Southern Ontario Exotics

23/05/2024

It's world turtle day!!! Let's show some love and appreciation for our turtle friends!!!🐢💚

Why did the turtle cross the road?? To get to their nesting area!!🤣 That may be true!! So always be sure to move them in the same direction they were already headed!❤️

Here are some tips for helping our turtle friends this summer!! 🐢 🐢 🐢

Make sure if you have to transport an injured turtle, you take a detailed note about where they were found, this helps rescuers be able to relocate them in the same area❤️ Keep them in a dry container at room temperature and do not feed or give water!

And this is the number to call for an injured turtle! 705- 741-5000, that is the Ontario Turtle Conservation centre!

Turtles can lose up to 70% of their blood and still survive! Their eggs can also survive great trauma! Always pull over and help🤗❤️

Watch for the turtles!! And help them cross if possible❤️❤️

12/05/2024

Happy Mothers day to all the bonus moms, step moms, mother in laws, fur moms, scaley moms, plant moms, bird moms, fish moms, and all the other mother like roles!!!🩷🥰🩷🥰

12/05/2024

Can you spot Slytherin, the Kenyan Sand Boa in his substrate?! It might be a little tricky, but we promise he is there!!!🥰

09/05/2024

Time goes by so fast!!! How crazy is it to think that Toothless has been with us since nearly the beginning, in 2020?! Now we are 5 months into 2024, and wow so much has changed!!🥰 We made the move with over 30 animals two hours from where we've always lived before, into the beautiful country and now we are only 34 days away until we meet our little baby🩷🩷 We can't wait to introduce her to all of our furry and scaley babies too!

05/05/2024

Today's the day we are off to with the cutest sweetest baby rats ever!!!🥰🥰🥰

01/05/2024

And just incase you were curious about little Gustavo and Gonzalez... well let's just say, they aren't little no more!!!😂 Oh it's so bittersweet how fast they grow🩷

These are the two boys we rescued in March, that came from living in a small tank, and had respiratory infections. We were able to take them immediately to the Haliburton vet office and secure medication for them, and after 2 weeks, a clean bill of health for these boys!!! And now they are growing like weeds 🥺

01/05/2024

It has been a while since we have done a post update, and what better way to jump back in then to also be introducing 4 sweet little babies 🩷💙

These little babies will be the last of our rescue intakes for a while! But that's okay🥹

We rescued these sweet little babies and are providing them with a temporary home, and on Sunday they will be transferred to amazing where they will be quarantined and have more time for socialization and development! These babies are only roughly 3-4 weeks old, and should not have been separated from mama so soon! We are so thankful and lucky we could secure them, and so thankful for for stepping up to take on their care!🩷

These are some of the sweetest, funniest and most playful babies I have ever met! And they are going to make such amazing babies for amazing fur parents I have no doubt about it!! They will be available for adoption after a stay with 🩷 Trust me, if I could I'd be adopting these special babies myself!!!!

There is only one female, and we will be making sure she goes into a mischief with other females!!🥰🐀

These last few months have been a bit hard, and we have had a lot of personal things going on and health complications. We cannot wait to meet our baby girl, but cannot lie and say this journey has been easy. We always do everything we can for our animals, and realize also when it's time to reach out for additional support. I have known since 2020 now, and the owners have become amazing friends of mine, friends I consider family. Thank you for stepping up and helping me in a difficult time🩷

At the moment, we will not be taking in any intakes, and will continue to post the animals we do have, as with the help of we will be downsizing, but will continue to make posts regarding proper exotic animal care, etc. We will not be going anywhere, but may be taking extended breaks to help deal with the personal things around us! And I guaranteed, even if it's not this year, we will be in a position again to start taking in intakes and helping the rescue community, for now, we need a break🩷 Thank you for being apart of our family 🥰

29/03/2024

"If I am killed simply for living, let death be kinder than man."

The world's largest snake, that was only discovered 5 weeks ago, has already been targeted and killed by hunters. She was a Northern Green Anaconda, with a length of more than 26 feet long, and weighed more than 440 pounds. She lived a long life, but would have still had years and years to go, but unfortunately, we as humans destroy so much of what we discover and uncover. She allowed scientists to discover that there are more than one species of the Green Anaconda to exist.

