02/04/2024
We’ve officially relocated to Colorado! We’re hoping to have a longer ship window leading up to and out of summer than we did in Arizona. We had to do two trips for both cars; the first trip was one toddler, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 53 snakes, and 20 mice. The second trip was -1 elk… So thankful all our babies weren’t with us.
An elk family came into the road in northern AZ while we were turning a corner. Some people were off-roading in their Polaris’ nearby (at 2am!?) and must have spooked them into the road. Nick dodged them with our truck, but the big buck managed to get himself between the front of our trailer and the back of our pickup where he did damage to both (he ran off but we heard coyotes sound off later). At one point we were in dirt and headed towards trees. Nick got us back on the road and we spun at least 3 times, it was so fast it’s hard to say. I'm so glad Nick was driving and he had the knowledge and experience to regain control. When we stopped we were facing the opposite direction and barely got ourselves corrected and (mostly) to the side of the road before the hitch completely broke (solid metal just snapped); a trailer tire also separated from the rim. This happened at 2am with no heater in the truck, and it was a fun 4 hours waiting for roadside while semi’s roared past us on a narrow two-lane.
We are SO thankful to have escaped with no harm to us and, again, that our son and pets weren’t with us. Unfortunately, 95% of what was in the trailer has been damaged; the force of the spin just crushed so much. This includes 3 reptile racks and a mouse rack. Combined with other damaged items, we honestly can’t replace them any time soon. Even more unfortunately, this means we will likely be listing several sand boas up for sale that I'm not really ready to part with. This is difficult to do, but necessary. The damaged racks means babies/yearlings I intended to keep no longer have a bigger size to graduate to, and it also affects pairing plans as one was a baby rack. I’ve had to sit down and seriously reconsider all my sand boa plans, and the result is significant downsizing. I’m really going to miss some of the ones I’m letting go. Some listings will go up as soon as I can manage it this week, as well as over the coming months as I force myself to make some decisions.
