Jub-Jub

Jub-Jub is a 3 year old female iguana that we rescued in August of 2003. Her owners surrendered her because they could no longer care for her. Jub-Jub is healthy and has already been placed in a loving home here in Salem, Oregon.

Lizzy September 2002

Lizzy September 2003

Lizzy

Lizzy was a grade school pet in Olympia, Washington for a year and desperately needed a new home. I was told that a parent purchased Lizzy and brought him into the classroom as a learning tool for the children. Beardies are wonderful around children and this is probably why the parent chose a bearded dragon. Unfortunately, Lizzy suffered greatly. He was left alone in the cold classroom during the weekends, and usually without food. He was handled roughly by the children and learned to fear humans. When he came to us in August of 2002, he was very malnourished, stressed, infected with parasites and tapeworms, and in need of immediate medical attention. I am proud to report that Lizzy has a clean bill of health and enjoys his days lounging in the sun and swimming in the pool! We have not tried to find Lizzy a home since we currently have the space to keep him. He has such a wonderful personality and has really warmed up to us. He will most likely live out the remainder of his life in our care.

Update December 18, 2004: Our beloved Lizzy has passed away. Lizzy grew to over 550 grams and was a healthy, happy member of our family. We had many wonderful moments with him and he won't be forgotten. Lizzy was only 3 years old when he died. The vet said he died of Leukemia (cancer), which is rather common for beardies in his age range. There was nothing the vet or I could do to prevent this or to help him. He went rather quickly and didn't appear to be ill for more than a few weeks before he died. RIP Lizzy. You won't be forgotten!

Tiki (8/1/03)

Update: Tiki (October 2003)

Update: Tiki (March 2004)

Tiki (April 2005)

Tiki's hand (April 2005)

Tiki October 2007

Tiki

This precious little gem was introduced to us when a friend asked us to babysit her dragon while she was away on vacation. The beardie didn't have a name, so we nicknamed her "Tiki."

We were told that Tiki is a little over a year old. She didn't have any heat or UVB source and was fed a diet of green beans with occasional calcium (Reptocal) added to it. She was underweight and very small for her age. She was approximately 10 inches long (tip of nose to tip of tail) and 70 grams when we first started caring for her in August '03. We immediately gave her a heat source and UVB. She perked right up and began to devour everything in site. She is a ferocious eater with a passion for blackberries and crickets. After 3months in our care, she now weighs 285 grams and is 15 inches long.

Tiki was returned to her original owner in November 2003. I made sure that the owner knew how to properly care for Tiki (UVB, heat, diet, etc...).

Update March 1, 2004: Today I saw Tiki and she looks like a completely different dragon (photo to the left)! She's got this beautiful orange beard and a very pleasant personality. She's come a long way from a nutritionally incorrect diet and environment that almost killed her. She looks like she's having a wonderful life with her owner. I wish all of our rescues were this easy.

Update April 21, 2005: Tiki's owner is moving out of state and couldn't take her with her. She asked if I would take Tiki and care for her. Of course I accepted.

When Tiki arrived, she was dehydrated, thin, loaded with parasites, and had been bitten on the hand by an aggressive cage mate (see photo to left). I suspect that the tissue is dying or already dead and she may need the two fingers amputated. The fingers are very sore to the touch. However, she seems to be able to walk on her hand just fine.

Her owner complained that she wouldn't eat much for her. My warnings to her about housing two dragons together (especially a male and a female) went unnoticed. And Tiki suffered as a direct result. We are currently working to put some weight back on her. She laid 2 clutches of eggs when she was living with her previous owner, but they were not fertile. Just in case she decides to lay more eggs, we want her to have plenty of built up fat reserves and lots of protein and calcium in her diet. Her previous owner didn't understand the nutrition needs of a dragon, let alone a gravid one.

Another Little One

On September 28, 2003, some friends and I were driving home from the West Coast Captive Breeder's Expo in Eugene. We decided to stop at a pet store in a town we were driving through.

