Sierra Scales Exotics

16/08/2024

The ball pythons for rehoming. Open to reasonable offers. Asking 1.7k for whole collection, if you add what I'm asking individually it's over 3.5k.

See list below for individual deals.

15/08/2024

Hello everyone,

Due to personal reasons, I will be rehoming most of my ball python collection. Preferably as a wholesale collection, but not hard set on that. Also not Nido related, I have tested most of them, and all are healthy. I have one that I'd prefer be sold pet only as she has 1 eye.

I had to cull Snickers late last night due to an unforeseen feeding issue, and my heart can't take anymore loss with these guys. Three tragic losses in 4 years is too many, and I need to take care of my mental health as I am in full blown burn out mode.

I will also be posting racks after the snakes are moved out.

I also have a dwarf Rat and dwarf carrier rat colony I'll be rehoming with racks, a large food storage container, and any other accessories I have for them.

I'll try to have the list up by this evening but for sure by the end of the weekend.

I didn't make this decision lightly. It also has nothing to do with the market as money was never my main goal in this venture, I just love the animals and genetics. I may get back into the ball pythons in the future, idk. I am keeping my 5 favorite for sure. But for now, I think I am moving in the direction of trying to breed my skinks, isopods, and focusing mostly on reptile education, experiences and guided adventures, in the future of course.

I appreciate the support over the past few years, you all have been amazing! This isn't the end, I'm just changing directions a little bit for the future and opting to take better care of myself in the meantime.

❤️ Ash

15/08/2024

It's World Lizard Day! Slinky and Norbert, my Halmahera Blue Tongue skinks, are here to celebrate! ❤️ These two couldn't be more different personality wise, yet both came from across the sea, from a small island in Indonesia. Did you know that nearly all the Halmahera Blue tongues in the pet market are wild caught? They have yet to be widely captive born and bred, and there's only a few axanthic Halmaheras that are captive born and bred.

The diversity of reptiles around the world is absolutely amazing, and the range of specialized adaptations even more so! The more you learn about them the more you will learn to love them!

My challenge to you on is to look up one type of lizard you have always found interesting, read up a little on it, and who knows you may learn something fascinating!

12/08/2024

✨Making small steps towards my dreams!✨

After a bit of research I finally got my application in for my permits for every state to ship isopods. I'm hoping I did it right as it was definitely more complicated than it needs to be but isn't everything these days? Well, fingers crossed I don't have to amend anything, and soon I can put pods on some planes! ❤️

12/08/2024

Did you know you can donate supplies directly to the bats? 🦇

Our wishlist is an invaluable tool for donations, and it allows us to spend less time on supply runs, and more time saving bats. If you are interested in sending supplies to the bats, the Amazon wishlist is the place to be. ❤

We are currently most in need of decaffeinated black tea, tumeric powder, laundry pods, bleach tabs, and paper towels! Follow the link in the comments below to find these items and others that help us provide the best care to the bats! And be sure to check back every to see what we currently need.

12/08/2024

Working on socializing Norbert while I work on my website. He's getting better and better everytime we interact! I give him high-value treats, such as freeze dried beef liver or chicken breast, when he comes close to me or lets me touch him. Sometimes he tries to eat the hidey hole, sometimes he actually comes to me for treats. We are trying lol.

10/08/2024

🔥Woke up at 5 am thanks to a call from a friend ( thank you again) asking if we were ok, and if we were evacuating due to the fire in the canyon behind our little town. and I had went to bed half an hour before it started last night, and had no idea there was a fire. The evacuation orders were just one street away from ours, so we decided to get ready just in case.

We started getting non-replaceable things together, animal carriers, and animal food ready to go, and such. Shortly after we started getting things together they downgraded the evacuation orders.

The Canyon Fire is still going. Aircraft are still hitting it with water, the afternoon wind has picked up, but the fire doesn't seem to be moving as rapidly as it was last night, however there is no containment yet.

I wanted to take a minute to remind everyone to get an Emergency Go Box together for your animals. These are what my reptile boxes look like right now, and ready to go.

