Rescue?

I have a soft spot in my heart for animals. Recently I got Winston the bulldog from a shelter, and ended up spending a lot of $ at the vet when he had worms, and eye and throat inection, and more (he is doing well now and is a great dog).

I can't rescue every animal I see, I do not have the time and resources to do so, and it is sad, that so many need good homes.

I was looking at Craigslist, an online classified, and I saw an ad for a leo gecko for sale, with the thinnest tail I have ever seen. I am not an expert at geckos by any means but it looks way different from the fat sassy guys I recently got. It just looked to me like this guy needed a few good meals.

I have to say that I lurk and read a lot here in this forum, and the people here really take very good care of their geckos, and the pix of your geckos are a pleasure to look at.

I just hope there will be someone that sees the ad and buys the little guy. I feel confident that will happen, as the ad was saying something to the effect that the seller had previous responses but had lost them prior to contact via a computer glitch.


Have any of y'all rescued animals in the past?

I had been active in Basset Hound rescue for years but stopped for obvious reason and also due to a huge scare from a zoonotci disease that the rest of my dogs were exposed to.I have gone into pet stores and seen awful looking herps and wanted to buy them just to "save" them..some of them were too far gone.

A few months ago I posted a thread on the Leo Forum about a deal I did on Repti-Bid. Long story short, I bought a group of leos and they all turned out to be skinny and starving..what I considered "rescues". Out of the 6, I did loose one but managed to save the rest.


Here is a photo of the worst one, before (First Picture) and after (second & Third Picture)...
Meet "Jaws"

Michele, wow, what a HUGE difference you made in his life!! How long did it take to get him healthy and happy?

The first picture I took of him (skinny) was as soon as I got him (I was so mad!). The second picture I took of him was a little over a month later..amazing what feeding a leo will do!
The last picture was taken 3 weeks ago. ( I have had him for 5 months now)
Obviously the previous owner was not feeding them and I believe they were full of parasites. So I wormed them and gave them food at all times, I mean EVERYTHING, crickets, mealworms and superworms...I really just filled up their boxes with all the feeders I could..in just a little over one month, you can see the difference. I found out that "Jaws" really liked to be hand fed..so that is what I did for him for a while...I would take a pair of tweezers with a cricket or mealworm and we would just eat and eat and eat until I got tired of feeding him.. (That is why he is called "Jaws") he is so friendly too! I am really impressed with how this group turned out. I thought I was going to loose all of them. Some of them would not even eat at first..probably forgot what food was..

one of my leos gained like 15g over this past week. i picke dhim up today and inspecte dhim and the 2 new ones i got looking for any signs of aggression(none found) and noticed hes a ton fatter. must be adding the 2 new females got somea ctivity goin and he got more active

I have a apbt rescue. He was taken away from some abusive idiot when he was about 4-5 months old. Best dog we have ever had. He was thin and had splayed feet when we got him likely from being left tied to a tree 24/7. Here are a few pics first one a little while after we first got him and one a few years ago and earlier this spring.

I haven't really done any rescue with the leopards, I fear bring something to my own collection. Alot can be thin from many other things then just not being fed properly. I have been tempted, but too scared to risk whiping out mine.

I used to work at a zoo that took in all kinds of ex pets... we had several herps, one was a beautiful black and white kingsnake who'd been run over by a car, he died six months after i started working there, his kidneys and lower end was all torn up from the accident, and he only ate pinkies. We tried to boost his calcium as much as possible, but he kept getting weaker. It was really awful to see such a lovely snake waste away.
There's still a gorgeous fat Ball Python female named Lucy, the sweetest snake i know, and a cranky rainbow boa (columbian, i think) named cleo, who would hiss and fuss everytime anyone did anything to her. She was good other than being hissy and wiggly-never bit or struggled much when you took her out to clean her viv.
Also, there are a billion stick insects, hissing cockroaches, and a lovely prehensile tails solomon island skink. Named solomon. he is so pretty and mild mannered. If they weren't endangered, i would so own one. He is really neat to play with, and seems to enjoy cruising around on people sometimes. Folsom zoo has rescued lots of animals, including cougars, ferrets, bears, wolves and foxes, parrots of all kinds, chickens, farm animals and peacocks. My favorite animal was a badger named Frances, she was an ex pet and loved to hang out with volunteers. When she was younger, she would grab my pants leg and wrestle with me. We started bringing cloth toys for her so she would stop using clothing as toys. The keepers would pet her-she was like a welsh corgi in apperance, and really fun to visit. She died of a kidney infection, and was pampered until the end. I really love that zoo, they are so dedicated to the animals, i just wish more places would do the same...

I've "rescued" everything from horses, dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, a raccoon, you name it....

I think the worst was a horse that was found literally a walking skeleton....the vet didn't know if she was strong enough to survive the trip to my house. We had to go out and pour Pedialyte down her throat every couple of hours, day and night, and make her get up off her side....and the "owner" was never charged with ANYTHING. As usual.

Rescuing is a great thing. I rescued a couple pairs of chinchillas, that were kept together and have breed constantly since they were old enough. One pair went to a new home, and the other is still in my possession and I love them dearly. They are kept seperate and i will not be breeding them again.

I always stress to people wanting to rescue however, do be careful and know what you are doing. Don't go rescue a leo and bring it into your home and stick it in your collection of 30 other leos. House it in a different house until it has had MANY fecals cleared through a vet.

Rescuing is great and rewarding, but if you are going to infect other animals are you really rescuing or adding to the problem?

Just to make people aware...

I have a wonderful leo I rescued from a guy who worked at a pet store, believe it or not. I took in 2, Pepper and a very skinny Bliz, who unfortunately did not make it, despite the best care. Pepper came to me w/a septic skin infection. After lots of meds, attention, skin peeling, soaks, and handfeedings, she is now very healthy and spunky. Last spring she rewarded me for my efforts by giving me some beautiful stripe and jungle babies. She was properly quarantined and I have had her for 2 years now.