Who welcomes rescues?

[snakewispera snr]

I was just wondering how many of you accept rescues? We rescued a couple of snakes a few years ago (well housed them really, I can't call them proper rescues as they were in no real danger).
But as our collection has grown we have become more insular and scared of unknown snakes entering our little zoo....All the snakes we take now are well researched and the breeders are known to us, they quarantine the animals for a while prior to collection then we quarantine until we feel they should be *accepted* into the fold........
Recently we were shown a pair of corns that were no longer wanted, all we (Joel and I) could do was advise the owner on how he should be looking after them, and advertise that the pair were available . We didn't want to take the chance on bringing home an unknown quantity.....
So how many of you are as anal as us, or do you rescue everything offered.
I'd be interested to read your thoughts on rescues.....

 

[RobbiesCornField]

IMO, all "rescues" should be taken in without question. Of course, they should be quarantined, and checked out by a vet, but it's worth it if the animal is suffering in its current environment.

 

[v_various]

I would love too, but I don't have the room (after I got suckered into taking 2 unwanted snakes already).
There are two rescues in Vancouver so it's unlikely any snakes will have *nowhere* to go, but of course if any snakes needed a help I would do what I could. Even if it was a just a normal corn snake, I would probably try and re-home it though.

 

[Roy Munson]

I don't accept rescues in general. But today some family members found an injured Eastern Milk on a bike ride. His jaw was misaligned, and he seemed to have a neck problem as if he'd been glanced by a car tire or run over by a bike. He realigned his jaw, and then the neck problem seemed to disappear. But then he had a regurge with some blood in it, and then his condition seemed to deteriorate. He's alive at the moment, but very limp and unresponsive. I doubt he'll make it.

 

[tom e]

I have none, but I'm not really in a circle of herp keepers other than you guys, lol. Honestly though, I don't think I'd take anything in that I didn't want anyway. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh, I wish them all the best, I just don't have the space.. I'd view anything I took in as taking a spot for something I don't have and want.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

I'm with you, Mike. I very rarely take on "rescues" because of the risk of contamination. Yes, you can quarantine, but unless you have a completely separate building, you're still putting your animals at risk.

 

[Maize411]

I would always take in an animal that is in need of help..but unfortunately I don't have much room in my house...The last rescue I had was for my Uromastyx..and he's coming along great :0)

 

[ghosthousecorns]

I'm also paranoid about exposing my collection to new snakes though of course I use quarantine procedures to minimize the risk. I have rescued and taken unwanted snakes before. It's the rare exception to the rule that I do so though.
I am really against purchasing snakes in need of rescue from petstores, the store will just get another one and treat it the same.
What drives me crazy, and I don't know if it happens in other towns as well, but here I am always seeing ads in craigslist offering to take unwanted reptiles, and then I see ads offering reptiles for sale. I'm not sure it's the same person but the location is the same. I think it's "so called" rescuers that are really resellers.

 

[DaGiant]

:wavey: Yeah I have and still do.. they are quarentined in a different room
and checked over completely! Some make it & do well.. others...
well others aren't so lucky.. no matter how hard You try,
can't save them all.! But we try everything possible.
I have my regular group and my pet only group.
Against common sense at times and definitly against my other
halfs wishes I will try to make their lifes easier/better..
I have rehomed many that have been rescued. That is my main goal for most
is to find a terrific "Forever home" for them.

 

[KatNPat]

Well, i always have an ad up accepting reptiles in need of rehoming. I also inform them that these animals may be rehomed. I don't do it to make money, i do it because so many people who want to get rid of a reptile often don't care where it goes. This way i can make sure they get placed in a safe environment. I have 2 separate rooms at opposite ends of my house, one for my pets and the other for quarantining purposes. I can understand the concerns regarding rescues but i have seen too many reptiles that are suffering from not having adequate lighting or the right food, as well as improperly housing them. I guess because of where i live, there are no rescues around here so that makes it different i guess.

 

[kathylove]

Our herp society takes them in. The Nature Conservancy in Naples (Florida) has my tel # and they give it out to people with unwanted herps. I coordinate the caller with other members of our group. If they are not in too much of a hurry to get rid of the pet, I can sometimes talk with board members and find a member who wants it and can pick it up. One of our members recently picked up a beautiful big female iguana (complete with an expensive cage) from somebody who had it several years, but is now off to college. The member and her new pet seem very happy together!