Basically, she was a pretty big deal. And the loss of such a rare animal, one we may never see at that size again, is a huge blow to biodiversity. Her size, surpassed any known snake species we have so far discovered, and the scientists that spent time with her researching her, even going as far as swimming with her, noted she was in the prime of her life and would have still produced many off springs if it wasn't for her death.

These apex predators play a very important role in maintaining ecological balance. Their presence shapes the delicate web of life, ensuring the survival of countless other species. With only a handful of colossal giant snakes like her, the loss is irreplaceable.

As we mourn Ana Julia(The name the Green Anaconda was given) we must reflect on our responsibility to protect these magnificent creatures. The Amazon rainforest, teeming with biodiversity, faces unprecedented threats from deforestation, climate change, and human encroachment. Ana Julia’s fate serves as a stark reminder that our actions have far-reaching consequences.

"If I am killed, simply for living, let death be kinder than man."

08/03/2024

Special thanks to Haliburton Vets for helping us out once again!! 💙💙

Firstly, I was not expecting to have any rats again so soon! It feels like just a few months ago, that we lost my heart rats Alvin and Theodore but it came up on my story that it has already passed a year without them!! 🩷 Rats have stolen my heart and broke it so many times that I had decided to take a break for awhile. There had been a few different rat rescue situations we almost got involved in, but hadn't been directly needed/able to at the time, and now we wind up with these two sweet babies! 💙

Meet Gustavo, and Gonzalez🥰 The sweetest little babies on this planet!! Although they have just arrived to us, we needed to get them into the vet asap for an exam and antibiotics because we knew these sweet babies were ill with a respiratory infection :( Thankfully the Haliburton vets were able to get us in with the amazing vet that sees Exotics, and our sweet babies are on medication now and on their way to feeling much better!!🥰🥰

08/03/2024

Adoption update!!🥰🥰

Who remembers our rescue boy Charmander?! If you are an OG follower, you definitely should!! 🥰

Charmander, now known as the Handsome Dudley, came into our rescue January 5th 2021. We actually took Dudley in because he was apparently aggressive and wasn't fit for normal rehoming😅 That was completely false, and Dudley to this day is one of the friendliest happiest bearded dragons I've ever had the pleasure of meeting!!!🥰

Dudley was adopted on August 13th 2021 by the amazing Ashley, who has kept us up to date about all their adventures since!!❤️ Dudley is spoiled rotten, and we are so thankful to have adopters like Ashley that help aid us to continue to take in rescues!! Speaking of which, stay tuned because we have somebody knew for you to meet! Or somebody's.. hehe!

22/02/2024

Stay tuned for a Kenyan Sand Boa care guide!❤️

Above head heating is the most natural heating to provide for your snake! And yes! They will come out to bask 🥰

Snakes, even terrestrial species, need access to UVB/UVA! Why do we keep saying UVB/UVA is beneficial for MOST of your reptiles? Here's why!

Providing our reptiles UVB/UVA helps them get optimal levels of vitamin D that are so important for their bones and health.

It helps strengthen their skin barriers to make tougher and stronger skin, it even helps disinfect and protect against diseases and illnesses.

It helps strengthens their immune system so they have a stronger immune response. It also promotes healthy cell functions too!

It provides a more effective digestion system, stronger bones, a healthier nervous system, and more successful reproduction that also goes for females that can lay infertile eggs. It helps prevent egg bounding and aids them in gaining their strength back after they lay.

And over all it increases pigmentation in animals, it increases their energy levels and increases natural behaviors too!! We've seen this first hand since we provide all our reptiles with UVB! ❤️

21/02/2024

Oliver our Jenday conure 🤗 He is either always yelling at me or sweetly begging for treats there's no in between! 😂

21/02/2024

Just a reminder about the 3-3-3 rule ! 🤗

Roughly 3 days for your new pet to decompress from the huge transition of moving and a completely new environment!

Roughly 3 weeks to learn a routine!

And Roughly 3 months for them to finally start to feel at home!

Give them the time! Plan for them needing extra space, and please allow your animals to have time to adjust to everything new in the home as well! From experience, proper introductions is the best way to go for introducing new animals into a home with animals already!

This is also another reason why rescue can be so difficult, because moving homes can be a very stressful and sometimes even traumatic event for the animals, and as much as we know animals need time to decompress, sometimes because of medical reasons they need examation right away, and even treatment which is extra scary after traveling a ways to us. Coming to a rescue, to then find a new home after coming from a different home, can be a big transition, that's why we try to minimize the stress on our animals by;

Keeping them in our rescue for a longer period of time then most (Also for a Quarantine purposes) but to allow them to fully settle, get to know us, and become more comfortable with the environment! This allows us to get to know their individual personalities, which better helps us pair to adoptors!

