Small Scale Reptile Rescue

09/16/2026

Cindy was named person of the week by Channel 12 for her work with saving Liberace. https://www.wisn.com/article/person-of-the-week-cindy-steinle/73730868

09/14/2026

"Liberace" the boa constrictor taken from the car engine in West Allis, WI has officially entered Small Scale! We went a little viral on this one.

The owner never did reclaim him.

His next steps are to finish his shed. We will get nice photos of him after that. Then we will get him used to a feeding protocol of learning to feed with frozen food and make sure he is healthy. He was a bit defensive in the shelter but caging was not quite right and there was food items sharing the same space and the room was quite chaotic. Now he is in a proper cage and we will see his disposition.

The proper adopter must have experience with larger snakes. He is a sassy one. You must have proper caging. We will check. If you need help finding caging we will be happy to direct you to several companies! Remember Fish Tanks are for fish!

If you can not keep your reptile pet, please do not release it. If you need help reach out to your area humane society, h**p society or reptile rescue. We will make something work.

Welcome to Small Scale Liberace. Life will be better now.

09/10/2026

On the forums today, we popped over to the Blood Python Forums to spend a little time missing an old friend! We Miss you Nick.

We are more than a business. We are a community. Take care of each other. Be kind to someone today.

Come on in and share some memories with us. Link is in the comments.

09/08/2026

You might have heard about us again this week. We made the news. We usually like to be under the radar honestly and not in the limelight.

We helped MADACC save this snake from a car in West Allis and while we do not now who the owner is we do want to say a few things.

Please make sure all your caging is secure and strong. Do not use screen tops with weights for snakes. They will not stay in. Reptile cages are made for both keeping temps and humidity proper and animals secure! Also it is against the law to release your pets, be it a dog, a cat or a reptile. If you no longer can keep your pet please reach out to your local humane society, animal control, reptile rescue or even the h**p society. We will make something work. This snake would have died a terrible death had we not found him.

Thankfully his outcome is much better. If his owners do not reclaim him, he will come here at the end of his stray time, get named liberace and go up for adoption in the near future. Ill include any media in the comments for those interested.

07/17/2026

We are often quiet on our page because we bring things in and foster them for so long to rehabilitate them, that we end placing them they get listed. We will start sharing things like our intakes more here on our main page so you can see the rescue is quite active other than large scale events!

Our rescue works in direct support of our states shelter system primarily. This is Ahhnold, our newest intake from Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) today. He is being transfered to our vet team to be assessed for what MADACC was told was a tumor. He will be in medical treatment with our vet tech foster home extraordinaire until he is ready to be adopted. We did spare the pics from the main post but I will add one in comments. Happy Freedom Ride Ahhnold!

While we do not currently have any healthy Leopard Geckos available at this time, if you are looking to adopt one, please check out our friends at Archie's Angels: Reptile Education, Rescue & Rehabilitation and Badgerland Reptile Rescue.

09/10/2024

So it's crazy hearing something you did ended up on national TV. Remember the Goat house? December 2022, 30ish dogs, tons of reptiles, chickens, parrots, rats, a raccoon, hedgehogs and then all the corpses of animals in cages... The guy got 6 days and was told for 1 year not to own any MORE animals (even tho he was already at legal limit with what they let him keep after all the abuse he left behind). He was playing vet on people's animals illegally. There was a day gecko I couldn't identify because it was BROWN not green while alive. Ya know, normal s**t.

Anyhoo. I guess last month it popped up on Investigation Discovery on a show called Late Night Lock Up. Season 2 Episode 8 - Welcome to the Jungle. If you are interested in seeing it, I will include a link in the comments to the IMDB page which will help you find it. I understand it is on MAX and Prime. Ill be watching it soon.

Wild.

09/10/2024

"Little Black Dress" is available for adoption! He is eating f/t and has completed his first shed. He is located in Milwaukee and we do not ship but he can go to Tinley! A baby Mexican black milksnake is unusual in rescue so if you are looking for a fun colubrid pet let us know!

08/26/2024

Geckos.... Why did it have to be so many geckos....

HA! If you know me well, you are now laughing. Figured another update on the pookie doodles... The leopard geckos are kicking ass man! The crestie has FINALLY p**ped which means I got that metabolism going. The gargoyle is finally eating the CGD for me. It is super sketchy, so trying to keep him in a quieter corner so he has less chaos when I am in the room and only sees me when I come to do his cage.

