Rose Reptile Rehabilitation & Rescue

Rose Reptile Rehabilitation & Rescue Do you have a reptile or pet you can no longer care for? Lost or found exotic need trapping?? FWC approved & happy to help all situations. Call 954-837-8931

I pride myself on providing above requirement for all individuals that we are blessed to care for.

05/29/2026

Not every bird at the feeder wants sunflower seeds. The feeder you bought, the seed you filled it with, and the height you hung it at determine which species show up — and which ones fly past.

The titmouse takes one seed, flies to a branch, holds it with her feet, and hammers it open. The chickadee caches seeds in bark crevices and retrieves them weeks later. The blue jay buries acorns — and the ones he forgets become oak trees.

🌿 The birds most feeders miss:

Mourning doves and juncos feed on the ground. A tube feeder means nothing to them. Scatter millet below the feeder and they appear.

The goldfinch wants nyjer seed in a tube with small ports — not the sunflower hopper the cardinal uses.

The hummingbird wants sugar water at a 4-to-1 ratio. No red dye. Changed every two to three days.

Match the food to the bird. The species list changes overnight 🐾

05/29/2026

STRESS. Please note that stress is a major cause of illness and death in eclectus parrots. Often parrot owners do not recognize stress in their eclectus parrot because eclectus parrots do not show stress like most other parrots. Eclectus are very quiet and still, not moving or vocalizing when stressed, so an owner may not realize their eclectus is stressed.

Stress can be caused by many different things, such as including major changes in the environment, such as introduction of a noisy barking dog that yaps at the bird in his cage. Or moving the cage so it is fully in front of a window where the bird then feels exposed to potential predators. Or hanging a photo of a hawk or eagle in the room...this actually happened! A bird owner acquired a fine large photo of an eagle and hung the photo on the wall in the room where the parrot was located. This caused ongoing stress and upset by the bird until the photo was removed!

A major cause of severe stress can be so serious that death is the result. This has happened too many times when bird owners did not understand the danger. When a pet eclectus parrot is taken to the vet for an exam or tests, and the vet insists that the bird be taken into a back room without the owner present, then the stress that bird experiences is greatly increased as the bird is handled by the vet and a vet tech, perhaps toenails trimmed, perhaps blood taken, and the eclectus DIES right in the hands of the vet or tech. This has happened far too often to healthy eclectus parrots.

There is NO good reason for an avian veterinarian to take a bird into a back room without the owner.

Over the years I have been present in the room when my vet has done all procedures, including surgery, and none of my eclectus have died during these veterinary procedures. When your bird can see you, your bird feels far less stress. Please stay with your bird.

05/29/2026

5 Caterpillars You May Want to Keep in Your Garden

Some caterpillars look like trouble at first glance. They chew leaves, gather in groups, or appear on plants we care about.

But many are not just “pests.” They are young butterflies and moths, and some also help feed birds and support a healthier garden.

Before removing one, identify it first.

1️⃣ Tomato hornworm

This large green caterpillar becomes the five-spotted hawk moth, a big night-flying nectar feeder often mistaken for a hummingbird. If you see tiny white cocoons on its back, do not remove it. Those are braconid wasp cocoons, and the wasps help reduce future hornworm populations.

2️⃣ Parsley worm

The green, black, and yellow caterpillar on parsley, dill, fennel, or carrot tops becomes an eastern black swallowtail butterfly. It may nibble your herbs, but planting a little extra gives both you and the butterflies enough to enjoy.

3️⃣ Eastern tent caterpillar

The silk tents in cherry, apple, and related trees can look messy. Still, these native caterpillars provide early food for many birds raising young. Healthy trees often recover after feeding ends, though young or stressed trees may need protection.

4️⃣ Gulf fritillary caterpillar

Bright orange with black spines, this caterpillar looks intimidating but does not sting. It feeds on passionflower vines and may chew them heavily. In return, you get the brilliant orange Gulf fritillary butterfly.

5️⃣ Woolly bear

This fuzzy fall caterpillar becomes the Isabella tiger moth. It feeds on many low-growing plants, including grasses, weeds, and wild plants. It is not a major threat to most garden crops, and it survives winter with remarkable cold tolerance.

A chewed leaf is not always a loss.
Sometimes, it is the beginning of a butterfly.

05/29/2026

What you did right this month — and what the yard did with it.

You left the leaf litter under the shrubs.
→ Firefly larvae completed the pupal stage underneath it.

You left the dead branch on the oak.
→ A chickadee nested in the cavity and fed her chicks from it all month.

You didn't spray the caterpillar web.
→ Dozens of bird species fed from it. The tree releafed on its own.

You left a bare patch of soil near the fence.
→ Ground-nesting bees moved in.

You left a dish of wet mud near the wall.
→ The barn swallow rebuilt.

You didn't mow the back edge.
→ The tall grass gave fireflies a place to flash and fledglings a place to hide.

🌿 None of this cost anything. No purchase, no project, no permit.

The things you didn't do mattered more than the things you did. The leaf litter you didn't rake. The branch you didn't cut. The edge you didn't mow.

