Scorpio is our emperor scorpion. Emperor scorpion have some of the least toxic venom of the scorpion family, so they are commonly used in movies, such as “The Mummy” and “The Scorpion King.” They are native of Africa.

Thirdly, we have mammals. Our mammals include: a rabbit and two hamsters. Gromit is our rabbit, named after the movie “Wallace & Gromit.” When Gromit was a youngster, he was destined to be food for a snake. PVDR jumped in and saved him, and now he is one of our animal ambassadors for education.

 
Gromit

Lenny is our female teddy bear hamster.  She is brown & white in color, and is native to the Middle East and Southeastern Europe.



Lenny

Our fourth and final type of animal in our education program are reptiles. We currently have the following:  two fat-tailed gekkos, two bearded dragons, a Russian tortoise, two California desert tortoises, a ball python, an albino Burmese python, a  California Kingsnake, and a Savannah monitor.

 Our gekkos (which can be spelled gekkos, gekos, or geckos) are Caesar and Octavius. Caesar is the one with the white stripe down his back. When it comes to gekkos, leopards and fat-tailed are a couple of the most docile types. They are native of Africa.

      Octavius                                                         Caesar

Sydney and Adelaide are our bearded dragons.  Sydney is the male & Adelaide is the female.  Beardies are very popular lizards in the pet trade because they have such an easily manageable size and temperament. They are native of Australia, hence, our Beardies' names “Sydney” (as in capitol of Australia) & "Adelaide" (another city in Australia).

　
Sydney is quite a ‘ladies man.’ Here he is with his two favorite ladies: Rachael & Amy.

Cleopatra is our ball python.  She was named Cleopatra because legend has it that Cleopatra wore a ball python around her wrist, as a live bracelet.  Ball pythons originate from Africa. 

Cleopatra enjoying a good soak.
click here for more pictures of Cleopatra

Sahara is our albino Burmese python.  She is a beautiful 4-year old girl (as of June 2007).  She came in to us at 9-feet long and weighing 30 pounds (although she feels much heavier).  These snakes originate from Burma. 

Sahara

Pocahontas is our California Kingsnake.  She is a 3-yr old female (as of July 2007).  These types of snakes are native to California, which is why we chose a Native American name like Pocahontas. 

Pocahontas

Shackleton is our Savannah monitor lizard.  She was named after the famous Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton.  She came to us in October 2007 at 3 months of age.  When we got her in, she was 4 inches long.  However, as an adult, she will grow up to 4 feet in length.  These animals are carnivores and are native of Africa.  The monitor family of lizards have forked tongues like snakes.