Randall Nash Hartdegen

This sounds like a bright young man with some issues, not unusual in a person his age who has been through some tough times with family. I don't condone acting under false pretenses in terms of the rescue group, but I wouldn't label him a malicious or bad person. Sometimes when life is intolerable, a person tries to invent a better life, even if it's not real. I hope that he gets some help, as he is obviously a kid who has potential but is struggling.

Sometimes I'm so grateful that the internet was long in the future when I was a teenager. I did stupid things, as everyone does at that age, but it was a lot less public back then.

I don't know what the solution is to whatever is obviously ailing this kid (looks like he could just be looking for attention) but running any kind of business/rescue/organization is NOT anywhere near the list of remedies.

If he truly is suicidal, I hope he gets help. That said, I've seen multiple teenagers say very similar things and it was for attention and pity. I know one who was very good at it and everyone always felt sorry for him. If Randall truly feels this way, he does need to get help. At some point though, he needs to take some responsibility for what he says and does.

He is still lying even with everything shown here. Still saying he graduated college. This isn't normal behavior. He can't blame growing up with issues because I know others who have been through just as much, some more. Maybe he should have gotten help when he was younger and didn't.

This obviously didn't just start with the reptiles. That collector article was a year ago and he was lying about 6 years of military service after college and going back for jag law. No mention of masters for "herpetology" or phd work.

If he came forward and admitted he lied, it would go a long way. I just don't think someone like that should be going around in groups saying how he's studying reptile brainwaves and also runs a rescue (still don't know if it's non profit). If you look around on facebook, he's been asking very basic questions just over the spring and summer on care for leopard geckos and bearded dragons. These are things he would know if he truly had a zoology degree. Or he would have a way to find the best info.

Then you add in the Fiji iguana thing and the pythons in Florida and admitting he knowingly breaks laws (I have doubts he was there).

It's just all really messed up. He needs to get help and he needs to come clean and apologize to everyone. He also needs to stop blaming everyone on the internet (he made a huge rant on facebook). No one else lied. All we did was a basic internet search on his name. There is no way all those articles are not about him. Same name, same birthday, same town, same mom's name, same pets mentioned in two articles. There is just too much to keep up with the lies. If it was one article, I could say a misprint is possible. But what I posted was just some of what I found online. He was in that Idaho paper quite a bit.

Cher, I would probably send his mom those messages to be safe. She needs to know if he's truly suicidal. If he is, she needs to get him help asap.

Wow. This got creepy rather quickly.

Kristi I don't think it's fare to try an compare his issues with others that have had similar issues or maybe even worse. I promise you if you find 20 people that found out that one of there parents was terminally ill you would get 20 different story's. This isn't something that fits in a cookie cutter. Maybe he has something else going on in his life that no one knows about.
Kids and young adults are professionals at making mistakes. There's nothing more educating to ones self than learning by there own mistakes.
Now it's been brought up that he might be somewhat unstable. He's talking suicide and wether it's a cry for attention or it's really real it sounds like at the least he is depressed.
He hasn't ripped anyone off all he's done to bother anyone is type on a keyboard what appears to some of you as lies. Maybe they are. I don't know and to tell you the truth if he is telling lies it does not effect my life in anyway shape or form. And I don't see how it can possibly effect anyone else's. It is possible to see a post and keep scrolling without reading.
I know I'm going to get crap for this post but I promise you it will not effect me. Leave this guy alone. If he really is suicidle and he for sure has depression he's feeling like he's being ganged up on (right or wrong who cares) and this will not help him out mentally it will only make it worse. His life is possibly on the line. Theres plenty of others that deserve much more negative attention right now.
I hope his words are just crys for attention but there is a real possibility that he's serious. So please just assume the ladder is happening. Everyday all day long suicides are happening all over the world.
At least for now let this thread die down.