We spend alot of time choosing adoptors and spend alot of time connecting with them, and learning their knowledge and helping them to be able to understand the exact needs of said rescue! Many adoptors become close personal friends, as we spend alot of time getting to know eachother and building a relationship before adoption takes place! We love our animals so much, and its extremely important to us that we match our rescues with the best adoptors for them! There's also been situations were we have denies adoption, but that's another topic of Rescuing!

We also always take back our animals no questions asked and judgment free, because life can sometimes happen and we understand that, we want to make sure our animals always have a safe place to come back to, its apart of our adoption contract❤️

Remember, 3-3-3 🥰

16/02/2024

A sleepy Oliver makes quite a sweet Oliver 🥰🥰

15/02/2024

Slytherin here!!🥰🥰 and we have some Kenyan Sand Boa or Gongylophis colubrinus facts to share with you!!🥰🥰

Did you know that in captivity, the Kenyan sand boa can live up to 20 years?! 🥰

Did you know that female Sand Boas are ovoviviparous? That means that the female incubates her young internally in her membranous sacs!!❤️

Did you also know that Kenyan sand boas are in the Boidae family, which represents 40 species of snakes? How cool!!🥰

Did you know Kenyan Sand Boas are sexually dimorphic? This means males and females differ in appearance! ❤️
Females are also larger than males! Females reach lengths up to 32 in, while males only reach 15 in🥰

If you didn't know, now you know!! Thanks to our special boy Slytherin ❤️ I think you may catch this boy with Spyro as an ambassador for snakes at our next event🥰

13/02/2024

Happy Tuesday!!!🥰 Sorry it's been a few days of not posting - Pregnancy sickness has been rough, but I've still been working behind the scenes! 🩷

Check out our Basic Jenday Conure Care Guide 2024!
If anybody needs anymore in depth care details about certain species please reach out and we'd be happy to help and share all we know and the resources we use to learn!!❤️

We are still working away on more 2024 care guides, but all the ones we do have, are updated to 2024 versions to be able to provide the most up to date knowledge and care information for you! 🥰

If there is a certain care guide you've been waiting for/wanting to see please let us know! For now we are working to get more to you, like about Kenyan Sand Boas, Pacman frogs, Gargoyle geckos, lovebirds etc!

Check out our website for lots of cool stories, pictures, and information about your favorite rescues and reptiles!! ❤️

Southern Ontario Exotics/wix.com !

Domesticated birds should not have their wings clipped in our personal opinion. They need to have access to a large cage, many perches of different sizes and textures preferably, toys, and access to fresh water and food. 

06/02/2024

We just can't wait for the warm weather to come🥰🥰

Last year was our first event/meet and greet/adoption day, I wonder what "firsts" we will have again this summer!!❤️❤️

03/02/2024

PART 4

The tank size recommendation for bearded dragons was 4x2x2, which I feel like a lot of people argued with when that standard came out, and instead the use of 40 gallon tanks is popular. 🫠

Now, the recommendation of minimum 6x2x2 is taking some for a loop. However, I really don’t think it’s unreasonable! Bearded dragons can get quite large, and need space for basking, and need space to be able to cool down, and especially need space for climbing, and digging. While I do feel you can have a fully thriving bearded dragon in a 4x2x2, I also believe a 6x2x2 would provide even more room for enrichment opportunities for your dragon!🦎❤️

However, I do not believe the absolute minimum should be 6x2x2. Although I do agree that if you can provide bigger you should, and do have plans to upgrade ours in the future to 6x2x2’s, I do think the absolute minimum should be 4x2x2, but nothing smaller.

And just while on the topic of enclosure sizes, I wanted to talk quickly about our snakes!
The minimum recommendation for ball pythons enclosures is 4x2x2, but after we've had a year to watch Medusa utilize every inch of her 4x2x2, we feel it's too small I personally recommend a 6x4x2 to fully allow your adult ball python to have access to climbing abilities, I promise you, they will use them!🐍🐍

Medusa will be getting an upgrade to at minimum a 6x4x2 in the near future, and then Slytherin our Kenyan Sand Boa will be getting an upgrade into her old 4x2x2!! The more space you can provide, the better!🐍❤️