Odd Pets

Jenn’s Uncommon Critters Rescues the Misunderstood

By Lisa Gregory

Photography by Turner Photography Studio

As its name suggests, Jenn’s Uncommon Critters is not your ordinary animal rescue. No dogs or cats here. Instead, you’ll find lizards, snakes and even scorpions, just to name a few. 

“We saw a need,” says Jenn Lungociu, founder and president, who along with her husband, Brian, started Jenn’s Uncommon Critters a year ago. Today, the Frederick nonprofit animal rescue organization and interactive animal education program has more than 100 animals in its care, including small mammals such as guinea pigs and rabbits. 

“It’s a way to share our love of critters with my passion as a teacher,” says Lungociu, a middle school teacher.

Jenn’s Uncommon Critters often hits the road with “awesome animal ambassadors,” providing a show, tell and touch experience. The ambassador animals have visited breweries and libraries, while also playing host to birthday parties and other activities. Fees from the events support the upkeep of the animals, including housing, feeding and veterinary care. 

Animal ambassadors include bearded dragons, an Indonesian blue-tongued skink, a leopard gecko, ball pythons, a corn snake and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, among others. Among the ambassadors is Oreo, a 6-foot-long boa constrictor. “She’s 3-and-a-half [years old] and still growing,” says Lungociu.

“We want people to learn about them, so they don’t fear them,” she adds. “We have had people who, when they see [snakes], go running off and screaming,” she says. But others, while initially hesitant, have gone on to become snake owners themselves. Still others, says Lungociu, have no hesitation and enjoy the experience of being up close and personal with the animals right from the beginning.

Currently, leopard geckos make up the largest number of rescues at Jenn’s Uncommon Critters. “I think people see leopard geckos as a beginner pet,” Lungociu says. “[But] any type of reptile requires a lot of research and proper housing, lighting, heating,” she says. “When people get into it, they realize just how much care is needed. These guys can live to be over 20 years old.”

When adding a pet to one’s home, Lungociu has three words of advice: “Research, research, research,” she says. 

Among the variety of pets to come through the door at Jenn’s Uncommon Critters, Lungociu says the most unusual for her have been the sugar gliders, a nocturnal gliding possum. “They’re small pets,” she says, “so, they are labeled as pocket pets.” 

The rescue currently has three sugar gliders in its care. “They sleep during the day and if you disturb them there is one who will start chirping,” Lungociu says, smiling. “She sounds like a car alarm. She doesn’t want anyone to disturb her beauty rest.”

But it’s after sundown when the fun really starts. “The sugar gliders will pop out and start exploring and running and jumping and going all over the place—not a pet you would want to keep in your bedroom at night,” Lungociu says.

Despite the late-night shenanigans, she would have it no other way.

“The most rewarding part is helping the animals,” she says. “For some, it’s getting them to a place where safety, food and proper care are available to them. For others, it’s connecting them with a family who loves and spoils them.”

There is Bowser, for example, a lucky bearded dragon who was discovered outside this past winter before coming to Jenn’s Uncommon Critters. “He was adopted in March and is now a happily spoiled dragon who spends his days guarding his family’s business and greeting customers,” says Lungociu.