I've always loved animals and had many pets over the course of my life. I've also always loved helping people and animals to be better/happier/healthier. For a long time, I had on my "Bucket List" to own a pet cockatoo, but I wasn't sure that I could fully to commit to one. At the suggestion of my sweet husband about 7 years ago, I started volunteering with a local bird & parrot rescue and ended up fostering several dozen birds.
One problem-- my husband became highly allergic to the feathers. So I bowed out of it.
We had one bearded dragon (Lizzie, a boy) and a leopard gecko (Reginald) and I enjoyed them. We also were fostering a desert tortoise (Hermy) for the state of Utah. I wasn't a super big fan of snakes and most other reptiles, but that was okay.
In December of 2012, I found an ad for a free juvenile bearded dragon with an arm infection. I knew at least some info about beardies and I had a vet for my beardie so I decided to pick him up. We named him Nigel and ultimately spent over $5,000 trying to save his arm and then his life. A couple weeks later, I found a baby beardie in a sand tank at a local pet store who had an open bleeding wound on his foot where another baby had bitten it off. I could not get the poor baby out of mind.
Once I handled those two, I felt like maybe I could "advertise" a bit for taking in unwanted bearded dragons. Little did I know that I was stepping into a void in our local reptile market. Since there were few good options for reptiles, I was asked to take *EVERY* possible reptile. And I said "Yes."
I didn't start out knowing everything and learned as I went. I'd take in a sickly Savannah monitor and do a crash course on how to care for them. I learned techniques from my vet with every visit I made with yet another sickly reptile. In the beginning, I knew how to feed Lizzie (and not very well, I might add) and over time learned how to give antibiotics, tube feedings, injections, and even enemas. I still don't know everything, but I know that my vets will teach me along the way.
The first year of rescue cost me personally over $3,000. I knew I needed a way to earn money without just begging for donations all the time. At the suggestion of a friend, I sewed a pair of red felt dragon wings for $8 in March 2015. That began the amazing adventure called "Pampered Beardies" which now has sold to thousands of bearded dragons and reptiles and small animals over the world. It's been a fabulous way to fund my continuous vet bills (which cleared over $20,000 last year).
I'm currently working on a full length book on starting your own reptile rescue, but here are my beginning suggestions: Start small, use social media to ask for donations & rescues and to advertise your adoptables, be prepared to have your heart broken, and take breaks when you want to quit. When I get the book ready for publishing later this summer, I'll be sure to post all the links here.
