Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been seriously thinking about starting a reptile rescue in a couple of years, once I have my own home and a BIG yard. I realize that I am going to need a LOT of education before I can even think about taking this task on. I have been looking for a rescue near me where I can volunteer, but no luck. I would really like to find someone very knowledgeable who would let me apprentice with them. I am willing to clean cages, answer phones, whatever it takes to get to learn through hands-on experience. Does anyone here have any ideas of where to start my search?? I have contacted the local herp society, and they told me to go to Kingsnake. Should I try to contact some of the local breeders? I really don't know where to turn.

Laur

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Yeah, I guess that info would help, wouldn't it??? I am in central florida, just outside of orlando.

Laura

first and see if they know of a rescue near you or if they might like some volunteer work on the weekends, even when the office is closed they have on call staff and the animals need to be fed and cleaned.

Ivan Alfonso, DVM
Kirkman Area Animal Clinic
5633 Metrowes
Orlando, FL 32811
Tel: (407) 295-7547
Fax: (407) 293-6331
Ivan's specialty is Chameleons, some of the nicest in the country, he also has a partner that has bearded dragons and uro's

Bruce Bogoslavsky, DVM
Animal Veterinary Hospital of Orlando
1320 West Oak Ridge Road
Orlando, FL 32809
Tel: (407) 855-7387
He also if I remember has a nephew that helps out in the office at times.

If you were two hours closer, I would put you to work I live in Sarasota

If only I were closer!! I'm sure I could learn a lot from you!! Someone also suggested that I try calling Jungleland Adventures and seeing if they need any volunteers. I've also put a call in to the Central Florida Zoo. I don't mind cleaning up monkey poop if they will let me hang around!! I would even do poop patrol for the elephants! Even if I never got to touch an animal, it would be a learning experience.

I will call those vets tomorrow, as well. It's a shame that I can't find any reptile rescues around here. The nearest one is in Daytona. The two iguana rescues that were here have closed their doors.

Calling the vets is also a great idea! I think I will call both of them in the morning. It would be a joy to clean cages there and feed the poor, sick critters.

Thanks for the advice!!

Laura

I usually only take in three failure to thrive dragons at a time as they take so much care, meds, medical treatment and when they get back on course they out eat any animal around. This summer it just worked out I had 8-10 at a time and I was going crazy and could have used some help. I had sick 8 beardies that came in age 1 year-2 years and 4 that just were slow growers, the sick ones had to be on three meds.... it was like an assembly line when I got home from work at 7 pm to feed, dose each 3 times plus acidophiliz+ each, clean cages, soak each of them, weight, measure, chart everything and spend a little time calming down the scared ones. Some are so leery of people and the change in enviroment althought many times better than they ever had it is still a change and it takes them time to learn to trust me..... LOL once they do they become so clingy, I end up taking care of some with one or two hanging on me....but its great to see them turn around and thrive so well.

Next time I think I will put an ad in the paper for a helper/volunteer that wants to learn lizard care.

Below is one when she arrived at 34 grams on July 1, she was a year old and could not even stand on her back legs and the bottom picture is her 2 months later at 178 grams... a beautiful dragon under all that skin and bones and healthy now.

In this picture, note the eyes difference, once she filled out she had these beautiful eye shapes and white lines over her eyes like eyelashes, in the first picture, you can not even see any tissue over the eyes, she stands and runs all over the place now.

Cheri,

If you are ever overloaded or find yourself in a situation where you have to turn a dragon away because you are too full, please let me know. I could help out with one or maybe two. For right now, I would be afraid to take on a critical one, but once I drain someone else's brain, I would love to drive out to Sarasota!

Laura

proper UVB, supplement, diet and treatment for parasites and worms or are just failing to grow due to genetics and need some extra stimulates like light intensity, GOOD gutload in crickets and the Florida sun helps too.

They need some attention and pampering, the hard part is not getting them on track and healthy again, it's finding homes with people that will not exploit them. So many people look to get them for selling or breeding them to sell the babies. Most the rehab dragons should not be breed... in rare cases we may get some bounce back or grow so well they get to normal or even large size.

Most the ones we take in that do really well go to other owners that have lost their dragons to adenovirus or yellow fungus, we have found that those owners went through so much trying to save their dragons, they make wonderful dedicated owners for the ones we place.

My favorite placement was a 12 year old boy in North Carolina that wants to be a herpetologist or Vet. He lost a dragon after a year long struggle, it was the second he lost and he thought he was doing something wrong and killing them and told his dad he did not want any animals again. We worked with his dad to get a necropsy and found out they had adenovirus... This 12 year old kept a dragon going with that for a year... thats remarkable in itself and shows the degree of care he gave it.

I emailed him and explained about adeno and that he did more than many could have for them. His dad and him drove to Florida to pick up a wonderful healthy male 7 month old from us, that is one lucky dragon today ...... and so spoiled!!

That makes it all worthwhile....... a happy dragon and great young man, best of buddies and both enriched for it.

Below is two dragons that went to owners that had lost dragons through no fault of their own.... with their new owners or buddies

This is Captain Cook

And this is Stewie

That's good, and bad, I guess. It's good that they aren't critical, but bad that so many owners aren't taking proper care of their pets. When you get one that needs a good home, let me know. I would love to have one more, and I don't purchase from pet stores. I would go to a good breeder, but would rather help a rescue.

I found a place to volunteer today, and I am very excited!!! It's at the Orlando Science Center. They have a large reptile section with snakes, aligators, lizards, toads, and turtles. I also get to pick which employee I want to work with. They each have a specialty like habitats, nutrition, gardening, etc... I will even be able to participate in their educational programs for students on field trips! That is what I really want to do. Anything to educate about these animals and the responsibility of having one as a pet. Also, our zoo has a docent program, but that won't start up until March, so I'll have to wait until then to apply.

I did call the vets you mentioned. I left a message for Dr. Alfonso, but Dr. Bruce is out of town for two weeks. Hopefully, I can get in touch with one of them and help out there, too. Who knows, maybe I can eventually become a vet tech.

Thanks for your help!!
Laura
Please help these rescues!!

Good for you. I volunteer at the local humane society. Contrary to popular belief they tend to get a decent amount of herps in. Mostly Iguanas and larger snakes. They also have a tendency to be inadequately prepared to keep such animals which is where volunteers come in. Also, I noticed a banner about the "Rescue Network" above the bearded dragon forum maybe check that out?

Peter