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Opening a Reptile Rescue in NE Ohio

Herps Alive!

Herps Alive!

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I have been a herpetology educator for 35 years and have always taken in unwanted and abused animals. Over the last couple years, the rescue/adoption mission has grown exponentially. We are currently in the process of spinning off the rescue into a 501(C)3. We have a Board of Directors in place and are close to renting a space.
Obviously, anyone with experience running a dedicated rescue (not just taking in some animals here and there), I would love your suggestions.
We are running a crowd-funding campaign at Indiegogo to help raise the funds to get this thing open. I have committed $5K of my own money annually.

Here is the direct link to the Indiegogo page- http://igg.me/at/herpsalive/x/4003557
Here is more information- http://www.wanderingherpetologist.com/rescue-2/
Our Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herp...e-and-Amphibian-Experience/62345873433?ref=hl
 
Business plan is to raise funds through donations; grants; sale of used and donated equipment and bu hosting events (school groups, scouts, even birthday parties); rehoming fees and sanctuary fees (we agree to keep an animal and not adopt it out, owner pays a fee to assure that). Anything I am missing? Thanks for any suggestions.

Got a little write up in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer- http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/_animals_in_the_news_42.html
 
It took us almost a yea, but we have a lease on a 4000 sq foot building and our 501c3 gets submitted Monday. More info in the attachment
 

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Quick update- renovations have taken forever (volunteer based organization), but we are moving our first animals in tomorrow and should have all of them in around mid-June. Still a few hurdles with the landlord, but meeting with the city on that this week.
 
Lucille said:
I would love to see pictures or a video. :)
Click to expand...

Still a lot of empty space, lol, but here are a few pics as we bean moving in some things over the weekend.
 

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It would be awesome to have a shake rescue in my Facebook group. I aim to bring people from all around the U.S. Together. I'd like to get anybody that has snakes, anybody that's experienced with snakes, and anybody selling snakes to join my group. Having a snake rescue would also be cool. I would love if you joined. Any of your expert advice would also help any newbies that join :)
Snakes! The pets that slither.
 
Warning: You might want to rein in your solicitation of members for your Facebook group before it gets you into trouble. I've already removed a couple of your posts from the classifieds - if you continue, you'll start accruing infractions.
 
Keith the place is HUGE!!!
I think once stuff gets moved in, maybe a new coat of paint, a few reptile posters, it will look very appealing.
 
A few more updates. Small aquatics area (turtles, aquatic frogs). Also one of the crazest bult-in cages ever. Probably will house an iiguana- picking up one from NY and one from Indana later this month. HVAC got a clean bill of health (and a programmable thermostat) courtesy of a local company that supports our efforts. Progress is slower than I'd like, but faster than it has been.
 
First 30 or so animals have been moved in. The iguana was deserted and came to us from a local Humane Society. This is his "sun" cage where volunteers can bring hm outside. His normal cage is the built in above.
 

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Kudos to you, Keith, et al, for taking the very long time and enormous efforts to proceed legally and safely and to provide safe haven for the rescues. I've followed your thread from the beginning; really good to see it all finally coming to fruition.

PM sent re: supplies I could donate.
 
Thought we would be opening this week, but the city decided we had too many electrical issues (smh), so the electrician will be back out next week. Another $1500-2000 we had not budgeted for. Very frustrated right now. Off to do what of the electrical I CAN do myself now. Go USA. More updates in a few days.
 
Sounds like a great idea, but definately important to keep your rescue operation away from your breeding operation. But I bet it would be very rewarding for both you and the animals involved. I would start out slow until you get the hang of things... if you don't have a ton of experience with a certain animal, maybe just have one or a couple of that type until you feel more comfortable. Definately get your Fed Ex certification and maybe even search out a few more forums that will allow you to place adoption ads to help you reach more people who may be interested in adopting.
 
Still trying to hammer out electrical with an inspector who admittedly dislikes reptiles. Hope to finally get open in a couple weeks. We have about 50 animals in the building, with 150 more (about 70 turtles. 60 snakes and 20 lizards, frogs and other miscellaneous) still at the temporary facility.
Two things- I have attached our latest newsletter if anyone is interested in checking out what we are doiing, and due to an influx of aquatic turtles, we are in desperate need of filtration. If anyone has any canister filters, external or internal,, laying around that they would like to donate, please message me. We are a 501C3 so we can provide a tax receipt.
 

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Electric finally approved and then the city hit us with a state mechancial code violation for ventilation, so another $2-3K before we can open. We are now $10K over budget, but we are going to make this thing work. Been getting lots of equipment donations (tax deductible, just sayin ;-)) and unfortunately have been taking in lots of animals. Website (herpsalive.org) should go live by the end of the month.
 
Ductwork done, waiting for the stupid exhaust fan now. Hope to get open before the holidays. Very frustrated. Here are some pics of the small cage room taking shape - had to wait for landlord to do some repairs and for the ductwork to be installed.

I have also attached a picture of our 2015 Foundation calendar. PM me if you would like to buy one and support a good cause.
 
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