If it is something that is difficult to place or needs work, our treasurer is a vet tech and will usually house it and find a home eventually. If it is healthy, and a good "pet type" herp (boa, corn, beardie, etc), then we tell the person giving it up that we will auction or raffle it at our meetings to one of our members to help raise funds for the herp society. That works great because the members are all interested in herps, and they have our whole membership for support and questions if needed, and it helps out the society as well. None of the board members who do the work benefit financially, not even for animal food, gas, etc. Any rehoming fee or auction money goes to the herp society. If we start getting TOO many calls, we will probably have to start to reimburse expenses - you can only ask so much of volunteers, especially in a bad economy.

 

[Rowdy]

I have also done allot of rescues Back in they day I was up to my neck in rescued Green Iguanas some of you older reptile keepers can remember the the late 80's and and 90's when some stores had them 50+ to a cage they were the cool $20.00 pet till they got over 2 feet. or the Redeared Sliders for 3.50 at Kmart in the 70's I stiill do take a few in but not as much as before (not enough space) but I will Help when im asked

Im also Glad the Green Iguana has sort of faded away from the pet trade but now it seems to be the Bearded Dragon has taken that title

It would be nice if the big chain pet stores (we all know who they are) would actually train the employees on the basic care of each type of reptile they sell (dont give Iceberg lettuce to your Reptiles and yes that Iguana will get 4'+)

Ok enough sorry I can get worked up that subject lol

 

[kathylove]

The pet trade replacing the huge numbers of green iggys with beardies and leos is great for us! We can always find a home for a healthy leo or beardie, no matter their age or size. But finding a good (and appropriate) home for a large green iguana is much more of a challenge. Fortunately, in SW Florida, iggys can be housed outside or on a lanai most of the year, and just brought in for the bad cold spells. I would hate to have to find suitable homes for iguanas "Up North" though.

 

[KatNPat]

It can be a problem. So far homes have been found but i worry about ending up with a bunch that i can't rehome. Also, i've had a couple that i had to socialize first because they had been so mistreated that they just whipped anyone who came near them. I know that some can't be socialized so i guess that i've just been fortunate so far. I must admit though, I have added a few of the different reptiles to my own framily, just because they are so darn sweet.

 

[snakewispera snr]

Interesting answers.....
I'm not against rescues, and I do my best for them without taking them into my home. The reason is I have some very nice examples of snakes, ones I really want and have searched out and I'm not prepared to put them at any type of risk.
I have a snake room and a quarantine room, but I also keep my boas away from my pythons in a third room.....The risk of infections or parasites really worries me. I may be a bit OTT about new snakes, but I hope I am safe from the nasties you read about.....
Oh and best of luck with your rescue Deano, sounds like you might need it....

 

[tricksterpup]

I am like Kathy Love on this, our herp society takes in animals every month and adopt them out. Some come in really bad shape and others are just fantastic. I have rescued boas, iguanas, bearded dragons, uromastix, water and box turtles.
I am also the person who helps out and picks up animals from the Human society to bring over to the herp society for adoption night. Currently I have a painted turtle and a box turtle waiting to go in. What is funny the ladies at the Humane society refer to me as their reptile guy.
One of my latest rescues seems to be a 4 foot sonoran desert boa that came in with a really bad shed and you could feel its ribs. This snake has been in my possession for about a month and half now, I started this snake with a mouse every 5 days, it eventually graduated to small rats and now eating small 1 pound rabbits every 7 days. If you look at the fecal matter this animal is absorbing all of its prey item. This animal was starving. From what I heard the original owner stopped feeding the snake for fear of being bitten. Well once you have been bitten by a boa and let it hang on for about 3-5 minutes, the fear goes away. lol So far I have had no problems with this snake.

I wanted to also post some pictures of animals that have come my way from rescues.
Here are pictures of an adult corn snake that came into our society. It was fed live food as a baby and the wounds healed. This animal was adopted out and is now used as a hands on animal to show the dangers of live feed.

Here is an iguana that only lived for about 3 weeks in our care, she didn't eat and lost the use of her back legs. The bright orange on her is from kidney failure. And she also had MBD and Cancer as well. They believed she was about 14 years old.

Now those are some of the sad ones that come in, here are some real good stories.
As a few members here called her my $5 anery. She is a really nice girl and very gentle. I have had her for about a year.