Originally Posted by Craig Wyatt

Kristi I don't think it's fare to try an compare his issues with others that have had similar issues or maybe even worse. I promise you if you find 20 people that found out that one of there parents was terminally ill you would get 20 different story's. This isn't something that fits in a cookie cutter. Maybe he has something else going on in his life that no one knows about.
Kids and young adults are professionals at making mistakes. There's nothing more educating to ones self than learning by there own mistakes.
Now it's been brought up that he might be somewhat unstable. He's talking suicide and wether it's a cry for attention or it's really real it sounds like at the least he is depressed.
He hasn't ripped anyone off all he's done to bother anyone is type on a keyboard what appears to some of you as lies. Maybe they are. I don't know and to tell you the truth if he is telling lies it does not effect my life in anyway shape or form. And I don't see how it can possibly effect anyone else's. It is possible to see a post and keep scrolling without reading.
I know I'm going to get crap for this post but I promise you it will not effect me. Leave this guy alone. If he really is suicidle and he for sure has depression he's feeling like he's being ganged up on (right or wrong who cares) and this will not help him out mentally it will only make it worse. His life is possibly on the line. Theres plenty of others that deserve much more negative attention right now.
I hope his words are just crys for attention but there is a real possibility that he's serious. So please just assume the ladder is happening. Everyday all day long suicides are happening all over the world.
At least for now let this thread die down.

Well put.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought inquiries were to figure out if people were being shady or not. If they were trustworthy. This isn't just one post by him on a facebook page. There have been a lot of things that have blown up all over. I think it's only fair for people to know before they donate money to him. I didn't make a bad guy thread on him. Just an inquiry with his own words and the facts I've found. It's there now for people to decide what they can believe from him at this point.

I wasn't trying to compare him. I said multiple times that he needs help. I was just saying that I've seen similar behavior. That was it. I didn't say he was faking it. I asked Cher to please contact his mom with the messages he sent her.

I agree with Kristi. This guy has been asking for money to help support his 'rescue' operation. This needs to be brought tho the attention of potential donors. This just isn't scrolling by and ignoring some exaggerations or phony accomplishments. This is potential fraud. If he is suicidal, it isn't because of this thread. Perhaps bringing all this to light will alert others that know the 'real' him, to step up and get some help. Saying you are suicidal - whether you are or not - is a cry for help, no matter what. When someone is saying they are having a scientific peer reviewed paper published on one thread, and doesn't know that a leopard gecko is more than a little big at 350 g on another, people need to know before doing business with him.

Originally Posted by Kristi23

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought inquiries were to figure out if people were being shady or not.

You're not wrong; this thread is pretty clearly justified. I think his "suicidal" posts come off as more an attention-whoring diversion than anything else. On the off chance that he's serious about it, it's now out in the open and efforts can be made to help him.

It seems pretty clear that he can't be trusted to portray even the most basic information about himself in an honest manner, which should naturally lead to skepticism in claims he'll make in regards to other aspects of his life and business. Whether or not his personal issues end up being more than show, this thread is full of information that potential donors/customers/partners should consider very useful. What he may choose to do to himself is on him; not you, me or anyone else posting in this thread.

Originally Posted by Fangthane

You're not wrong; this thread is pretty clearly justified. I think his "suicidal" posts come off as more an attention-whoring diversion than anything else. On the off chance that he's serious about it, it's now out in the open and efforts can be made to help him.

It seems pretty clear that he can't be trusted to portray even the most basic information about himself in an honest manner, which should naturally lead to skepticism in claims he'll make in regards to other aspects of his life and business. Whether or not his personal issues end up being more than show, this thread is full of information that potential donors/customers/partners should consider very useful. What he may choose to do to himself is on him; not you, me or anyone else posting in this thread.

Thank you. That's all I wanted. For people to be aware before sending money or anything else. I tend to send to a lot of the gofundmes started for reptiles, but I'm trying to look into the people more before I donate money. I'm not telling anyone to be mean to him, harass him, or even to not donate. Just to look at all the facts and ask questions first.