Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So what happens to your collection of animals if something happens to you? The reason I ask is I'm working with a lawyer to get a will written. Not that I expect anything to happen to me in the near future... but better safe than sorry. I mentioned that I was having a hard time coming up with what to do with my collection and the lawyer didn't have a clue.

My dearly beloved would not and could not care for the 20 snakes currently in my collection (heck, bless his heart, he can barely scoop a cat box and the snakes scare him somewhat). Some of you may be lucky enough to have a spouse or other loved one who would care for your animals if you were unable to. But for those of you who are in the same boat I am, what would you do? All the other non-living possesions can be easily sold if my hubby doesn't want to cherish the memories... but he wouldn't have a clue as to how to find new homes for the snakes. I hate to think that he'd take them to the local pet store or animal shelter (like he would my psychotic siamese cat after animal control came and tranquilized her). The breeder pairs I have are worth some money I'm sure he could use. There's a local reptile rescue that's an option, but some of these snakes are pretty uncommon and might not be good candidates for adoption since they're more on the difficult side of care.

OK, enough of my rambling. Suggestions any one? And the "just send them all to me" is not an option. My husband wouldn't be able to ship them safely (besides the fact that it could be 20-50 years from now before this actually becomes an issue).

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Lora

That's a damn good question... Here are some random thoughts that hopefully might help. In all of these cases you'd need to check and double check with the recipient.
1. local reptile rescue for the more common easy ones, as well as a nice little posthumous donation, may want to check with them first.
2. Any herp societies or herper friends in your area? That may take care of some...
3. Some small natural history museums and/or wildlife centers might consider a native species or an exceptionally tame specimen you have,
4. If your more unusual types are really unusual, perhaps a zoo may be interested???
and 5. it may be possible to give your critters some kind of financial trust for their care, though caution may have to be taken to ensure that it doesn't attract any unscruplous types.
Just guessing with all of these, but it's worth a try.
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0.1 chickens (Condor)
0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
0.1 Halflinger horse (Crissy)
0.1 Normal phase California Kingsnake (Sophia)
1.1 parents
Still searching for 1.0 WC human

I, fortunately, have a good friend in another state who would be willing to deal with/dispose of my animals in the event of my untimely demise (is there any other kind?).

I think this is an interesting point that everyone needs to keep in mind and plan for. I would hate to see my animals die of neglect or all be put down because noone knew who to call.

Frankly, we should all have this person's contact information available somewhere visible near the animal's cages. Unfortunately, many people die miles from home and it can be hard to coordinate things such as animal care after someone's death.

This is another reason why all of your cages should be labeled with the species of animal they contain.
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Chris Harrison

I never considered labeling the cages for other peoples purposes. I know that anytime anyone is in my snakeroom it's gonna be with me, so that was never a thought.
I have considered this dilemma before though, and I have 2 friends that I know would take custody of the animals and my wife would totally agree to hand them over. They can do what they like with them. My non-vens would go to one, and the hots would go to the other, simply because of the issue of experience and comfort level between the 2.
I havent officially told these 2 guys, it just seems to me that it would be the sensible thing for them to do.
Maybe coming up with a loose draft of my intentions at this time isnt a bad idea. I have lots of expensive guitar equipment too to be dealt with.
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

I have what would amount to an investment level of a collection. I have informed my wife that she should imediately notify a good friend of mine who has a very large collection and alot of customers if I die. He will sell my animals for my wife and take a ten percent cut of the money for his troubles. He also gets first dibs on the animals. My wife has no idea how much they are worth or what kind any of my animals are. She has seen how much I have spent on a pair of animals and almost had a stroke so we don't talk about it. Luckily my friend is as trustworthy as they come so I know that he would get the best prices possible and pay out fair prices for anything he wanted.