Hi,
My name is Marc and my wife is Leanne. I would
like to start by telling you a bit about
ourselves. My love for reptiles started when I
was just ten years old when my family and I
moved to South Africa. I was a lover of all
animals, at that time, the big cats being my
favourite, well that was until a Chameleon fell
at my feet, literally. I went for my first walk
in the bush which was at the back of our house.
I couldn't have been out for more than a couple
of minutes, got to the first tree when a
Chameleon fell to my feet. Me being me,
remembering I had no clue as to what it was,
picked it up and took it back home to show my
dad. He was surprised I picked it up and told
me it was a Chameleon. Over the following years
I drove my family mad bringing home Chameleons
and Snakes. I spent most of my free time in the
bush looking for anything I could find. I would
spend hours just watching the way they moved,
ate, drank, even slept. My love for reptiles
was born.
I met my wife, Leanne and told her about my love
of reptiles and the more I talked about them,
showed her photos and took her to her first
reptile shop, the more she fell in love with
them too.
It was on a Bank Holiday Monday; we were looking
on a website and saw an advert for a green
Iguana. The owner could no longer look after
it. We looked online and found out as much as
we could about this gorgeous animal and what his
needs were. I phoned the gentleman up and
arranged to go and look at him. When we got
there he was so thin and nervous. We told the
gentleman we would take him and when he opened
the viv to get him out he jumped straight up my
sleeve. If I'd let him, I think he would have
travelled home in there!
We got him home and settled him down. He was
very nervous and wouldn't let us near him. My
wife spent hours with him every day and now he
lets her hand feed him. He gained a lot of
weight and had been moved into a much larger viv.
I'm in the process of setting up a water fall
into his bath which I think he will love as he
very much loves to swim. When we get him out,
he loves his head being stroked and will close
his eyes and you can feel him relaxing in your
hands. We named him Neo because he had the
brightest skin. Almost neon, hence the name.
Over the last couple of years our collection has
grown.
After seeing the state he was in and reading
reports in the papers of people letting loose
their reptiles because they can no longer look
after them or simply just don't have the time,
we decided to open this reptile rescue centre.
Our aim is to share with you the enjoyment and
satisfaction people can get out of looking after
reptiles or to simply be the friendly place
where you can ask for help. We currently run
this centre from our home and are hoping to move
to larger premises in the near future.
There are a lot of people against looking after
reptiles and I can see their point of view as
there are a few people out there giving the
hobby a bad name. All we say is that as long as
you do your research, make sure you will have
the time to look after them, buy from reputable
breeders, making sure they are captive breed and
not wild caught and have your reptiles best
interests at heart you won't go wrong and will
have many enjoyable years ahead.
THE FUTURE
Here
at Safe Haven we have a plan to open a Reptile
Centre in the south of England. It will be a bit
like Monkey World but on a smaller scale, where
we can concentrate on the conservation of
reptiles and amphibians throughout the world,
working with Herp societies here in England and
abroad. The Centre will incorporate the rescue
and a place where the public can look and learn
about reptiles and amphibians. Our plan is to
have schools visit the Centre so the children
can get hands on experiences with the reptiles,
listen to talks and hopefully get involved with
conservation projects in their local areas. We
would also hope to have children do work
experience with us.
Our
plan is to try and make the public aware of the
plight of the reptiles and amphibians in the
world as many are so endangered through habitat
destruction, hunting and capture for the pet
trade and hopefully we can do this with the
Reptile Centre. We need your help through
donations and sponsors. If you would like to
make a donation or sponsor us, please contact us
for further information on how you can.
Help us help the reptiles
and amphibians and make their world a better
place which will not only benefit them but us as
well.
|