On my way out of the pet store, I noticed a homemade rack of small cages with all sorts of reptiles in them. They were about 18 inches wide by 18 inches deep. The entire rack was taller than I was and each unit was about 12 inches tall. There was probably 6 units all together. On the very bottom of this wooden rack I noticed a red glowing light from inside. I got on my hands and knees and peeked inside. Laying in the corner of the enclosure was a 4" long baby bearded dragon that looked to be dead or very near death. I noticed that there was not a single ventilation hole anywhere to be found. I immediately put my hand on the plexiglass front and as I suspected, the enclosure was more like an oven than a terrarium. The builder neglected to include ventilation holes on the very last enclosure - but all of the others had holes drilled in them.

My friends and I were shocked at this beardies condition and quickly got the attention of a nearby employee. The employee shrugged and said that the beardie got sick yesterday so they separated him from the rest of his siblings and placed him in this "sick tank." His siblings were 3 or 4 times bigger than he was! When I asked her what the temperature was in the "sick tank" she offered to open it up and check (no thermometers anywhere to be found!). She removed the bolts that held the plexiglass in place and put her hand inside. She felt around and shrugged again saying that it "felt just fine."

By this time we were all dumbfounded by this lady's stupidity and asked to speak to the manager. The manager told us that the beardie had gotten "ill" the day before and that's why he was separated from his siblings. They tried to force feed him in the morning, but couldn't get much down. By now it was 4 pm in the afternoon and the beardie had been "baking" in the so-called "sick tank" for nearly 2 days! I can't even imagine how hot it was in there!

My friends and I persuaded the manager to give us the beardie. Although they had a local vet they could take him to, they knew that the vet's expenses would be costly and they could not sell a dying beardie. Before we left the pet store, we made sure that the manager and the employee understood what they did wrong to almost kill the beardie. We didn't want it to happen again.

As we drove home (over an hour away) we tried to get some life saving fluids into him. We dripped diluted Sprite (it was all we had at the time) onto his nose and he lapped it up. He drank several droplets and slept the rest of the way home. He was so weak.

When we got home, we bathed him and tried to get him to drink more. But he just didn't have the strength to hold his head up out of the water. So we mixed up some Pedialyte and vitamins and got him to take in about .2 cc's. We put him into a new home and noticed that he could barely hold himself up and walked like he was drunk. We decided to let him rest for a little while. The poor guy had a hard day. Imagine being trapped in a sauna for 2 days without any water!

Update (9-30-03) - I am sorry to say that the little guy passed away. He was just too weak for us to save him. Rest in peace little one and enjoy your journey to the Rainbow Bridge.

Juvenile Savannah Monitor

In October of 2003, my reptile rescue partner, Lenae of Pacific NW Reptile Rescue, heard of a Savannah Monitor that had been recently found wandering the streets. A caring lady brought the monitor into her home and fed and cared for it until she contacted Lenae. Lenae brought the 2 foot monitor into her home and began rehydrating the malnourished and very skinny monitor. After a few days, he began to eat on his own. She found that he really likes silkworms, superworms, and scrambled eggs. :)

Strange as it may seem, this monitor is very calm and relaxed around humans. He will sit on your shoulder and he even puts up with Lenae's hyper-active cat. He seems to just be content to have someone to love him. Lenae has already found him a loving home and he will be relocated as soon as possible.

Angela

Angela is a 6 1/2 foot long Red Tail Boa. She is 7 years old and comes from a very loving family. Unfortunately her family had to move and couldn't take her with them. Our friends at the Pacific NW Reptile Rescue in Portland, OR took her into their home but didn't have the room for her 5 foot long enclosure. So we now have Angela living with us.

Since Angela has such a pleasant personality and gets along with people so well, we decided to give her to some friends that really wanted a Red Tail. Trevor's family previously had a large Red Tail, like Angela, but since her death they have wanted another one to be part of their family. I am sure that Trevor and his family will give Angela a very loving and dedicated home.

Romeo - A 10 foot Burmese Python!!!

Our friends, Lenae and Brian, at the Pacific NW Reptile Rescue in Portland, OR rescued this georgous python in November 2003. Both Lenae and I were contacted by a lady from a humane society in northern Washington (over 5 hours away). She was desperately looking for a home for the python because they would have to put it to sleep if they couldn't find a home for him in the next 24 - 48 hours. We couldn't let that happen!