The yard noticed 🐾

05/11/2026

The glow in your child’s jar looks magical.
But for the firefly, it’s a race against time.

Most adult fireflies live just 1–3 weeks.
Many don’t eat during this stage. They rely on energy stored from their larval life.

They have one job:
→ Send out a precise light signal
→ Find a mate that answers back
→ Reproduce
→ Lay eggs in moist soil
→ Complete their life cycle

A jar interrupts that process.

Inside a container:
1️⃣ Airflow is limited, causing stress
2️⃣ Heat can build up, even on cool evenings
3️⃣ Moisture drops quickly → dehydration risk
4️⃣ Stress can weaken or stop their flashing
5️⃣ Their signals can’t reach potential mates
6️⃣ Many never reproduce

A better way to experience them:
1️⃣ Observe without collecting
2️⃣ For a quick look, gently hold one briefly, then release
3️⃣ Show kids that the real magic happens in the open air
4️⃣ Sit low in the grass at dusk—the show comes to you

Why fireflies are disappearing:
1️⃣ Artificial light disrupts their signals
2️⃣ Pesticides harm soil-dwelling larvae
3️⃣ Habitat loss removes the damp, natural spaces they need
4️⃣ In some places, collection pressure adds stress

How to help:
1️⃣ Let parts of your yard grow a little wild
2️⃣ Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights
3️⃣ Skip chemical pesticides
4️⃣ Leave leaf litter—it's critical habitat

A jar holds the insect.
But it loses the moment.

The real magic lives in the dark. ✨

05/11/2026

Five plants most people pull out of the yard are the only nursery for the caterpillars that become the butterflies you want to see.

Adult butterflies drink from many flowers. Their caterpillars often feed on one plant only.

🦋 Pipevine — heart-shaped climbing vine. The only food pipevine swallowtail caterpillars can eat. The toxins carry into the adult butterfly, making it poisonous to birds for life.

Spicebush — woodland shrub, leaves smell like citrus when crushed. Spicebush swallowtail caterpillars live here disguised as tiny green snakes with fake eyespots.

Pawpaw — small understory tree with tropical-looking leaves. The only host for zebra swallowtail caterpillars in the eastern states.

Hackberry — rough bark, asymmetrical leaves. Hosts caterpillars for four butterfly species at once — hackberry emperor, tawny emperor, question mark, and mourning cloak.

Wild cherry — fast-growing, peeling bark, white spring blossoms. Hosts eastern tiger swallowtail, cecropia moth, promethea moth, and hundreds of other species. One of the most productive caterpillar trees in North America.

The butterfly is the announcement. The caterpillar is the years of work 🌿

04/29/2026

MAY BABY SEASON PREVIEW 🐣

The next 30 days will fill your yard with babies.

WEEK 1 (May 1-7):
Robin fledglings. Bluebird fledglings. Wren fledglings. Cardinal fledglings. All on the ground. All fine. Parents nearby.
Bat pups born in the attic colony.

WEEK 2 (May 8-14):
FAWN SEASON. Spotted. Still. Alone. Don't touch.
Fox kits leaving the den territory — some for good.
Opossum babies dropping off mom's back. Going solo.
Rabbit litter 3 in a new nest.

WEEK 3 (May 15-21):
Chimney Swift chicks climbing the chimney walls.
Oriole chicks begging from the hanging pouch.
Hummingbird chicks leaving a nest the size of a walnut.
FIREFLY ADULTS emerging — the babies that were underground for 2 years.

WEEK 4 (May 22-31):
Bat pups take first flight — three weeks from blind to flying.
Second-brood fledglings everywhere.
Fawn following mom on first routes.
Goldfinch FINALLY starts nesting — latest breeder in the yard.

If it's small and on the ground, it probably doesn't need you.
If it's small and in the same spot for 24+ hours, call a rehabber 🌿

04/29/2026

→ In April, dandelions are often the ONLY food source for early bees
→ 100+ species of native bees visit dandelions
→ Leave ONE patch unmowed until after they've bloomed and gone to seed
→ Within days: mining bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, hover flies, butterflies
→ Your 'weed-free' lawn feeds NO ONE. The dandelion patch feeds hundreds.

04/29/2026

Two hundred species on your half-acre. You've met maybe twelve.

You know the robin, the cardinal, the squirrel. You've seen the rabbit at dusk and the hawk overhead. That's five. You might recognize the chickadee, the blue jay, the chipmunk, the crow, the mourning dove, the house finch, the sparrow. That's twelve.

The other hundred and eighty-eight are here too. They're in the soil, under the bark, inside the leaf litter, along the foundation, in the gutter downspout, beneath every rock and board.

Over a hundred species of insects. Several dozen species of spiders. A handful of amphibians and reptiles. Fungi you can't see. Bacteria you can't count. Nematodes by the millions. Mites by the hundreds of thousands.

Your half-acre is not a lawn with some birds on it. It's a biological station running twenty-four hours a day with a roster deeper than most parks.

You've been mowing the office. Two hundred employees. You know twelve of them by name. 🌿

Address

3800 Hollywood Boulevard
Pensacola, FL
33020

Website

https://www.tiktok.com/@xotaylo

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