Reptile Boarding Gone Wrong, a Cautionary Tale

Hello. I am a student at UT Dallas. I've always loved reptiles and animals in general. I had a job working at an exotic pet store for over two years, and loved it. Needless to say I built up my collection of reptiles while in high school.
College rolled around and I got a full ride - housing, tuition, books, food, groceries, parking permits, you name it. On the condition that I come to college for the entire summer to do research.
One small problem: I can only have a fish tank on campus.
Obviously my axolotls would hang with me in my dorm. My mom kept my saltwater tank. I gave some geckos away, sold some, and traded some. I gave away the axolotls that couldn't fit in my tanks. I took down 3 fish tanks, gave my cat and water dragon to my now in-laws. Classic downsizing. Although, as most of you probably know, there's always something you can't give away.

I was left with 3 crested geckos and 2 pac man frogs. One of the geckos was in my store for a year without being adopted, so I adopted her and took her to my high school to be the class pet and mascot of a club that I was part of. She was very calm and loved by everybody, and she loved it too. She was always calm with everybody because I hand fed her and people were very gentle with her. One of the pacman frogs I had raised from a baby. The 2 baby geckos were my anniversary present to my then boyfriend, now fiancee. My parents don't like animals so I figured I would find someone near my college to board them long term. I'd pay them a set amount per month and do all the cage cleaning myself. It would be someone that didn't have little kids (so the kids didn't get too attached when the geckos had to leave) and someone who had had reptiles before.

I found this nice lady who said she had reptile experience and who babysits animals for a living. She lives very close by UTD and so I thought it was a good fit. I met her at a starbucks and brought the animals for her to meet so she could decide if she wanted to sit them. 6 months later, when it was time to board them, I got there and realized her apartment was, in a word, awful. I didn't mind apartments but when I brought my fiancee with me to see them, first thing he said to me was "You can't come back here without me, you'll get raped." Obviously the area should have been my first clue. But I was desperate and didn't think I had any other options. The lady then told me she didn't have a car, she worked as a soup kitchen chef and also, she needed a ride to Marshalls to buy a buddha statue and pajama pants...
Okay. A strange combination. But it doesn't mean she is a bad person...?

Here I am a little more than 2 weeks in. One of the cats she is watching opened my gecko cage and bit the gecko who I've had for a very long time. She dropped her tail and hid behind the washing machine, where, after about 3 hours, the lady had found her and put her back in her cage. She said she saw it happen and said she couldn't do anything about it because of her blood pressure. I am pretty sure she lied to me about how long Tiki was out of her cage, and I'm also pretty sure she lied to me about how often she feeds the geckos, because there was a 5 day period where she wouldn't let me come visit because the lady "wasn't home" from work until late at night. Tiki died 2 days later. The lady gave me her body. I have not examined it closely but I am willing to bet she died from stress and starvation, since the corpse is barely wider than a finger, and this is a previously healthy, egg-laying, 4 year old female crested gecko we are talking about here.

My frogs are now dehydrated, underweight, not eating, and not shedding. One of them has skin almost as hard as a rock. I have to get them out of there. The baby geckos look fat but are curling up into balls and hiding in spaces that are nearly impossible for me to get them out of. When I mist them, they lap up the water like they haven't drank in days. Of course, I don't want to risk another cat incident. Apparently cats know how to open Exo Terras. But I won't get into that.

I don't know what I'm going to do until them. My mother seems willing to watch them for a few days until I find some place that seems better. My fiancee is thinking about taking them in with him as well, since this isn't the only thing I am dealing with at the moment. I have contacted local pet stores that do reptile boarding but they won't do anything long term.

So, obviously, if anyone knows anything or anyone that can help me, great, please pm me or comment here. Still looking for someone with actual reptile experience in the Dallas area that would be willing to board them for me. But mostly, this is just a way for me to vent and caution everybody as to the dangers of having someone completely clueless watch your animals, even just for a short while.
ALWAYS test them to see if they're knowledgeable, and if they don't know something, show them. ALWAYS make sure you really know the person. ALWAYS ask for pictures, and most importantly, be prepared for the worst b making a contract or something. Bad things can happen if you don't.
I'm sad I paid for this mistake with the life of my most beloved pet. Hopefully you won't.

Also I have an idea for a website that I'm thinking about, kind of like the dog-walker site that connects you with certified dog walkers in your area, but for short term and long term reptile sitting. The sitters would have to fill out an extensive application, pass the test for certain animals, be insured possibly, etc. I think it could be a great idea and certainly useful for people like me. Let me know your thoughts.

I do not have any useful suggestions beyond what you already know to do (and please make haste), but I am sorry you and the animals have been going through this. Maybe try finding someone who actually keepers herps to begin with, but then you have to figure out if that someone is one of those people who pretends to rescue or assist and really just trolls for free animals to flip. Tough to figure out sometimes.

