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.