Given their line of work, the snake experts at Rattlesnake Solutions in Arizona encounter, well, a lot of snakes. It takes an incredibly unique reptile to phase these animal lovers. And so it was a pretty spectacular moment when, just recently, Rattlesnake Solutions staff members were sent a picture from a fellow rescuer that made their jaws drop.

“We were shocked,” Rattlesnake Solutions owner Bryan Hughes told The Dodo. “[We] weren’t quite sure what we were looking at.”

Hughes couldn’t get to her quickly enough.

“I dropped everything I was doing and rushed down there,” Hughes said.

The original rescuer at the scene, Marissa Maki, had responded to a call about a western diamondback rattlesnake found on someone’s property. When she arrived, Maki realized that the snake’s coloring looked completely different from any western diamondback she’d seen before.

“It’s as if the lines that dictate where a pattern repeats and originates from are missing or backwards,” Hughes said. “Each side of the snake’s body has its own version of a normal western diamondback rattlesnake pattern, but they do not intersect, and [they] seem to grow outward rather than run along the back like a normal snake. It gives the appearance of circles or disconnected rings all over the snake. It’s also missing the typical facial stripes, and the color is very peachy in between rings, especially towards the tail.”

Here’s a comparison of this snake versus a typical western diamondback:

Hughes and his team aren’t sure why this snake has such a distinct pattern, but they have some theories.

“We were able to find other instances of this mutation happening in the same general area in the past, from photos taken by others who didn’t know what it was either,” Hughes said.

Hughes speculates that land development in the area could be a factor, as habitat fragmentation might lead to inbreeding between snakes, reducing the gene flow and causing these recessive genes to be expressed.

Since the snake was found in a very dangerous area, experts are keeping her cozy in their rescue facility for now, where they’ll continue to humanely study her and learn as much about her as they can.

Safe and sound, this exceptional snake is getting the care she needs and astounding everyone she meets along the way.

Last August, when Cleft Pup Brigade posted a photo of Harold, a 4-month-old French bulldog, foster mom Andrea felt compelled to take him in. The little guy wasn’t like other pups — he was completely hairless with pink, inflamed skin that required serious care — but Andrea was willing to go the extra mile for him.

“We saw him on their Instagram and immediately fell in love with him,” Andrea told the Dodo in a recent video. “I said, ‘I know that I can get this puppy turned around.’”

Andrea welcomed Harold home, and as she fell more in love with the pup, her heart broke knowing just how much he’d been through in his first few months.

“Harold is not a hairless Frenchie; he just doesn’t have hair because he was rescued from a severe neglect case,” Andrea said. “For him to go from birth to the state he was in, that is just such a concentrated amount of time for a small puppy to be in discomfort.”

Harold was in desperate condition, but he luckily landed a foster family determined to care for him. They immediately started him on a skincare regimen that involved three essential steps.

“We gave him [medicated] baths every other day, and he was, like, so comfortable in the bath. He just likes being warm,” Andrea said. “And then we would slather him with lotion because that was what was gonna help that hair growth. And then we would put T-shirts or sweaters on him just to kind of soak it in extra.”

The resilient pup was grateful for his therapeutic baths and cozy sweaters. Thanks to his foster parents’ tireless care, Harold’s skin quickly improved, and his personality blossomed.

“After a week or two, we started to notice his peach fuzz growing back all over his body,” Andrea said. “It was really quickly after we brought him into our foster care that we could see that he just had this incredible personality. It’s almost like he enjoys making people laugh.”

The only thing Harold loved more than making his foster parents laugh was being nestled in their arms.

“He loves to be held,” Andrea said. “We would take him to a lot of places, and we would hold him really close to us.”

Sometimes, while accompanying his family on an outing, Harold would be mistaken for someone completely different.

“When he wasn’t fully potty trained, sometimes we would have a diaper on him, and people would say, ‘I saw you sitting over there, and I thought you were holding a baby,’ or ‘I thought you were holding a Sphynx cat.’”

Passersby were always shocked to learn he was just a Frenchie recovering from a difficult past. Still, Harold delighted everyone he met — including his new forever family.

“We found a perfect family for him, and they have a dog already named Hippolita, who’s a very beautiful bully breed, and she and Harold at the meet-and-greet were so sweet together and so playful,” Andrea said. “[Harold’s] a puppy. He’s a wild puppy, but she was so patient with him. We knew that that was gonna be a perfect home for Harold.”

As Andrea predicted, Harold adapted to his new family seamlessly. And he’s been enjoying life with them ever since.