Has anyone set up a reptile rescue?

[warhawk77]

My wife and I have been talking about setting up a reptile rescue. We have looked and there are a few for dogs and cats but nothing for reptiles with in a few hours drive. So it looks like there is a need in our area.

Has anyone else set up a reptile rescue? Wondering what we would be getting into.

Some of the issues we can think of are
Enclosures-- shouldn't be a big problem we have extras now and always buying more
Food-- we are raising Dubias and I could start meal worms also
Time-- We both have some free time and we have two boys that would be helping so weekly cleaning, nightly feeding shouldn't be a problem
Vet -- This will be the kicker, we have some extra cash every month but we don't want to go broke caring for the little guys.


Our plan would be to give any lizard, frog, or turtle a good home, nurse them up to good health and adopt them out to new homes. Now if they are special care because of health or behavioral issues they would stay with us.


What have we missed?

 

[Embrace Calamity]

It will be extremely expensive. You forgot space, supplements, heating and humidity control (which includes thermometers, hygrometers, thermostats, foggers, etc.), and treatment. Do you have any idea how much it takes to treat a sick reptile? My gecko got sick and I spent $200 on her. And do you realise how much space turtles need? A turtle needs 10 gallons per inch of shell. That's easily 80-100 gallons for an adult. And what about iguanas? Or monitors? Or water dragons? They need custom built enclosures - huge ones. Also, where will you quarantine them? You know you'd need to quarantine every new animal, right? And what about the heating and UVB lighting for all of them, which also includes electric bills? And what expertise or experience do you have on MBD, vitamin deficiencies, dehydration, impaction, parasites (including crypto), etc.? Or the different supplement needs of different animals? Leos and beardies are great, but they're nothing compared to the needs of more difficult animals like iguanas, monitors, tokays, etc. And what about the ones you can't adopt out? Reptiles aren't very common pets, and even fewer owners actually know how to care for them, so the reality is you'll probably end up stuck with a lot of them, especially the bigger ones. Then what?

Fact of the matter is, most of the time people try to start "rescues," it turns into a semi-hoarding situation where the animals are poorly cared for. Good intentions are great, but if you don't have the knowledge or money to back it up, they get you nowhere. I just don't see how "some extra cash every month" is going to be enough for a reptile rescue, especially if you're looking to not go broke. If anyone plans on opening a rescue, they have to accept that they probably will go broke unless they're loaded.

~Maggot

 

[warhawk77]

It will be extremely expensive. You forgot space, supplements, heating and humidity control (which includes thermometers, hygrometers, thermostats, foggers, etc.), and treatment. Do you have any idea how much it takes to treat a sick reptile? My gecko got sick and I spent $200 on her. And do you realise how much space turtles need? A turtle needs 10 gallons per inch of shell. That's easily 80-100 gallons for an adult. And what about iguanas? Or monitors? Or water dragons? They need custom built enclosures - huge ones. Also, where will you quarantine them? You know you'd need to quarantine every new animal, right? And what about the heating and UVB lighting for all of them, which also includes electric bills? And what expertise or experience do you have on MBD, vitamin deficiencies, dehydration, impaction, parasites (including crypto), etc.? Or the different supplement needs of different animals? Leos and beardies are great, but they're nothing compared to the needs of more difficult animals like iguanas, monitors, tokays, etc. And what about the ones you can't adopt out? Reptiles aren't very common pets, and even fewer owners actually know how to care for them, so the reality is you'll probably end up stuck with a lot of them, especially the bigger ones. Then what?

Fact of the matter is, most of the time people try to start "rescues," it turns into a semi-hoarding situation where the animals are poorly cared for. Good intentions are great, but if you don't have the knowledge or money to back it up, they get you nowhere. I just don't see how "some extra cash every month" is going to be enough for a reptile rescue, especially if you're looking to not go broke. If anyone plans on opening a rescue, they have to accept that they probably will go broke unless they're loaded.

~Maggot

Thanks for the input. While I did not list thoughts on this subject I am aware of the requirements for different reptiles and I know they would have to be big or special for each. And I know about quarantine every new one. There are things that need to be thought out that is why I asked the question. I do agree we could way in over our heads financially that is something we are talking about.

 

[katie]

When do you plan on starting one? Are you sure you're ready to treat reptiles that won't eat with a good slurry (GGG slurry) or cure MBD? I purchased my first leopard gecko from a petstore, and unknowingly it had MBD. I have to give her medication every day, it costs me around $100 a month.And thats just one gecko.Do you have a knowledable vet in your area? A lot of vets don't know what they're doing.. Are you prepared to spend over $1,000 a month? Depending on your collection size and how many reptiles you have, you can very well be spending over $500 a week. Plus to get all the supplies you'll need... that's a lot of money. For everything my beardie needed, it cost me over $600. Thats just one beardie. Also like Maggot said, reptiles aren't very common pets.. you will def. be stuck with a lot of them. My cousin ran a reptile rescue that had around 40 leopard geckos, 10 bearded dragons, 3 red tegus, 3 water dragons, and 9 crested geckos. He paid over $10,000 in supplies and around $5,000 a month on vet bills. He wasn't able to afford it all anymore, and sold off all the animals to a diff. rescue. Also if you aren't super careful, you can spread parasites to one of your pets. Do you want to take that risk? I'm not trying to scare you away, just being dead honest. If you run a big rescue, you'll def. be in a money pit, with possibly no way out.

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I don't think you have to start out taking in 100 reptiles. Why not start out trying to take in a few, get them healthy and find them new homes. I wouldn't take in more than you could potentially keep forever for find foster homes for at first and if you are successful you can ramp up your efforts. If you have the potential to bring them steady business a vet may give you a discount. In fact most of the vets I worked for gave a 10-50% discount (depending on the treatment) to various rescues.

The main issue I would see would be space. If I brought a reptile into my house that had a high probability of being sick, I would want to quarantine it away from the others. The kicker for reptiles would be that the length of quarantine and/or recovery would potentially be a lot longer than with a mammal. Things that could spread like respiratory infections or mites would be particularly problematic. In the vet hospital I worked in during college we had three separate isolation zones each with a dedicated ventilation system. Something like that - or at least an isolation room or two, would be necessary.

 

[lisa127]

I agree with Lisa. There's no reason you can't keep it small and rescue a couple or a few at a time. I'm also assuming (though I could be wrong) that you have been keeping reptiles for a while or have in the past and know how to care for them. So I see no need to lecture you on the needs of the animals. Start out small and don't take in more until you get those couple or few adopted out.

 

[warhawk77]

Thanks Dr Carrot tail and Lisa

I don't have a issue with small and being very picky on what types of reptiles. No reason we couldn't do gecko only.

And we aren't talking starting up next week we are a few months out there is a lot to do and make sure it will work.