"They were just really dehydrated, a lot of them underfed, underweight, some of them had respiratory infections," said Jason Haywood, president of SCHAR.
The 156 ball pythons are the only surviving snakes from the nearly 400 that were taken from the home in January. The conditions inside the home were deplorable. Many of the snakes starved to death. The owner, William Buchman, is awaiting trial for animal cruelty.
"It looked like he had a really nice operation going at one point in time, from what I understand, 2008-2009 he was really prolific, he had all the equipment to do it," said Haywood. "From my understanding he had some personal tragedies in his life, and he just happened to let things get away from him."
The rescue, which runs solely on donations, volunteered to take in the snakes. It hopes to educate the public and change perception about the reptile.
Ball pythons are docile and are great learning tools for kids. Haywood says in the near future he hopes the animals can serve as teaching tools in classrooms across the area.
"My main goal is to put animals back in classrooms, I was a big advocate of it. When I was growing up I got to bring the hamster home, the parrot home for the weekend. I'm kind of hoping that we can start that process again."