Ball Python Go Box:
*Plug-in heat pad
*Hand warmers
*F10/ hand sanitizer
*Gloves
*Cotton swabs
*Silver sulfadiazine cream/ Neosporin
*Soft Paper towels
*Snake bags
*Tongs
*Critical Care Carnivore

Blue Tongue Skink and Friends Go Box:
*Freeze dried chicken breast
*Freeze dried veggies
supplement
*Water conditioner
*Water dropper (for isopods and skinks)
*Syringe
*Blue Tongue Skink food crumbles
*Three water bottles
*Food bowls
*Fish food flakes for isopods
*Quick Stop Bleeding powder (For skinks/ birds)

These are in no way absolutely everything I would need for these guys, but this would get me through a good few days before needing to figure out more permanent solutions. I also have plastic totes/ shoe boxes, critter carries for the lizards, carriers for the birds. I feel more prepared.

Everyone who lives in urban wildland interface areas should think about this stuff.🏞🌲

Do you have go bags for your critters? What you keep in them?!

07/08/2024

It's again, and I'm back with another buzztail!

This is a Great Basin Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus lutosus) a subspecies of western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus). In CA they are only found in the northeastern part of the state, on the eastern side of the sierras. The population then stretches into eastern Oregon, Nevada, the southern part of Idaho, western Utah, and a small very part of the northern tip of Arizona.

They are generally more pale-brown, tan/buff, or yellow in color, with dark round blotches going down the dorsal. This subspecies lacks the white rings around the tail tip closest to the rattle, unlike the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. Otherwise, they are quite similar to the Northern Pacific, but definitely still a sight to behold!

This gorgeous animal was road cruised by myself and .connor11 on the county line on the eastern side of Sonora Pass. Such an amazing find!

05/08/2024

Finally finished designing my business cards about a month ago lol, then I forgot to post them!

Probably spent way too much time designing them but I'm pretty stoked with how they came out! I used the app exclusively to design these.

Anyone who knows me knows I love color so naturally they had to be fun and colorful! I added a light snake skin texture to the background taken from a photo of my favorite snake's shed, and used colors from my logo to give the background a magical/colorful pop!

I love nature and magic aesthetics together so I went for a simple tarot card look! It is also a subtle nod to all the times my tarot cards have urged me onward in this venture when I've struggled with deciding what to do.

Slightly off topic from business cards but I figure I may as well address it now; I don't use tarot as most people think/ movies convey they are used (telling the future or spells or witchy things). I do, however, consult them for most of my big decisions. Having ADHD I have a hard time making decisions, focusing on the A->Z of processes, and overthink pretty much everything in my life down to tiny details. My cards help me look at things in different ways, slow down, and offer a tactical, visual, and therapeutic approach to tackle difficult or complicated decisions.

But that's just what works for me! ✨

03/08/2024

Hot Take:

Why is it acceptable to talk about snakes in violent and horrible ways?

I have been taking screen shots of all the things I see people saying about rattlesnakes for a few weeks. This is the result. Absolutely repulsive.

If we talked about cats or dogs the same way people talk about snakes, especially rattlesnakes, the general population would lose their mind.

This is stuff that gets passed down generation to generation, and half of it isn't even true.

Can we stop? Please? Can we do some due diligence to educate ourselves, or make some effort to listen and learn from others?

Just maybe?

02/08/2024

It's day, a fun way is helping change the bad image animal activists have on pet reptiles!

31/07/2024

https://sierrascalesexotics.com/shop/p/rat-safe-food-guide

A super cute infographic of food that you can give your ratties with confidence! It goes over pellets, fruits, veggies, and treats that are not only good for your ratties, but that they will love! You can print it and hang it on your fridge or by your rat’s enclosures as a quick reference.

28/07/2024

🇺🇲“Leap into a Brighter Future with Slinky the Blue Tongued Lizard!”🇺🇲

Candidate: Slinky (Slink) the Blue Tongue Lizard

Position: President of the United States of America

Campaign Platform:

🏞️ Public Spaces: Slink promises to increase the number of green spaces in the community, ensuring plenty of sunny spots for basking and shady areas for cooling down.

💧Clean Water: Slink will advocate for clean and accessible water sources, ensuring everyone has a fresh drink.

🏡Community Safety: Slink will work to create safe havens for all residents, including secure hiding spots and shelters.

