Our program Cade’s Chaotic Colubrids celebrates our zero-legged, cold-blooded friends. Although we love and include pythons, we are focused on colubrids (a family of snake that makes up 75 percent of the
world’s population!). Colubrids often get less love in the reptile-aficionado community, in part because they can be more “squirmy” than ball pythons. Our goal is to help people better understand the care of colubrids, and to provide a safe haven for snakes that need to be surrendered. We also offer adoption services.

The program is named in part after Chaos, one of Cade’s most favorite snakes. Chaos was a bit of a mystery — an improbable blend of at least four different colubrid species, including king snake — but she was incredibly docile and was a first-rate ambassador snake for children. She was the only noodle of her clutch that survived to adulthood, and she passed in June 2025 from genetic complications. She’s one of our eternal mascots, as you’ll see from the photo to the right.

Your support of this program keeps the snakes well-fed and well-cared for. It also helps us defray costs associated with hosting periodic educational seminars about snake husbandry. And best of all? You’ll be helping us to house and obtain veterinary care for surrendered animals who need a new home.

Program Milestones

Phase 1 is now in effect — we are managing our existing menagerie and developing training materials (including a book) for public release in the late summer or early autumn of 2025.

Phase 2 is under development. We are in talks with a local real-estate agency to lease space on Plainfield Avenue. If this plan is successful, we will move the existing snakes in September and then begin hosting community discovery
events, adoption events, and on-site surrender and quarantining in late autumn and early winter.

Program Costs

Phase 1 costs roughly $150 per month for basic food and supplies. Intermittent veterinary bills cost between $75 and $1,200 per occurrence, depending on the problem.

Phase 2 will add $2,000 in fixed facility and insurance costs per month.