Self-proclaimed ‘snake guy’ rescues and rehabilitates reptiles in need

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — From our skies, to the mountains, and open fields, Montana's wildlife ensure a vibrant and healthy environment.

As predators and prey, reptiles play an essential role in the balance.

Montana Reptile Rescue's director and chief executive officer, Jeremy Allestad protects and rehabilitates both native and non-native reptile species.

Jeremy started the non-profit in Great Falls eight years ago.

But his passion for reptiles began long before that.

When he was six-years-old, Jeremy rescued a garter snake from the neighbor's yard.

He brought it to a safe place in the wild and set it free.

“Then I started having all the neighbors ask me to come get snakes out of their yard,” he said, “anything from little bull snakes all the way up to rattlesnakes.”

Not many people want to handle snakes.

But Jeremy liked reptiles of all sorts.

In elementary and high school, he read every book on reptiles that he could find.

He did his own field studies.

“I'd go out in the field and interact with them, and see how they act,” he said. “I dedicated all of my high school career and my young adult life to learning about them.”

Demand for his services grew.

“I went from the neighborhood friend who would take care of them,” he said, ” to ‘Hey can you come way out of town and remove these rattlesnakes? ‘So, I’d go do that, and then someone else would call me, and then someone else would call me.”

He started getting more and more requests.

“Then people started bringing me their pets,” he said. “We can’t take care of these anymore,” they would say. “You’re the snake guy.”

” So, I was like well, I guess I’ve got to live with that,” said Jeremy. ” So, I went full in on it. I made a business.”

That's when he started Montana Reptile Rescue.

The rescue has several missions.

All reptiles get a health checkup.

Animals that people relinquish, are rescued, or abandoned, are given a health evaluation, and are treated if necessary,.

“We get the animal back up to whatever health it needs to be in,” said Jeremy. “Then we find a forever home for it.”

His rescued rattlesnakes get new homes.

They are taken to protected relocation dens.

Jeremy does population checks for the state.

“ I’ll weigh the snakes, gender them, and give information back to the state,” he said.

From that information he said, they can learn “this population over here is healthy, and this population isn't that healthy, and here's why.”

A major part of his mission is education.

He spends a lot of time in schools.

“I teach kids about the native snakes of Montana,” he said, ” and really just how to respect wildlife.”

Jeremy took NBC Montana to the Ranger Station at Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls to meet Juniper.

Juniper is a large bull snake.

From the station window he greets her.“Hi baby. You’re coming up as I’m saying your name.”

Jeremy donated Juniper to the park so people can learn more about her species.

He calls her a bull snake “ambassador.”

He also showed us a bull snake that he is rehabilitating after it was caught in a mousetrap in someone's garage.

He said the callers thought she was a rattlesnake.

“Bull snakes look similar to rattlesnakes,” said Jeremy. ” But rather than relying on a rattle they’ll hiss real loud. They’ll shake their tail. They’ll start shaking it and then they’ll hiss real loud.”

“The idea,” he said, “is don’t touch me. I’m a rattlesnake.”

That snake who found herself caught in that trap is recovering well.

She will soon be released back into the wild.

“These guys can get six to eight feet long at full grown,” he said of the bull snake. “They’re one of the largest native North American snakes. So, if you ever see one of these guys on the road or out in the backcountry, they’re very good.”

“They’re really good rodent control,” he said, “They should be left alone.”

Another bull snake that Jeremy is caring for is recovering after someone mistook him for a rattlesnake.

Jeremy said they tried to drown him in a mud hole.

The snake still has mud up one of his nostrils, which Jeremy is working to remove.

“Right now, he’s very scared of humans,” he said.

Jeremy was glad to see that the snake had shed its skin.

He gently removed the skin from the snake's enclosure.

“Can I take that without you biting?” he asked the snake in a soft voice.

“He's very curious about what I'm doing,” he said of the stressed animal .

Then the reptile hissed and lunged at the air.

“There you go,” said Jeremy, “That right there, that’s the defense.”

Once Jeremy has determined the snake has recovered, the reptile will be good to go back home.

“This is a Western Hognose,” he said, holding a smaller snake. “These are another native snake to Montana. They are the only scavenger snake species on earth to purposely go out of their way to eat dead stuff.”

There's another unique feature to the Hognose.

“Whenever they feel threatened, they’ll hiss at you and act almost like a little rattlesnake,” said Jeremy. “When that fails, they roll over. They stick their tongue out. They’re the only snake species on earth that plays dead.”

Jeremy also showed us a Terrestrial garter snake and a Plains garter snake.

The Plains garter is the same kind of snake Jeremy rescued when he was six.

The Terrestrial garter snake, he said “are really common on the Missouri River. Really common.”

Jeremy tells us that Montana has ten native snake species and six native lizard species.

All of them are important elements to the health of our ecosystem.

But not all of Jeremy's charges are native.

During the interview, Jeremy had one of his favorite animals draped across his shoulders.

“This is Echo, an Argentine black and white Tegu,” he said. “She came in as a rescue a few months back.”

Her eastern Montana owner could no longer take care of her.

“They’re a problem in Florida because they’re invasive and they’re able to survive outside,” he said. “In Montana it’s too cold. We don’t have the proper humidity and we don’t have the proper heat year round.”

Jeremy is considering keeping Echo as a pet.

They like each other.

He said the Tegu has the same intelligence as dogs.

“They can form bonds,” he said. “They can form social connections.”

Jeremy acquires a number of animals that people buy and decide they can't take care of.

He shows us one such animal, an African Sideneck turtle.

Because they're cute, he said, many people buy these turtles on impulse, then decide they don't want them.

Taking care of a reptile is a lot of responsibility.

“The biggest thing I try to teach people,” said Jeremy, ” is before you buy make sure you’re dedicated to the animal.”

Take it from ‘The Snake Guy.'

All animals deserve our attention and respect.