🗞️ Pest Control: Slink's natural insect-eating abilities will help keep the community free from pesky bugs.

🏘️ Inclusive Activities: Slink will organize fun and inclusive events, such as “Sunbathing Sundays” and “Insect Feast Fridays,” to bring everyone together.

📚 Educational Programs: Slink will introduce programs to educate residents about the importance of reptiles in the ecosystem.

🗑️Sustainable Living: Slink will promote recycling and composting to reduce waste and create a more sustainable environment.

💡Energy Efficiency: Slink will encourage the use of solar energy and other renewable resources.

Campaign Message:

“Hello, fellow residents! I’m Slinky the Blue Tongue Lizard, and I’m running for President of the United States of America. With my keen eye for detail and natural problem-solving skills, I promise to make our community a greener, safer, and more inclusive place for everyone. Let’s leap into a brighter future together!”

🇺🇲 Does Slink have YOUR vote this November? 🇺🇲

26/07/2024

This is Gilbert. Gilbert is the California Toad who has been living in my garden for the last three years, since we got the house. He is very tame and would crawl over to me when I would water or work in the garden. I'd give him bugs I found while planting, and then he would carry on his merry way.

I hadn't seen him in a few weeks, and honestly didn't think much of it. He came back today, but he was different.

Something got his back leg and his arm on the right side of his body. I can't even imagine how painful that had to have been, and I am hoping it wasn't from anything I did in the garden. I'm always hyper vigilant to be sure I don't hurt him or the chorus frogs, but I can't help but think it may have been something I did unknowingly.

After watching him try to crawl, and seeing how slow and clumsy he was, I decided he will be living with me now. In his new condition he wouldn't stand a chance against all the feral cats, coyotes, foxes, or my cats, dogs, and chickens.

I made him a nice little house in a tank with dirt from my garden mixed with some sand so it will be easier for him to burrow. Planted some mint and clover from my garden as I usually saw him hanging out in those. And put in two hides that have cover and that he could use as humid hides or burrows if actually burrowing is too hard to do now.

Gilbert will have a life of luxury now, with all the roaches and rodents he could possibly want! No worries about garden tools or predators either!

**petofauna **ping **pingisforeveryone **ps

25/07/2024

This weeks is a little special!

This is a California Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata) endemic to North America and a mostly elusive snake.

Like the California Kingsnake this snake inhabits a diverse variety of California habitat types.

As a typical Kingsnake they are opportunistic feeders and will eat a huge variety of rodents, small birds, other snakes, other reptiles, amphibians, and sometimes even eggs.

Perhaps the most amazing part about these animals is their colors and patterns! California Mountain Kingsnakes have tri-colored bands of black, red, and white. Does that pattern remind you of anything? If you said coral snakes you'd be correct! This is known as mimicry and is a common adaptation in the animals world. These snakes, though completely harmless, are mimicking the colors and patterns of the venomous Coral Snake, hoping predators will see their coloring and think they are venomous or poisonous and leave them alone!

Unfortunately, these snakes are known to be victims of mistaken identity and are often killed by people thinking they are Coral Snakes. There are no coral snakes in California, so there I no need to worry or be concerned if you see a red black and white banded snake.

This snake is special because it was the first animal I witnessed a mistaken identity killing of. It absolutely broke my heart. Since then, I have spent years looking for one to collect (legally, with a permit, and I talked extensively with a Fish & Wildlife regional biologist prior) to use as an ambassador animal in native snake education programs locally.

This was my first Zonata! Myself and some friends road cruised him just a few miles out in the forest behind where I live. He is an older fella, potentially a survivor of the Rim Fire in 2013, and will live out his days with me, incredibly spoiled, and teaching people about his species. My hope is that by education others we can move past this "kill anything we don't understand" habit humanity has adopted.

zonata

**ping **ps **pingisforeveryone **petofauna

23/07/2024

One of my favorite past times now is staring at my .com enclosures!

Top enclosure is Nyoka, my original ball python. Middle enclosure is Slinky, my suspected female Halmahera Blue Tongue Skink. The bottom enclosure is Norbert, my suspected male Halmahera Blue Tongue Skink.

