an attitude!)

We also had a few animals leave us this year.

Animals we transferred to other zoos or wildlife facilities include:

• 1 American Alligator
• 1 Blue Tongue Skink
• 1 Boa Constrictor
• 1 Eastern Rat Snake
• 1 Nelsons Milk Snake

All of our animals receive top notch care from our RA staff members and, when necessary, are treated by DVMs who specialize in reptiles and wildlife.  Most of the animals that live at RA were rescued as adults, often with pre-existing medical conditions.  Every year we have to say good bye to few animal friends who have died, and this year we said goodbye to:

• 1 American Toad
• 1 Anerythristic Corn Snake
• 1 Bull Frog
• 1 California King Snake
• All of our Haitian Cockroaches
• 1 Marbled Salamander
• 1 Spiny Softshell Turtle

 

Next year will make it 20 years since Caroline Seitz founded Reptiles Alive LLC and you can count on us to keep going ssspectacularly!

Reptiles Alive! LLC	2015	Animal Inventory
African Bull Frog	1	Pyxicephalus adsperus
American Alligator	1	Alligator missipiensis
American Toad	1	Anaxyrus americanus
Argentine Horned Frog	1	Ceratophres ornata
Australian Green Treefrog	4	Litoria caerulea
Ball Python	1	Python regius
Bearded Dragon	2	Pogona vitticeps
Blue Tongue Skink	2	Teliqua scincoides
Boa Constrictor	3	Boa constrictor constrictor
Bull Frog	1	Rana catesbeiana
Burmese Python	1	Python molurus bivittatus
California King Snake	1	Lampropeltis getula californiae
Central Asian Tortoise	1	Testudo horsefieldi
Crested Gecko	2	Rhacodactylus ciliatus
Corn Snake	2	Pantherophis guttatus
Earthworm	25+	Eisenia fetida
Eastern Box Turtle	2	Terrapene carolina carolina
Eastern Rat Snake	2	Pantherophis obsoletus
Eastern Snapping Turtle	1	Chelydra serpintena serpentina
Garden Slug	5	Limax maximus
Green Iguana	2	Iguana iguana
Haitian Brown Tarantula	1	Phormictophis cancerides
Honduran Milk Snake	2	Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
House Cricket	1000	Acheta domestica
Kenyan Sand Boa	1	Eryx colubrinus loveridgei
Leopard Gecko	2	Eublepharis macularius
Leopard Tortoise	1	Geochelone pardalis
Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches	25+	Gromphadorina portentosa
Malagasy Giant Hognose Snake	1	Leioheterodon madagascarensis
Mealworm	1000	Tenebrio molitar
Northern Diamondback Terrapin	1	Malaclemys terrapin
Pacific Gopher Snake	1	Pituophis catenifer catenifer
Prehensile-tailed Skink	1	Corucia zebrata
Savannah Monitor Lizard	1	Varanus exanthematicus
Spotted Salamander	1	Ambystoma maculatum
Spotted Turtle	1	Clemmys guttata
Sudan Plated Lizard	1	Gerrhosaurus major
Tegu Lizard	2	Tupinambis teguixin
Uromastyx Lizard	1	Uromastyx acanthurus
Water Monitor Lizard	1	Varanus salvator
Western Hognose Snake	1	Heterodon nasicus