These beautiful snakes are found throughout Eastern USA, Mexico and Central America.

Milk snakes are stunning colours; they have bands of bright red, yellow and black.

Usually bright colours in nature are a signal for danger but milk snakes are not venomous. They mimic the colours of the deadly Coral snake for protection, as most animals will stay away!

Milk snakes usually eat rodents, bats, birds and lizards but they also eat other snakes!

The Kingsnake family (which the milk snake is part of) are amongst the strongest snakes in the world they need to be stronger to overpower and kill other snakes .

The largest of the Kingsnakes is actually a viper, the King Cobra, which is the largest venous snake in the world. But Milk Snakes are constrictors, which means they squeeze their prey.

Portia came to us as an unwanted pet on 11th October 2003. She is approximately 5 years old and measures nearly a meter but she can reach 1.5 meters when fully grown.

We feed Portia once a week and she has 2 mice for dinner.

Unfortunately, Milk Snakes are very fashionable pets and they are often purchased without even basic knowledge of husbandry, they can also live for 10 - 15 years, so when the novelty wears off the snakes are left homeless.

Thanks to support like yours we can continue to give refuge to homeless animals, such as Portia and continue our conservation efforts.

Corn Snakes, or Red Rat snakes as they are also known, can be found in North America from Jersey, through to Florida.

Their natural habitat is pine and oak woodlands but they can be commonly found along abandoned buildings and railroads.

Corn Snakes can grow to a length of 1.8 meters and varies greatly in colour. Some snakes can be a very drab brown whereas others can be such a striking orange that it has been said they are the most spectacularly coloured snakes known.

In the wild Corn Snakes feed on rodents, bats, birds and lizards. They use constriction to kill their prey, which means they squeeze, they do not have venom.

They use their tongues to taste the world around them searching for water, food and a mate. Blaze continuously flicks his forked tongue in and out of his mouth picking up scents which are passed to the Jacobson’s Organs in the roof of his mouth.

Blaze came to us as an unwanted pet on 18th July 2000.

He is approximately 8 years old and measures 1.1 metres long but could reach 1.8 meters when fully grown.

We feed Blaze once a week and he has 2 mice for dinner.

Unfortunately, Corn Snakes are very fashionable pets and they are often purchased without even basic knowledge of husbandry, they can also live for 10-15 years, so when the novelty wears off the snakes are left homeless.

Thanks to support like yours we can continue to give refuge to homeless animals, such as Blaze and continue our conservation efforts.

As their name suggests these snakes are found in California, north to Oregon and southern Utah and to western Arizona. They are usually found in rocky outcrops, brushy semi-desert areas and brushy hillsides.

Some California Kingsnakes have lived to be 24 years old in captivity and grown to over 5 feet long!

As with all kingsnakes, California Kingsnakes eat other snakes, including venomous species. Although, partially immune to the venom of North American Crotalids (rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths) they do not seek them to the exclusion of other prey. But locals welcome the kingsnakes as they help maintain the number of Crotalids in the area. This ability to kill and eat venomous species makes it the “king” of all snakes, hence the name.

Like all snakes, kingsnakes can eat prey seven times the width of their own head meaning lizards, reptile eggs, birds and their eggs, mice, small rats and other small mammals are all on the menu.

Calvin arrived on 11th March 2001 and came to us from a private collection. He is 5 years old and enjoys basking under his lamp and coming out to meet his friends at handling sessions.

Fortunately California Kingsnakes are not endangered but like many species the illegal pet trade threatens their future, as does the loss of their natural habitat. With support like yours we can continue to give refuge to animals like Calvin and ensure their success in the future.

These beautiful snakes can be found in temperate and tropical rainforests, open grassland and even semi-desert areas.

Because they are so widespread they can be found in a variety of colours including yellow, gold, rust, brown, black and clear greys.

Carpet pythons are active during both the night and the day, hunting lizards, birds, rodents and other small mammals.

Carpet Pythons belong to the same family as Boa Constrictors “Boids” of which 13 species are endangered and one extinct.

The skin trade and the illegal pet trade is threatening all species of snakes and it is up to you to make a difference - because if you don’t who will?

These snakes are the largest of the three subspecies of Indian Python, they prey upon mammals, birds, reptiles and as adults, will prey on domestic fowl, pigs and practically anything of appropriate size!

The Burmese Python is a heavy bodied snake with males reaching up to 16 feet and the females up to an enormous 26 feet. They have been known to survive in captivity for over 30 years.

The female may lay up to 100 leathery eggs at a time, which she will then incubate and protect. The hatchlings are only 18 – 24 inches long!

Wild populations are heavily exploited by the exotic leather trade whilst hatchlings are hugely exported to the pet trade.

These beautiful snakes are very distinctive due to their narrow head and pointed snout.There may be as many as 10 subspecies and they are found in a diverse selection of habitats from tropical forest to dry savannah. They have also been found in some urban areas.

They are excellent climbers but do hunt on the ground as well as in the trees.

They are also able swimmers, the Anaconda is part of this family, they are so at home in the water they are called “Water Boas”.

Unfortunately the Boa constrictor has a bad name, often portrayed in “jungle” movies as a dangerous monster in the trees, dropping down and devouring hero's. This is not true. Boa constrictors are docile snakes and do not grow anywhere near large enough to attempt to eat people.

In fact it is people who are a threat to them. Deforestation and the animal trade are reducing the wild populations forever pushing them towards extinction.

Ball Pythons, are a relatively small and docile specie of snake.

They are called 'Ball Pythons' because, when frightened, they coil around their head and into a ball.

Ball Pythons prefer to live in areas of mixed grassland and trees (savannah), and are active at night (nocturnal). They hunt at night with the help of their labial heat pits and their Jacobson's Organ.

During the day, they spend their time hiding in underground rodent burrows or termite mounds.

In captivity they can live up to about 50 years, but 20-30 years is probably more likely.

Unfortunately due to the pressures of habitat fragmentation and destruction, as well as commercial collecting for the pet trade, skin trade, and the killing for food, Ball Pythons in the wild do not live as long.

"It (Python) is considered a threatened species and permits are required for its legal export, living or dead." (J. Mehrtens, ca.1987)