To many people here know my love at pits and when I first saw Ishi, I had to put in for him. He has been one of the few Gophers I have seen come in to our herp society as a rescue.

And the last picture was a boa that came in with Mites, the mites are now gone and she is a pretty gentle boa. I am really happy with her progress as a rescue.

 

[kathylove]

This might be a good place to ask if anyone out there knows of somebody, or some group, that can take on unwanted red ear sliders. They become illegal in Florida this past year (fears of releases invading the state - a little late for that!). In their infinite wisdom, the State decided to go from NO RULES about red ears, to totally banning any sale, barter, or giving away, except to a couple of licensed dealers, or to go out of state. A person IS allowed to keep whatever turtles they already had. If Florida had just banned the sale, but allowed give-aways, our herp society could have gone on finding good homes for them. And without the sale of new babies in the state, the problem would have eventually gone away on its own. But now we can't find new homes because of legalities, only send them out of state.

Unfortunately, the turtles have little monetary value. So shipping them one at a time someplace probably won't happen. But if there is a group that feels they can take at least several at once, or place them someplace where the new owner would pay shipping, perhaps we could supply some healthy pet turtles and try to avoid people releasing them. The state has not left people many viable options - give them up to Fish and Game and have them euthanized, keep them forever even if they don't want them, find a dealer or out of state recipient, or illegally release them.

Maybe some teacher organization could use a bunch for classrooms someplace? Let me know any ideas you may have.

 

[tricksterpup]

Kathy,
Very good post and question.
Last month, I had 4 RES that i picked up from the Humane Society and we had 8 total for adoptions.
Here is a blurb from our adoption report this month on Red ear sliders.

Hopefully not setting a trend we had 8 Red Eared Sliders up. Bad jokes aside, if anyone has a constructive idea about what to do with these guys, please let me know. While I did manage to find someone to take this group I believe that we will be forced to limit the number we take in from public agencies in the near future.

The problem is with turtles is that everyone thinks they are cute until they own one. They do not realize how big they get and how much of a mess they make. I personally own one with a map turtle kept in a 75 gallon tank. Right now they both fit in the tank fine but eventually I need to do some thing else for the RES cause he will get very big. But it is really hard for herp societies to find homes for these large turtles due to their caging requirements.

Kathy, if you find out anything can you shoot me a PM or post it here. I would love to find out as well and give the info to our Adoption Committee chair. Also we all look forward to talking to you this fall at the Minnesota Herp society Meeting.

 

[srsb]

I run a reptile rescue! Well, we started out as a dog rescue 8 years ago, and still do dogs, but in the past few months I have also accepted reptiles. Being known as the local "reptile person", I was getting more critters than I cared to keep myself, so I now run the reptile program in our "main" rescue. You can see our website here: www.roxiesfund.org We are a 501c3 registered charity.

So far, in about 3 months, I have place 4 corn snakes, several ball pythons, a savanna monitor, one iguana, one RES, one Russian tortoise, and one basilisk lizard, and two bearded dragons. Right now I have Larry, the ball python, on the website, and Willow the bearded dragon, who is also on the website. Both have good applications and I expect they will go home soon.

I also currently have a Chinese green snake with eye issues, a rainbow boa who was born with only one eye, and a boa that I need to get posted (project for this weekend) and a local shelter called me about taking 4 leopard geckos that I will pick up mid-week.

At this point, it is just me, since most of our dog volunteers are not reptile people. But, if anyone in the Montgomery County, MD area wants to volunteer, or adopt, let me know!

I am lucky in the sense that I also work part time at my county shelter as the dog evaluator, so they pass on donated tanks to me. They have bought me some equipment, too, and I have a source for some free f/t mice. It still doesn't cover everything, so, like all rescue volunteers, I end up putting in my own money, too.

I am also lucky in that I have a separate building on my property that is perfect for rescues. So, it is not too hard to quarantine.

Adoption fees are low and tax-deductible, and go back in the "pot" to help the next needy dog or reptile.

I have really enjoyed setting this up, and now that more and more reptiles are being dumped, I hope I can do some good.

sonja

 

[snakewispera snr]

Well this isn't the way I intended this tread to go, but hey what the heck, it's cool....After reading some of the posts it's occurred to me that maybe you guys with rescues that need re-homing could get onto C.S. and ask for a spot in the WIR....It could publicise your needs and maybe find a home for one or two....just a thought. What do you guys think?