Making new best friends since 2003.

Our Mission

The purpose of Scales and Tails, Inc is to provide shelter for abused, abandoned and unwanted ferrets; provide necessary medical care and shelter for said ferrets ; provide education to the public on care and to adopt out to new homes when adoption criteria is met and satisfied.

Scales and Tails Rescue was created almost 20 years ago to benefit animals in need of assistance.  Our primary target is ferrets.  We take in abandoned or unwanted pets, get them any necessary medical care, and seek “forever” homes for them.  We are a no kill shelter, and many of our rescues live out the remainder of their lives with us.  We average about 35 ferrets in our care at any given time.

We do not adopt to areas of NYC where ferrets are illegal to own. All adoption applications are reviewed carefully with no guarantee of adoption. We reserve the right to decline an application we feel is not a good home. We also prefer to adopt within NJ and states within our reach, we may make exceptions and will ask that if a closer rescue in your state is open to apply there first.

Scales and Tails also provides a matching service for people seeking to surrender or adopt reptiles.  We receive information about animals and post it on PetFinder.  Any potential adopter must fill out a Scales and Tails application to make sure they can provide a good home to the animal.  Finally, we put the two parties in contact and they can work out the details.

The final component that Scales and Tails provides is education.  Prior to COVID we attended numerous “meet and greets” and pet expos to provide information on ferrets and reptiles.  For now, due to COVID our education is done mainly via email inquiries and our website links.  

Scales and Tails is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation.  Your donation is fully tax deductible.  Thank you very much for your support.

NJ Charity # CH 2314200