Stolen reptiles returned to Southern Colorado shop a month after theft

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- A reptile store owner is relieved after recovering some stolen animals. Last month thieves were caught on camera burglarizing a Colorado Springs Reptile Store.

The thieves stole snakes and bearded dragons worth approximately $4,000.

Luckily, the reptiles are back with their rightful owner but, they faced a strange journey home.

Ronald Bohnert the owner of Scales N Tails said it all started with a phone call.

"On Monday, we received an anonymous phone call that, somebody had dropped off the snakes to a friend. and then they couldn't get a hold of their friend to get the snakes back," said Bohnert.

Bohnert agreed to take the reptiles but as a precaution, he asked for photos and that's when things took an interesting turn.

"When we saw the pattern of the snakes, we instantly knew at least one of the snakes was ours. And then we matched up the patterns with the others, and we knew exactly that these animals were the stolen animals," said Bohnert. "A total of five ball pythons stolen, we received four of those ball pythons back. There was a total of, six beer dragons stolen. And we received two of the bearded dragons back."

It's unknown what conditions the reptiles lived in but they were in good health when they were returned to Scales N Tails.

"The person that brought them in had them in, like, a cardboard box and a small cage. So not ideal situations, but the animals, did appear that they had been taken care of. So they were healthy. They weren't dehydrated."

The reptiles are being monitored closely and won't be up for adoption any time soon.