I have a mister on a splitter that mists all three at the same time, and I am working on automating the lights more. I made the background on the top enclosure with spray foam and eco earth. The bottom two I used spray foam, foam, carved it, painted it, and sealed it.

The skinks love the platforms and scooting around on the braNches even though they are the most clumsy creatures on the planet. Nyoka loves all their branches and hanging on the vines. I'm so happy with how they turned out!

**ps

18/07/2024

Twizzler, my wc northern rubber boa, is thriving in her new home ( I don't see spurs yet so I'm going to assume it's a her for the time being.) She has taken three meals, AND just shed! Such a docile creature, she never really tries to hide, and last night even rested her head on my finger. She may have just been trying to figure out if it was food but it was pretty cute either way.


**ps # **petofauna **petology **pcommunity **pingcalifornia **petoculture **peducation

18/07/2024

This week's feature is the Northwestern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis), or blue belly lizard which is what I grew up calling them! These guys have a boring name, however, they are anything but ordinary!

Northwestern fence lizards are one of the most common lizards in the habitat in which they live. These guys are pretty average looking brown lizards with varying patterns and splotches of black, tan and sometimes blue going down their backs with keeled scales. Males bellies are a light tan with bright blue bands going down either side of the outer belly, the blue bands are lined with black bands on the inward area of the belly, and two blue patches under the throat, sometimes joined together to make one large patch. Females look similar except they are more dull, and the blue on the bellies can be non existent or very faint.

Northwestern fence lizards, like many other lizards have a parietal eye, or third eye as some call it, visible in the second image here if you look closely. It is a translucent "window" like area on top of the largest scale on their forehead. It is connected to a nerve that senses light and helps control the lizards circadian rhythm, temperature sensing, light sensing, and helps it sense predators that may come from above. When they are too cold they can turn almost black which is a method they use to absorb more heat.

Perhaps the coolest thing about them is their blood! Something in these lizards blood kills Lyme disease in any tick that bites the lizard and consumes its blood. When the tick drops off it is now Lyme disease free! Crazy right? Growing up I'd catch these lizards, and pull off all the ticks of them, to "help" them. Having seen the number of ticks one lizard can host, it doesn't surprise me that Lyme disease infections are not as common here on the West Coast as opposed to the East Coast.

One more reason reptiles are unspoken heroes!

**petology **petofauna **ping **pingcalifornia **pingisforeveryone

16/07/2024

Trigger Warning: Pet Loss, Death

A few days ago I realized for I mostly talk about the sunshine and rainbows of what I do. I don't talk about the things that cause me to stumble back a bit. So here I will take a moment to acknowledge the struggles of what I have been through, because motivation doesn't only come from the good days.

One harsh reality was losing two babies from my first ball python clutch. One baby died in the egg, and one had hard belly that I discovered just a little too late. I was able to remove the hard belly, but the baby continued to decline so I made the difficult decision to cull. Those who know me know I won't even kill a spider, so this decision did not get made lightly.

There's been days where the ants invading my snake racks or enclosures made me want to rip my hair out. Where I am up till the wee hours of the night spraying down ant nests built in the racks, replacing heat tape, cleaning tubs, rinsing ants off irritated snakes, and still going to work the next day. Thank goodness for my other half for his help with things like this.

I've experienced first hand what abuse and neglect can do to a reptile by taking on other people's animals. , , lost eyes, lost toes...

There's been many days I've left my rat room in tears. The worst was last week when we had experienced a heat wave with record temps of 109 degrees. Despite my best efforts of giving my rats three water bottles each, frozen fruit, frozen water bottles to cuddle, and a large box fan, I lost 20 rats to heatstroke. I was utterly devastated. It was a hard lesson, and one I don't in anyway take lightly. I got a small AC unit just for the rat room, because I could not handle the thought of that ever happening again. I don't even have AC in my house.

Motivation takes many forms, not just positive ones. I'm only human. I learn from my mistakes and use them as stepping stones to be a better keeper and breeder, because at the end of the day my animals deserve the best version of me I can give them.

