Reptile Innovators

24/06/2025

For those who don't know a coral snake from the mimics.
The picture on the left show the mimics and how to identify them from each other. The picture on the right is a venomous coral snake. In SC corals have yellow touching red. The mimics do not have that vicod yellow. Some scarlet King snakes have yellow but it is not as bright and is not touching the red.

This does not apply to all coral snakes but it does apply to the ones that reside in South Carolina.

07/04/2025

Today I was out with my daughter running some errands and got a phone call that someone had a snake in their yard in a Nexton community. Not sure of exactly sure. What kind of snake or size I was dealing with? I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to find this baby rat snake. Can't be more than a few months old out of the egg. It was safely relocated nearby to a more heavily wooded area away from homes and construction.

18/03/2024

Turtle Rescue & Rehab Program
The Turtle Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Placement program, TRRP (pronounced "terp") was set up by the Turtle and Tortoise Society of Charleston as a way to prevent the proverbial "road kill" from becoming a fatality. As such, TRRP will accept any turtle found ill or injured in the wild with the hope of healing their wounds and eventually releasing healthy turtles back into the wild. TRRP is working with the Sea Island Veterinary Hospital's Wildlife Rehabilitation Program to ensure that any turtle in need will receive the best veterinary care available in the Tri-County area.
TRRP is in need of donations of many kinds to aid in maintaining this program. Donations of turtle care supplies, aquariums, (broken or whole), medical supplies, food, whole fish, and money would be greatly appreciated and benefit our shelled friends. Call for information, donations and/or with turtles in need of help.

Turtles which are handicapped, permanently disabled, or which are not native to South Carolina will be placed through the society's adoption program with dedicated turtle lovers who will ensure the turtles enjoy a healthy and happy captive life.

Below are a few of TRRP's success stories. Just click on the photo icon to view the full size image.

Plastron of injured Yellow Belly Slider

Kemps Ridley Sea Turtle that swallowed a fishing hook

Box turtle injured by automobile

Snapping Turtle

Gopher Tortoise

Box Turtle Chew Toy

Redfoot Tortoise

The TTSC is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization. Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
Mail Check to: TTSC, P.O. Box 687, Ladson, SC 29456, (843)871-6606 INTERNET:

E-mail: [email protected]

Or you can reach out to me and I can get them from you and I will be sure that they get them.

17/02/2024

At the Southeast Wildlife Expo to see Jeff Corwin.

15/01/2024

A reptile owner, breeder, educator and conservationist to all of us in the reptile hobby. You will be missed but your legacy and work will carry on through your friends, family, coworkers and the rest of us on the reptile hobby.

04/08/2023

This copperhead was rescued from the Summerville president, their backyard in a safer environment.

26/06/2023

22/12/2022

A dear friend of mine passed away. She shared with me her passion and love for reptiles and other animals alike. She has helped me on various educational shows in the past. A very kind and compassionate woman but at the same time very stern and blunt. She would be honest with you even if you didn't want to hear it. I respected her for that because I'm the same way. She will be greatly missed and hope that she has peace in heaven....

09/05/2022

This past Saturday I went to visit the local reptile zoological park Edisto Island Serpentarium. One of the owners passed away back in 2017. It was the first time I had been back to the park since his passing. They had the memorial of them there and as I teared up a flood of memories came back. He was a friend and mentor. He used to take my family out on boat rides and we would collect snakes from the trees. We would go on his small little home he had on the Waccamaw river he would use as a getaway or for camping and taking friends and family for a weekend outing. I learned a lot from him and miss him dearly.

16/03/2021

Can snakes hear?

Unlike what common belief suggests, snakes can hear! You may be familiar with the three bones in the middle ear of mammals which allows us to hear: the malleus, incus, and stapes. Snakes don't have that. Instead, they have just one middle ear bone called the columella (shown in green in the diagram). The columella is connected to their lower quadrate bone (blue in the diagram) which is what allows snakes to hear.

Another common misconception is that snakes can only sense and "hear" vibrations through the ground with their jaw. They can also hear airborne sounds! However, they're not earing airborne sounds like we do. Vibrations through the air, like people talking or keys on a keyboard, hit the snake and are transferred into its body for the snake to process. They can't hear everything though--they can only process sounds between 80 and 1000 Hz; in contrast, we can hear sounds between 20 and 20,000 Hz. They can "hear" us, but they can't necessarily hear a typical songbird which transmits at 2,500 Hz and above. Snakes use their hearing to detect predators and prey.

20/04/2020

Got my baby Gila Monster. Been waiting a very long time to finally get one.