MIAMI -- Miami Metrozoo offered amnesty over the weekend to people who own exotic pets without a license, and now dozens of animals are looking for a new place to stay.

Dozens of snakes, lizards and tortoises were taken in at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's exotic pet amnesty event over the weekend. A no-questions-asked policy allows illegal pet owners the opportunity to do the right thing.

"We had approximately 70 animals that were turned in, and that is 70 less opportunities that individuals will have to release these animals into the wild," said Jorge Pino of the FWC.

So just what happens to all the exotic animals? Licensed exotic pet handlers like Robert Sonner step in. On his three-acre farm in the Redlands, he has rescued and rehabilitated all kinds of exotic animals. A male tortoise was brought in, and after a short quarantine it will join others in an enclosure.

"People buy them as babies at pet shops and don’t realize how big they grow, and the males can frequently weigh 150 pounds," said Sonner.

The most common animals brought in during the amnesty program are snakes. A 10-foot albino Burmese python was brought in because the owner couldn’t care for it any longer. He also didn’t have the proper license to keep the python, which is a reptile of concern, officials said.

All of the exotic animals turned in will find a home if they are healthy.

"The only way the animal is destroyed is if the animal is in horrific condition and it is turned in that way," Pino said.

"In many cases, when people no longer want an animal, they stop taking such good care of it. So in a lot of cases, the animals come in that have been neglected for a while and now people who want the animals and have the time and want to give them attention and take care of them properly can adopt them," Sonner said.