That next day the lady from the Humane Society drove nearly 5 hours to drop off the python at Lenae's house. The lady warned Lenae that the python was left at their humane society because he scared his owners. She also said that he hissed at some of her staff members. Lenae noticed that his eyes were clouded over and was going to shed soon. Lenae's experience with snakes told her that this was probably the reason for his grumpiness.

I offered to take him to my house since we had more room for such a large snake. We later named him Romeo because he won us over with his bold, yet friendly personality. Romeo lived with us for several months. Then we were contacted by a local herpetologist looking for large snakes, and we let him adopt Romeo. He offered the best possible housing and care for such a large snake, and Romeo may even be introduced to some females later on down the line. There's a Juliet out there waiting for him!

Bubba

A few friends of ours helped rescue an injured iguana named Bubba. He needed medical treatment, a bath, and a good meal. Bubba has been relocated to a local man who used to have an iguana which he owned for many years. He has been on the lookout for an iguana that he could rescue and spend lots of time with. Looks like he got his wish and Bubba got a great home with an experienced owner!

Tank and Turtle

Two adorable Mali Uromastyx's were in need of a new home. I contacted my good friend Torey, who already has two Saharan Uro's. She had previously talked about adding some Mali's to her collection, and jumped at the chance to rescue Tank and Turtle. They are doing very well with Torey and even enjoy coming out of their cage for some play time. Thanks Torey for giving them such a caring and loving home!

Emmy

This beautiful female Iguana was brought to Beautiful Dragons on December 11, 2004. She appeared to be very healthy and well cared for. Her previous owners felt she should be with someone that could devote more time to her as she was used to attention, and loved to be held.

The more time I spent with Emmy, the more I realize just how much love and care her owners gave her. Emmy is truly a people iguana and finding her a new home will not be a hard task at all. I just wish all the rescues we did could be as easy as this one.

Sparky

In March 2005, we received a healthy and beautiful male dragon from Las Vegas, NV. His owner took very good care of him and it shows. Sparky really isn't a rescue by our normal standards. He just needed a new home. So we graciously accepted to take care of him. He is one of the most gentle dragons I have ever met.

Mama

In May 2005, we were sent an adult female dragon from a lady who rescued her and could no longer care for her. Mama suffers from severe MBD. As you can see in the photos, she walks on her wrists and she can't support her body weight on her arms and legs. When she walks, her belly drags on the floor. Despite her disabilities, she manages to get around ok. We've taken out any climbing structures in her cage to eliminate the possibility of her falling and fracturing bones. She has a Mega Ray UVB bulb over her for maximum UVB. She is also on NeoCalglucon, a potent liquid calcium supplement. We hope that with her calcium treatments and UVB exposure, that she will one day walk again.

She has a great personality, and as you can see from the photo to the left, she loves to look out over the back yard. She's very curious and she's usually found in this spot - gazing out the window.

Veiled Chameleon

In June 2005, we rescued our first Veiled Chameleon. He was a little on the thin side when we got him. We were told that he was found in an abondoned apartment for who knows how long. He seems to be doing well in his new cage. He is currently housed in a 4 foot tall screened cage that is filled with live plants, vines, sticks, and climbing ropes - a chameleon paradise! He explored every inch of his new home then decided that it was alright. He's eating well and has gained quite a bit of weight.

Update: A year after his rescue, he is healthy enough to go to a new home. And almost no signs of the burns he had from the previous owner. I found him a good home with some close friends who love reptiles. Although they have never owned a Chameleon before, I know they will do just great!

Rescued in June '06. Gimpy came to us with severe MBD, he was malnourished, dehydrated, not eating on his own, and has a deformed jaw as a result of the MBD. For several months he wouldn't eat, I had to nurse him back to health. And today, he's still rather thin. But we're working on that. With his deformed jaw that doesn't line up, he can't chew roaches, our main live food source in the rescue. He can't chew much of anything, so his diet is limited, and this has drastically slowed down the rate in which we're able to put some weight back on him.