But my Leopards. Mang, those little bad boys are rocking. And Ima be honest, either they are still really weak or I have an exceptionally nice batch of geckos here. I have two so far that are a lil flighty but I have a few that I can easily say would make fantastic first time gecko pets for kids. I mean, they haven't bit me yet and you ALL who know me, know what that says. The ones I am holding actually are somewhat friendly and seem to approach me for handling.

All the leopards are now eating daily and I go in there a few times giving them a few worms. When I do main feed and clean, I I look everyone over, if they are at the front of the tub looking at me and their cage is empty, they get 5 more. If when I go back in the room, they hit the front of the tub and it's empty, they get more. Their urates are finally looking white like they are supposed to but their f***s is still a thing of nightmares however they are starting to improve and look a bit like they should. I expect about 2 more weeks and I should see normal waste. This is fairly common when you restart the digestive system of a starved animal. In the beginning when they start eating again, their body holds everything back as a defense in case it is going to starve again. Then when it eats for a while, it slowly starts releasing the bad stuff that it has been holding back forever just in case there was some nutrition it could process.

Im expecting the geckos to be ready to go late September/Early October. They could be brought to the Tinley show if anyone is interested.

When the snakes p**p and I am ready to feed em again, I will get some pics and video as well! All three will def make a good recovery. Both the Milk snake and the King snake are great starters as well and if they keep eating like they are now, they will be great keepers!

Here's a few updated kids with their intakes.

I'm going to add this here at the end of these posts in case some people aren't aware of the situation. Remember, these came in on August 6, we just got custody Friday but have been handling their care with MADACC after they were seized from what I have coined hell house. In case you missed the initial news report https://www.wisn.com/article/city-workers-discover-dozens-dead-dogs-reptiles-inside-milwaukee-home/61818757 there was one in the journal as well. That was it. No the guy is not in custody. They do not know where he is. There were more than 50 dead dogs there. I have filed my reports from the scene, intake and some of my notes from their care with the MADACC, the police and
the DA. I am willing to testify if they catch him, press charges and it goes to court. There were 16 live reptiles and 2 live dogs that made it out. These are the sorts of situations Small Scale Reptile Rescue exists for.

08/23/2024

I GOT CUSTODY MOTHER FU***RS

Sooooo what we got is going to stay in foster for a bit in the MKE area except a few that may need medical.

I've been vague about what we got since they came in, so here is the full list of animals taken in from Hell House of Death.

2 live dogs (not in the custody of small scale reptile rescue) as of today

1 Snapping Turtle - this will be transferred

1 axolotl - going to an educational program
1 african clawed frog
7 leopard geckos - all extremely starved
1 crested gecko - starved and going to medical.
1 gargoyle gecko - not as bad as the rest
1 Hondouran Milk Snake - exceptionally emaciated.
1 California Kingsnake - very emaciated
1 brazilian blue - Liz gets dibs on all our tarantulas since she also fosters our red eared sliders. You want dibs on my s**t, start fostering red eared sliders and you get first dibs. Liz is going to rehab and keep the T.
1 very very wee African House Snake. - not too rough. Need SMALL SMALL SMALL FEEDERS! HOOK A SISTA UP! I tried the smallest I had. I need small! finally hydrated sooooo should feed soon.

Everything is eating except for house snake because I cant find small enough or it is not eating. Im open to suggestions. I mean the house snake is literally the smallest thing in the house. I have had baby garters here bigger than this. It is active and alert and finally hydrated.

Hopefully these will be ready to be adopted by the time Tinley rolls around in case anyone is looking for just pet type of animals...

So chapter one of Hell House is in the books.

1. Report to DA - DONE
2. CUSTODY EARNED
3. now we wait for them to catch the mother fu**er.... He is out there on the loose.

08/10/2024

We have received a few calls and messages regarding this situation. Yes we are assisting MADACC with this situation. At this time we have NO COMMENT. It currently is an active investigation and we do not have custody of the animals. We are offering support to MADACC by providing whatever they need in regarding to food, housing and care needs. There are 16 animals we are currently providing for while they are at MADACC. We will accept all animals into our rescue when they can transfer them legally and then we can share more details. There are a variety of animals from snakes to lizards to amphibians. All animals will need a period of rehab but will be made available for adoption at some time.

Once again as this is an ongoing investigation, we can not comment on this at all at this time unfortunately. If you would like to make a donation toward the care, please feel free to message us.

This is the work we specialize in now.

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