Meet the team

Welcome to Digs!

"We build habitats for zoo-manity"

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My name is Leslie and I am a seasoned, professional animal keeper with 25 years of experience in caring for, teaching about, and designing habitats for exotic and domestic animals. I have practical experience across all taxa, though I specialize in reptiles and amphibians. My full-time gig is the natural History Museum in LA, Senior Manager of Living Collections. I also worked at LA Zoo in enrichment for 7 years, and have a variety of volunteer experiences with exotic animals.

Thinking of getting a new animal? Want to improve your animal's life? Let me help you plan!
I consult on, design, oversee, and build happy animal habitats, and help with care plans- call me your Animal Care Counselor! Whether it be a total habitat rebuild, or a yard spruce-up with a vet-approved custom care plan, I can find a way to improve the life of an animal and it's caretaker. You can buy whatever you want online, (and I may recommend you do that at times)! But what I provide for you is professional perspective and experience. 

Another amazing feature we offer? A One of a kind service called "Chat With a Vet". Many people have immediate questions about when and if they should see a vet, or just have general questions about nutrition. This online chat is 15 minutes and you can present your situation to an experienced exotic vet, Dr. Holly Richards. She will have some pre-screen questions and suggestions about whether or not it is time to go see a vet close to you. Email for details!

Toad-itat

Just some animals I have created  beautiful  habitats for:

• raptors
• opossums
• rats
• venomous and non venomous snakes
• turtles and tortoises
• terrestrial and aquatic amphibians
• marine aquariums
• pond animals
• tarantulas, and and other invertebrates

Scroll through our blog or use the sidebars to jump around and look at projects we have worked on throughout our careers. 

My teammates are

• Robert Poe, artist, designer, editor. He makes my visions come to life with professional plans, creative use of materials and expert fabrication.
• Friends from all corners of the profession! I have connections to professional aquarists, contractors and biologists to advise me when I need to bend an ear.
• Holly Richards DVM,  provides guidance on my care plans as needed. She is also a seasoned zookeeper and animal trainer.

I'll bring the wild home to you

Let's get your animal into some new digs! 

More about us:

We know that you want to provide the best possible life for your animal(s) and that you want to do it at a fair price. We will consult with you at your home and provide a professional assessment of all aspects of the animal's life including any or all of the following; a secure habitat (indoor or outdoor), filtration, lighting, exercise equipment, enrichment, diet, gardening for your pet, care plans, and veterinary referrals. In most cases, my consult fee is just $75/ hour

We can provide some deliverable items as such as custom built pens, catios, plumbed terrariums/ aquariums and care plans. Our team is extremely creative, experienced and resourceful. We also want to be as sustainable as possible. Let's talk about your dream and your budget!

For needs we cannot provide directly, such as those that require a contractor, we can work with your contract team or recommend and oversee one, and guide them in their work per our agreed upon design choices.

Send us a message! 

BeNiceToSnakes@gmail.com

-Leslie

Sidebar: If you are viewing this on an app, I suggest "use the web version" as the best view of this blog. It will give you additional search terms and a search bar.