Route 66 Reptiles

08/07/2026

Male Lilly White Crested Gecko

08/04/2026

07/11/2026

2nd litter of Kenyan Sand Boas.

07/10/2026

Baby Splash Albino Kenyan Sand Boa Female

06/22/2026

First baby Kenyan Sand Boas of the year

06/16/2026

A total of 42 rare Eastern indigo snakes have been intentionally released into the wild to help restore ecosystems. 🐍✨

The release took place across two states, with 21 juvenile snakes introduced to The Nature Conservancy's Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve in the Florida Panhandle on April 28, and another 21 released into Alabama's Conecuh National Forest on May 8. This massive conservation effort is part of a captive breeding program designed to return North America's longest native snake to its historic habitats.

The non-venomous apex predators were bred and hatched at the Central Florida Zoo's Orianne Center for Indigo Conservation and raised alongside partner facilities. The young snakes are cared for and monitored for about two years to support their growth before they are returned to the wild. Eastern indigo snakes play a major role in keeping ecosystems balanced by eating rodents, birds, and even venomous snakes.

The species suffered a severe decline and was largely eliminated from northern Florida due to habitat loss and destruction, with the last snake spotted at the Florida preserve in 1982 until recovery efforts began in 2017. Recent winter and spring field surveys have brought incredibly encouraging news, revealing a female snake from a 2019 release, 19 other reintroduced snakes, a six-foot male, and two wild-born hatchlings. Biologists note that these findings prove the snakes are successfully surviving, finding each other, and reproducing to form self-sustaining populations in their native range.