Photo of Sylvie, my mink silvermane girl. She is alive and well ❤️

10/07/2024

So normally this is the day I do wildlife Wednesday posts, but today we are going to do something a little different. I wanted to show off these soft, portable hides my mom had been making for years for snakes, lizards, rats, hamsters, pretty much any small animal! She pours her heart and soul into these and really doesn't get much traction for some reason so I wanted to highlight some of my favorite features about them and how I use them! Feel free to ask me any questions about them! 🫶🏽

✨CHECK OUT HER FACEBOOK PAGE HERE: www.facebook.com/snakesnugglys✨

I know she would really love the support if you just swung by her page and gave it a thumbs up, and even a share of you aren't interested in acquiring a Snuggly. Did I mention she started making these when I got my first ball python, whom she calls her "Grandsnake"? Super cute (apparently that's my new catch phrase)!

04/07/2024

Happy Independence Day!!! This little firecracker may be in a new home now, but I still miss her. This was her photo from the calendar I put out this year. I felt her spicy tude was fitting for the theme lol.

Have fun out there today but don't play with explosives, don't drink and drive, and make sure your pets are secured BEFORE the fireworks start going off tonight! 😉



**psofinstagram **petofauna

28/06/2024

✨Just renewed my membership! ✨

👉🏻If you are a reptile keeper or breeder and you are NOT a U.S Association of Reptile Keepers member you really should look into it and become one!

✔️USARK works hard to fight for our rights to keep reptiles in the U.S., and not just our rights to keep them, but any legislation that may affect expos, quality of reptile care, and so much more. They line out the legislation we should be fighting in easy to digest ways and even line out who to contact to make our voices heard.

⚠️If you don't think stupid legislation can affect us, think again. They slip a lot of backwards stuff in some of these legislation packages that they hope no one will notice, and that's where USARK shines!

👍🏻 If we keepers in the hobby stand united, we can protect our rights, and continue to keep the animals we are so passionate about! (And you get a pretty cool shirt 😉)

**ps **pcommunity **petofauna

22/06/2024

Multitasking tonight. Teaching myself while designing my business cards AND working on socializing Norbert at the same time. 🤪

**psofinstagram **petofauna

21/06/2024

I had intentions to make business cards and stickers to take to in Pomona next weekend, it will be my first time going and I am SO EXCITED, who else is going? Anyways, my ADHD brain decided I needed to fix all the things that have been bugging me about my logo before I could tackle business cards and such. So a solid WEEK later it is fixed, and I'm finally content with it, for now. Still don't have business cards and stickers done, but hey I have this weekend do all that... As long as I don't get distracted by something else instead... Oh, hey look, a butterfly. 🦋👀😅🤦🏽‍♀️

19/06/2024

It's my dudes! Today's toad-tally awesome subject is the California Toad (Anaxyrus boreas halophilus)!

I personally have a soft spot for these guys since they are one of the first h**p species I found and caught as a kid. I even had one named Gertie as a pet for a long time, she had been found in a pool skimmer.

California Toads are a subspecies of the Western Toad, a thick and stocky toad with pronounced partoid glands and dry bumpy skin. They come in greenish-brown, reddish-brown, tan, grey, greyish-green, and some muted shades of yellow with dark blotchy warts covered in rusty red spots. They have a pale yellow-white line that goes down their back. The juvenile toads have bright orange-yellow pads on the bottoms of their feet.

As with most amphibians they need water to reproduce and survive. Like frogs, they lay eggs in a water source, the eggs hatch into larvae (tadpoles), which then eventually go through metamorphosis, and turn into the the toads we are used to seeing.

They can be active during the day and night, but switch to mostly nocturnal schedules during the summer after breeding season ends. They eat mostly small invertebrates. The tadpoles mostly eat decaying organic matter, algae, and sometimes other tadpoles. Toads are capable of crawling and hopping, though they are not very fast.

The toads partoid glands (the large bumps just behind their eyes) secrete poison when they feel threatened as a way to discourage predators from eating them. Some predators have found ways around this by just eating the toads internals, and Gartersnakes in general don't seem phased by the poison when they eat the toads whole.

Enjoy the cute photos I got of the little toad that lives in my garden and eats all the slugs! ❤️

**petology **ps **psofinstagram **ping **petofauna