I posted this long update tonight on the GoFundMe campaign raising money for the 11 reptiles pulled out of a burning house fire. I'm going to post it here too.
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Again, I apologize for being so long between updates.
Quickly, let me say all of the reptiles continue to progress. Even poor Phoenix is doing okay. We fully expect them to all recover.
But let me address a more serious issue. Since we took in these reptiles, there have been a lot of rumors, questions, and accusations made regarding the owners and the conditions the reptiles lived in before the house burned down. The more we heard, the harder we worked to help the reptiles to become healthy.
The only concerns we paid attention to were from both of our reptile vets. After examining several of the fire victims, they are convinced the reptiles are suffering more because of poor husbandry and neglect from *before* the fire.
Our goal has been and always will be the reptiles. The state, city, police, and insurance companies can determine who/what/when/where about the fire. They can figure all that out and it has (thankfully) nothing to do with us. We do keep track of what's going on so we can have a better picture of where these guys came from. But that's about it.
We have spent every single penny (and hundreds of our own) getting these 11 reptiles healthy again. We will NOT let them be returned to or put into a position where they will starve again. I don't expect to have a battle concerning their future, but I wanted to make it clear right here that the 7 snakes and 4 lizards will stay in environments where they are cared for, fed, and housed appropriately. For now and the next few months, that environment is with us. Until they are released from active vet care this summer, they have to stay where they are.
Our goal has been and will continue to be to keep the reptiles in the BEST possible care. I hope you will trust us to do what is right by them now and in the next year.
Again, you are welcome to contact me and I'm happy to share with you copies of the vet bills & receipts for all of our purchases. When I get a moment this week, I'll post pics of the new set ups for the albino Burmese and monitors. They are SOOO cool! :)
Thank you again for all you do.