A Day in my Life

Today was crazy! Especially for rescue.

Here's a few things I did in no particular order-- 

-Dropped Skye off at the vet for a quick check on her bloated belly 

-Had a 14 pound sulcata dropped off at the vet at the same time for a check

-Fed 3 baby beardies and 2 adults

-Picked up beardie poop

-Picked up tortoise poop at least 7 times

-Wiped up tortoise pee at least 4 times

-Did a fecal test on Nubs but didn't find anything 

-Took the slide with Nubs' fecal float to the vet for the techs to look at. They didn't find anything either. 

-Took Skye home with me

-Sprayed down the iguana and got an attempted tail whip 

-Arranged for Fatty Patty to be shipped tonight 

-Gave dewormer to Katy the beardie

-Force fed Katy some Critical Care

-Arranged care for 14 pound tortoise

-Filled up saline syringe with one hand while turning dinner over with the other

-Answered email on impacted femoral pores

-Answered emails I forgot to respond to last week

-Answered Etsy questions 

-Messaged my rescue buddies via Facebook

-Messaged someone about an egg their female beardie laid

-Messaged 2 people who are adopting beardies 

-Washed poopy tortoise & iguana towels 

-Filled a syringe with antibiotics then realized the shot isn't due till tomorrow 

-Got a dewormer refill from the vet when I picked up the 14 pound tortoise 

-Brought the 14 pound tortoise home. 

-Took a quick video of the 6 pound sulcata trying to ram the 14 pound sulcata

-Separated the sulcatas 

-Separated the male tortoise who was trying to mate with another male tortoise, but I lost count of how many times I do that everyday

-Washed my sweater because I got tortoise poop on it 

-Sanitized syringes

-Set up another hot basking area for the tortoises 

-Gave Katy a saline injection

-Let my dogs in and out of the back door at least 3 dozen times

-Picked up dog poop

-Took pics of my dog sleeping: 

I still have to drive Fatty Patty to the FedEx hub before 7 so she can ship out to her new home.

Yes, I'm exhausted. And I did other things too like reading and running to the library and getting kids to/from school and eating and such. 

I really need two of me! 

Sides of Rescue

This morning I've been thinking about the hundred plus rescues I've had and the different situations they've put me in.

I've picked up or rescued reptiles:
-from parking lots because people didn't want me to know where they lived
-with a police escort
-from another rescue that had a deplorable conditions
-from houses in scary parts of the city
-from single wide trailers that are older than me
-from pet stores
-from people who've brought them to my house
-from people who were super excited to get rid of the critter
-from people who sobbed as I said goodbye
-from people I wouldn't ever want to meet again
-from addicts, abuse victims, and abusers
-from teenagers who didn't know any better
-from families who were mourning loved ones who just died
-off internet classified ads advertising "Healthy" pets for sale
-from sobbing kids
-from abandoned apartments & houses
-from a backyard/back bedroom breeder who ended up with too many sickly babies
-from my vet's office
-from friends
-from other people who did their own "rescue" but realized it was too much
-from coworkers of friends
-from a parking lot 3 1/2 hours away from me (it was halfway)
-from families who bought their own beardie but ended up with a grumpy/sickly one
-from a backyard greenhouse
-from other places & situations I can't remember
-while on vacation in another state
-from people who ended up threatening me until I had to call the police

There have been many times when I went on a rescue expecting a good situation only to find a hellish nightmare and vice versa. I remember once driving 40 minutes to a trailer park and thinking I was going to chew out the owner for flipping animals. I found a very old trailer, but very clean and very impressive tanks. I was so surprised.

There have been times when I purposely give my friends or family the number & name & address of where I am going on a pick up so if I disappear, someone will know. There's only been a handful of those calls (thankfully).

The biggest thing I'm learning is this truth:

I see only one side of each situation and sometimes it looks far worse than it actually is. I try to not judge to harshly. I never call out owners on my blog. When I get to the point that I feel like I hate everyone in rescue, I take a break until I can "play nice."

Yes, there are some people who should NEVER have pets (or children). Yes, there are people who are ignorant and blame it on the pet store instead of taking responsibility. Yes, there are animals who are harmed or killed by bad choices of their stupid owners. Yes, all of these make rescue much harder. Yes, sometimes it's is just TOO late to save an animal. Yes, all of this is the reality of rescue. And yes, it makes it all harder. But sometimes you gotta just ignore it and get to work.

My goal is always "get in, get the animal, get out." If I have a chance to educate, I do. My first priority is always my safety and the safety of the animal. Because of that I don't often go in with "guns blazing" ready to seek justice. I bite my tongue, I get the animal, I get out. Sometimes I drive home with shaking hands; sometimes I drive home crying. When I start getting really critical and angry, I remind myself about two sides to every pancake and move on.

Luckily, all my critters keep me busy enough that I don't have time to waste on anger or seeking revenge. It's exhausting feeding these many critters and picking up their poop.

Generosity

It's hard running a personal reptile rescue because the needs for money and supplies always outweigh the current supply. It would be easy to get into the habit of being miserly and keeping tight track of every nickel and dime. 

But I have tried to be (and remain) generous as I help rehab and rehome critters. I readily share what I have and try to give when I can. 

That attitude/practice has been returned in abundance to me. I'm frequently amazed by the generosity of those around me. From unexpected donations to PayPal to a beardie being returned with $500 worth of extra supplies, I always have enough. 

Sure I could have paid my van almost entirely off with the past year's vet bills alone, but instead I have 103 stories of rescues and a whole host of fabulous follower fans/friends. 

Thank you for your support and love. Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you for sending money and buying costumes to support my rescue. Thank you for being generous to the groups I recommend to you. You are one of my best rewards for doing what I do. 

:) <3