Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a precious little dragon named Storm. She was rescued from a very bad situation from a pet shop. She had very extensive MBD and was very malnourished. She was so hungry, she would try to eat anything that moved, she went after my feet, my turtle, and even the chairs when we moved them. She has many deformities and she has trouble walking, but I am very glad to say that today she is a very happy little dragon. She is still very small even though I have had her for 2 years and I doubt she will get much bigger simply because if her condition as a baby. She loves to sit on the bed and look out the window all day long and if a person sits down on the bed, she'll run over and climb on their lap. She is so spoiled now, that she thinks it is her "right" to sleep on the bed with me and she won't eat, unless she is hand fed! She has another female companion who fight for Ajax's (the male) affectionsand they cuddle up at night together to sleep. She now has a happy life. So the moral to my story is... even though my little Storm doesn't have awesome colors and she has a nipped tail and crooked legs, she still deserved to have a good life and not be starved to death. If any of you ever get the chance to "save" a beardie from this kind of treatment, please do it. It is worth it and you will have unconditional "love" from your beardie even if they aren't the "jewel in the crown". They are still very special little dragons. I just wanted to share my story of a special little dragon named Storm.

Great story..It sounds like Storm is not only special, but so you!
-----
TheClassyLizard

Sounds like there should be more people like yourself around. Good job bringing the beardie back to good health.

A word to the wise. If you "rescue" an animal from a pet shop please remember you are only supporting that pet shop and helping allow them to buy more animals that will suffer. Please keep that in mind before you buy any more animals from pet shops that seem to be suffering.

Here's a link that explains in detail.

[url=http://www.anapsid.org/pettrade/petstorerescues.html]rescues[/ur/]
-----
Rob

rescues
-----
Rob

I am not saying we should all just barge into every pet shop and demand better treament or else. I am not even saying that whenever you walk into a shop and they have sick animals that you should buy them. The whole point to my post was that Storm had been a huge blessing in my life and I think it is her way of saying "thank you". I was just saying that sometimes when you do something that you think is right, you will be rewarded down the road.

Sometimes stores will just give you the animal for free if you point out that they really messed up.

And sometimes the manager gets fired by the corporation because they refused to change the situation after several people comaplained about the ill treament of the reptiles. Action works! Trust me!

Shortly after this, there were great changes at that place to say the least.

Thank you for doing what you did. It takes a special person to take in a sick animal and provide the love and care it needs to bring it back to health. I applaud you in your efforts! Great job!

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

that have to overcome some adversity are the most bonded to you because of it. nice colors are good to look at, but a personality can not be tinted and means so much more

bringing that animal back to health. When I read your paragraph I got the impression you were suggesting people save dragons from pet shops whenever they get the chance. From what I've read, the majority of the time, it's not a good idea to have that attitude.

Think about it on a larger scale, if you would. Take a huge company that is selling sick dragons all over the place. Would it be best to buy as many of those dragons as you can to "rescue" them or to try and boycott the company and buy nothing from them? Buy the dragons and I guarantee you'll have more sick dragons out there than you know what to do with. Boycott the business, they lose money and either must change something or go out of business.

I know there are situations out there that would benefit by "rescuing" a dragon and if you feel it in your heart to do so then you can't ignore that. I just want other readers to understand what I have read and think about the big picture and what will help the majority before making those kinds of decisions.

Can I get some experience to back me up here?
-----
Rob

I understand what you are saying. I agree that you shouldn't give money to fund more sick animals, but that wasn't really the point to my post and I guess I didn't communicate my intent well. We took action against this particular pet store (I won't mention the name)all the way to the corporate level and because of what we did the were required to make ammends. Unfortunately, things don't always go the way that we hope and I doubt that on a large scale much was changed throughout the entire world as a whole, BUT for this one particular pet store in this one particular town and the animals therein, things were changed and people got in trouble for their treatment of the animals. You have to fight the "war" one battle at a time and slowly changes will be made. Sometimes you have to pick your battles and sometimes you have to let things go. I just happened to pick a battle that day two years ago and won. Like I said before, I am NOT suggesting we all crusade out to pet stores and buy up their animals to give them a better life. I was simply saying that even though my Storm won't win any beauty contests and most people on this forum would probably think she is "ugly", there is more to a dragon's life than being "pretty and having great colors". She has been an over all joy in my life and for many people that have gotten to know her. That was the whole point to my post. You can even carry that over to people you meet on the street. You never know what you will mean to them that day when you decide to smile, or go out of your way to do something nice. It may come back to you someday, and you will be blessed by what you did. That was my whole intention that day when I wrote the post. I had a blessed day and I wanted to pass it on to others here on the Bearded Dragon Forum since I hadn't been around lately. I wasn't trying to insight a crusade.

of person I really do admire. Honest. And what you did for the animals in your area is awesome. Sounds like you have the kind heart a lot of animals will benefit from in the time to come.

I admit my post shed somewhat of a cloud on the nature of your story and I do feel bad about that. The last thing you should be getting is any kind of criticism after the good thing you have done.

Please don't hesitate to share more of those stories in the future.
-----
Rob

I do admit you came off the wrong way, but you were trying to express your opinion and I definetly respect that a lot. Not many people share "informed" opinions these days. All too often people express opinions based on little factual information and just on emotion and while emotion plays a big part of personal beliefs, you have to have a little evidence to back your arugument. You defintely had evidence! I personally believe that animals are best left alone in the wild to live their lives as intended, but that hasn't happened via the whole pet trade for thousands of years. Since we can't stop animals from being domesticated then we should focus on giving them the best possible "captive" life (if their is such a thing as a good "captive" life). I looked at the website link that you posted and it had some good points. Sometimes it just seems like the problem is too big and there will never be a solution, but every little part that a person does to find a solution helps! I guess all this to say, you argument against "rescuing" pet shop animals was received, processed, and agreed upon! I just read back over my first post, and I guess I didn't clearly state the meaning of it! My intention was to give the little dragon some lime light for being a sweetheart, but it defintely did come off as a call to crusade, so I understand your intial reaction! Apology accepted and I hope that you will continue to question things like this! It is good for respectful arguments to take place!That's how we all learn!