In The Press: Redding Reptiles Survives Devastating Carr Fire In Northern California

Reptiles Magazine was kind enough to help tell our story from the Carr Fire. The details of the story aren't quite perfect, but we believe that the story is worth sharing if it shares even an ounce of hope or happiness. Thank you to the Redding community for your continued support.

Redding Reptiles in Redding, CA had a close call but survived the devastating Carr Fire that has destroyed thousands of buildings and took the lives of several people.

Co-owner Sandra DodgeStreich initially thought that they were safe from the fire, even taking in 30 reptiles from owners who had to evacuate their homes, but it soon became apparent that they would also have to evacuate. When the fire came within a mile of the 1,300 square foot store, DodgeStreich and co-owner Ryan Allinger made the decision to pack up all the reptiles in the store, 210 in all.

"We went to the dollar store and bought all the pillow cases they had (about 60) and put snakes (balls, corns, etc...and lizards (adult Bearded Dragons, blue tongue skinks, uromastyx, chuckwallas, Nile monitor) in them," DodgeStreich told ReptilesMagazine.com.

"We also went to Home Depot and bought over $200 of a variety of sizes of tubs. We tried to be organized by marking tubs. Babies went together (beardies, geckos, snakes). It took us five hours to pack and move them to our home with the help of some customers. We live about three miles from our store thinking we would be safe there."

But the fire relented, and they had to move the animals several times by July 28 and in the process, Eres, a 14-foot lavender albino reticulated python somehow managed to squeeze its way out of her temporary tub, even though about 200 pounds of snakes were stacked on top of Eres' tub.

You can read the rest of the story here: Redding Reptiles Survives Devastating Carr Fire In Northern California