Spock's Sanctuary

09/04/2026

Big announcement loading…👀

08/29/2026

Huge shoutout to Dubia.com for their recent giveaway for rescues in the US, as well as their additional donation of a bunch of Hornworms! We really appreciate the support during this time!!

08/20/2026

The World Oddities Expo is in town this weekend and our very talented friend Gregg Bensink is hosting a class there!

If you have ever wanted to learn what goes into articulations like Spock’s skeleton or the other articulations we’ve had around the sanctuary, you should sign up!

08/20/2026

We’re going to do another Frozen Feeder Pop Up at Elevator this weekend! Call for availability before you head our way, just to make sure!

This is at 204 12th St. Des Moines, IA, Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th from 3-6 PM (Parking will be on the South Side on Mulberry St.). Doors will be locked, but we will come out to you if you give us a call at (712)592-0758.

Also if you have any donations we can accept those at this time as well!

08/14/2026

It’s World Lizard Day!

In an effort to highlight more of our stories here at the sanctuary, we wanted to talk about one of the littlest lizards we have here at the sanctuary!

This is Chamille, a chameleon gecko, native to the islands of New Caledonia. This means her species is from the same place as the more common Crested Geckos or Leachianus Geckos. Often, these little lizards are overshadowed by the big guys, but as their care is very similar but in a smaller size, they can make amazing pets as well! They are also surprisingly docile for their size, and don’t tend to be extremely skittish.

As you can tell from the photos, Chamille was born with a pretty severe spinal deformity, but as we have worked with her we have seen that it doesn’t slow her down at all. She gets around just fine, eats, and shows that the little guys can be small but mighty!

Do you have a little lizard that makes your day the same way Chamille does for our staff? Feel free to share them below!

08/08/2026

In truth, both of my jars are overflowing! 😉

07/23/2026

And we wouldn’t have it any other way ❤️

07/23/2026

07/22/2026

5 year old Cole would be freaking out right now… not because he’d be proud, but because back then he was afraid of snakes. 😅

This weekend, while some staff held down the Expo here in Des Moines, two of our staff made the journey up to our friends up at Snake Discovery to acquire their Level 1 Venomous Handling Certifications through The Rattlesnake Conservancy!

The photos below highlight a few of the snakes Cole and Nadia had the opportunity to work with, including an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, a Cottonmouth, and “Daniel Rattle-cliff” a Timber Rattlesnake. Other venomous snakes that were present were a Broadbanded Copperhead and an Eastern Massasagua!

HUGE thanks to the_rattlesnake_conservancy for the opportunity, and Snake Discovery for hosting!!

07/21/2026

Here is the drawing for our raffle that we had over the weekend of both our online and in person ticket purchases!

A HUGE shout out to our donors! Go support them every chance you get! We also want to shout out Split-Tongue Exotics who we forgot to mention in the video for their donation of the invertebrate enclosures in the second drawing!

Thank you to all who support us during this time, we literally could not do it without you!