Best wishes.

Kalina, I am so sorry this happened to you. Your idea for a website is a good one.
As for the present issue, prior to other suggestions of finding a boarder, perhaps talk to UT. The prohibition against exotics in the dorm, gentle though they may be, is I believe based on the concept of wild animals and strict liability. However, perhaps you could ask if you could keep a lockable enclosure in a lab area or other area not in the dorms and away from the general student population. They may decline, but to me, it is worth the ask.
Congratulations on your engagement. If the previous 'ask' is denied, it may be that your fiance's willingness to take in your critters even though he lacks experience is a wonderful offer, and I am sure you can teach him what he needs to know and that he will call you with questions.
Good luck. You sound like an awesome student and UT (and Texas) is lucky to have you.

Originally Posted by nickolasanastasiou

Maybe try finding someone who actually keepers herps to begin with, but then you have to figure out if that someone is one of those people who pretends to rescue or assist and really just trolls for free animals to flip. Tough to figure out sometimes.

I put in my new "wanted" ad that the person needs to currently have reptiles or amphibians and I need to come check out the house, but believe me, that's the main other fear I have. There's hardly any way for me, that I can think of, to see if the person is a reptile flipper or wanting free reptiles unless I find that person's Instagram page which can usually be pretty telling, but that's not even 100%.

Originally Posted by Lucille

The prohibition against exotics in the dorm, gentle though they may be, is I believe based on the concept of wild animals and strict liability. However, perhaps you could ask if you could keep a lockable enclosure in a lab area or other area not in the dorms and away from the general student population. They may decline, but to me, it is worth the ask.
Congratulations on your engagement. If the previous 'ask' is denied, it may be that your fiance's willingness to take in your critters even though he lacks experience is a wonderful offer, and I am sure you can teach him what he needs to know and that he will call you with questions.
Good luck. You sound like an awesome student and UT (and Texas) is lucky to have you.

First, thank you for the info. I know our research animal populartion is monitored and cared for nearly around the clock, and that there are a half dozen people or so just from animal safety organizations (Like the USDA, but not the USDA specifically) on staff at all times, so they would be protected if they were here and I could care for them. I'll check into that.
My fiancée is only a temporary solution, he just got a new job and is living with my father, who lives in Dallas, until we get our own place. That being said, my dad doesn't like animals and it wouldn't be more than a week. My fiancée does already know how to care for them (he's watched them many a time for me while I was out of town over the years) and if he was any sort of permanent solution I would give them to him in a heartbeat.
Makes me wish we could just get our own house right now and this wouldn't be an issue!
Thanks for the good luck and congrats. I feel like I've needed it. My first two weeks of college have been nothing but stressful and mentally draining. Hopefully once this issue is settled I will be able to sit back and enjoy it a little more.

Oh that is so sad, I'm so sorry for your loss of Tiki!
I hope your fiancé would be willing to take them in, I'd probably get them over to your mom's asap just so they are out of that horrible place, sounds like the lady doesn't know what she is doing.
Have you tried contacting a local herp society? They might be a great source for you! I found this one in your area: http://www.dfwherp.org/
Good luck! I hope things improve and the rest of your critters find a good boarding home!

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

Oh that is so sad, I'm so sorry for your loss of Tiki!
I hope your fiancé would be willing to take them in, I'd probably get them over to your mom's asap just so they are out of that horrible place, sounds like the lady doesn't know what she is doing.
Have you tried contacting a local herp society? They might be a great source for you! I found this one in your area: http://www.dfwherp.org/
Good luck! I hope things improve and the rest of your critters find a good boarding home!

Thank you for the info! I'll check into that. I think I may have found a temporary solution for the rest of the summer (someone who runs a local pet store that will watch them for free in exchange for me coming and feeding the animals in he store while he is out of town. THANK YOU 2 years of pet store experience!!!!!) and then for the school year my fiancé and I were thinking about paying his little brother to watch them. I feel bad because he's already watching my water dragon and my cat, and I feel like my in-laws might not want his little brother to take them. But at least I won't have to deal with that until the fall and that gives them time to come around to it and me to look for an alternate solution.

I stayed up crying all night last nigt because I thought there was nothing I could do and I would just have to give my animals away for the sake of their well being, because that's what is most important to me. However, it seems like there are great people out there like you guys that are willing to provide info and resources to help someone in need. Thank you all so much, I'll keep this post updated, and maybe post some pictures.

Some pictures of Tiki

The others:
Mr. Jones, Strawberry Albino Pac Man
Mr. Elliott, Blue Pac Man
Cavalry and Nova - 2 baby geckos, Nova is black, Cavalry is red

I wrote you a very long reply as I am so happy to care for them and I tried to post it, but I am not sure where it went.
If you contact me at my email address of kellyirish3@hotmail.com, I can give you some contact information for me, so that I can share some of my ideas with you.
Thanks,
Sue