Nikenelen Reptile Ranch

29/10/2024

Baby gidgees! Now I just have to tear the enclosure apart to find out how many are in there....

11/10/2024

One of our THREE pregnant female Solomon Island Prehensile Tailed Skinks. Looking good!

08/09/2024

Last year I was SO excited to have three of my Prehensile Tailed Skink ladies give birth - two had twins! And I think the same three are "in the family way" again....

19/08/2024

I LOVE being able to add fresh mulberry branches to my enclosures! They are great as a self-serve additional food source AND as behavioral enrichment.

06/08/2024

03/08/2024

Don't miss Monday's program (1pm AT THE LIBRARY!)

Reptiles! With Ellen Petrick!
Ellen is a lover of all things "weird" and "gross" - including bats, bugs, and of course reptiles! She has been keeping and breeding reptiles for over thirty years with a preference for the weirdest of the weird: geckos that look like leafs, ancient snakes, and skinks that give live birth and live in family groups. Ellen has also worked with the Illinois Natural History survey recording reptile and amphibian populations and when she's not carrying for her collection inside, she's looking for native herps on her seven acre property!

17/07/2024

SO much fun at the Argyle Library yesterday! I brought a solomon island ground boa, a solomon island tree boa, a prehensile tailed skink, a gidgee skink and a few hissing cockroaches!

15/07/2024

She will be bringing some of her reptile friends!!🐍🦎

03/06/2024

Hungry Hungry Hippo...

26/05/2024

Camouflage.....

12/05/2024

Eastern milk snake we rescued from the barn kittens (unharmed). Saw a common garter snake the other day as well!

09/05/2024

Thank you Justin Munsterman of Legacy Herps! It's been awhile since we had lineatus (lined leaf tailed geckos). I always thought they were one of the coolest species... And these ebenaui (spear tailed leaf tailed geckos) are SO beautiful - and adorable

06/05/2024

They LOVE their blueberries.... Egernia stokesii

20/04/2024

This girl FINALLY shed!!! Candoia are on a whole different schedule...

14/04/2024

Candoia are well known for being difficult to get feeding... I tube fed this little man for over a year before I decided if he was going to survive he was going to have to eat on his own. For three months.... he didn't. Then he FINALLY took a pink. Been eating like a champ ever since!

31/03/2024

Our new arrivals - all the way from Ukraine! Henkel's Madagascar Leaf Tailed Geckos. Uroplatus henkeli Thank You BION Terrarium Center!

23/03/2024

Different blood line for this little one. Born in December. Probably hang on to this one!

23/03/2024

These little guys are 7 months old now! I can hardly hold them all. Eating out of my hand. Wish I could keep them all...

21/02/2024

NerdBert the StinkPot

21/02/2024

Both sets of twins let me get in a little photo shoot this morning...

09/01/2024

Well, we had been a little worried about the singleton born on the 18th. He was so small. But we never got a really good look because that is the least social group and he hid right away whenever we came by...... but then we started to wonder... and sure enough! I spotted them both at the same time this morning! The singleton was twins! They have such similar coloration that I have probably been seeing them both this whole time - just never at the SAME time!

22/12/2023

Finally! Mom number three gave birth last night - TWINS! She had her first baby slightly less than a year ago...

19/12/2023

BABY! This little one is the second for this pair. Their first baby was born three years ago. Everyone looking good! Two down... one to go.

17/11/2023

BABY! This is the first offspring for this pair. We've had them since 2017. Looking healthy so far.... Good job mama!

30/10/2023

Pretty sure there's a bun in this oven.... and this one.... and this one....