# please help starting a reptile rescue and rehoming



## wozaa3

hi im starting a reptile rescue and rehoming any advise will be greatly greatly appreciated also looking for donations of equipment ie vivs, lighting, heating, feeding ect ect. we rescue and rehome any thing including DWA.

Thank you
warren


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## SnakeBreeder

wozaa3 said:


> hi im starting a reptile rescue and rehoming any advise will be greatly greatly appreciated also looking for donations of equipment ie vivs, lighting, heating, feeding ect ect. we rescue and rehome any thing including DWA.
> 
> Thank you
> warren


I see a flame war starting.
Only two posts and one of them is asking for free stuff :bash:
And as for people sending their DWA your way ........ :blush:


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## wozaa3

SnakeBreeder said:


> I see a flame war starting.
> Only two posts and one of them is asking for free stuff :bash:
> And as for people sending their DWA your way ........ :blush:


sorry new to forums firstly whats a flame war. second not asking for free stuff asking for advise and donations which just a second main reason for this is advise im had reptiles since i was twelve but have no idea about the admin and business side of it. as for the donations me and my wife are retired so work on limited funds we even breed and grow all the food for them. thirdly you put blushing thing after your DWA comment I do have a DWA licence for 3 snakes and 1 spider already not only that once the rescue is up and running properly I dont need one. finally if you specialis in corn snakes can you help on my other post thing 

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/genetics/781276-green-spot-snow-corns.html#post9282745


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## Salazare Slytherin

Welcome to RFUK.

My advise is this.

Don't depend on donations, you will rarely get any, equipment and vivs etc is all good being donated to a rescue but from expireince don't depend on that either.

It is good to have intentions such as that, but rarely will you find anyone in dire need to give their animals and equipment away for free in this community and if you did you would probibly be speaking about a one off occurance that (rarely) happens.

Are you prepared to have humpteen reptiles dumped on you? and still be willing to pay full cost at a vetrinary practice despite the chance of survial being very low?

There is nothing wrong with rescuing reptiles or any animals but speaking from expirience it is very hard, very time consuming.

You will very rarely if at all have someone who is willing to give up a DWA animal considering the time effort and money they would have put into it, the chances are they would sell pretty easily to someone else with a DWA licence, yourself having one will know this.

If you still feel as though you can help, you are possibly better off designing yourself a website, showing some of the work you have done with past reptiles, treating them, pictures which can co-incide with what you are saying rather than just a word over the internet, information on will any of the animals be checked out by a vet? what practices would be put into place? how long and often can you attend to the animals.

All that sort of information goes a long way.

The reason he is expecting a flame war is 

1. Many people in the past have came here claiming to be a rescue when they intended to just have free animals.
2. Much of the equipement needed to keep reptiles is very expensive and therefore many people work hard and don't like the fact that some people just come on and ask for free stuff.
3. asking for free things usually says alot about the person, can they afford a vet should the animal in their care become ill.
4. do you have any contacts that can take care of a reptile that you can't? 

I am not saying you are any of those things but it is still possible.

I can say however though, that rescuing animals myself only a few years ago and some (unintentional ones) this year I never had to ask for animals or announce I was rescuing.

I know you said any animal but what if someone phoned up tomorrow with 15 fully grown nile monitors and 10 iguanas?

I wish you luck if you are legit but I don't and can't see any reason within a first post to take your word for it, nor is their evidence of your expirience?

With those things you may find more people will be willing to use you if your seriouse.

It does just get a little frustrating when peeps have came here in the past asking for free things that is all, and therefore these threads can get heated.
I know your not asking for free stuff, but depending on donations etc is a big fat NO! where rescue animals are concerned.

Best Wishes
Dixon.


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## wozaa3

Salazare Slytherin said:


> Welcome to RFUK.
> 
> My advise is this.
> 
> Don't depend on donations, you will rarely get any, equipment and vivs etc is all good being donated to a rescue but from expireince don't depend on that either.
> 
> It is good to have intentions such as that, but rarely will you find anyone in dire need to give their animals and equipment away for free in this community and if you did you would probibly be speaking about a one off occurance that (rarely) happens.
> 
> Are you prepared to have humpteen reptiles dumped on you? and still be willing to pay full cost at a vetrinary practice despite the chance of survial being very low?
> 
> There is nothing wrong with rescuing reptiles or any animals but speaking from expirience it is very hard, very time consuming.
> 
> You will very rarely if at all have someone who is willing to give up a DWA animal considering the time effort and money they would have put into it, the chances are they would sell pretty easily to someone else with a DWA licence, yourself having one will know this.
> 
> If you still feel as though you can help, you are possibly better off designing yourself a website, showing some of the work you have done with past reptiles, treating them, pictures which can co-incide with what you are saying rather than just a word over the internet, information on will any of the animals be checked out by a vet? what practices would be put into place? how long and often can you attend to the animals.
> 
> All that sort of information goes a long way.
> 
> The reason he is expecting a flame war is
> 
> 1. Many people in the past have came here claiming to be a rescue when they intended to just have free animals.
> 2. Much of the equipement needed to keep reptiles is very expensive and therefore many people work hard and don't like the fact that some people just come on and ask for free stuff.
> 3. asking for free things usually says alot about the person, can they afford a vet should the animal in their care become ill.
> 4. do you have any contacts that can take care of a reptile that you can't?
> 
> I am not saying you are any of those things but it is still possible.
> 
> I can say however though, that rescuing animals myself only a few years ago and some (unintentional ones) this year I never had to ask for animals or announce I was rescuing.
> 
> I know you said any animal but what if someone phoned up tomorrow with 15 fully grown nile monitors and 10 iguanas?
> 
> I wish you luck if you are legit but I don't and can't see any reason within a first post to take your word for it, nor is their evidence of your experience?
> 
> With those things you may find more people will be willing to use you if your seriouse.
> 
> It does just get a little frustrating when peeps have came here in the past asking for free things that is all, and therefore these threads can get heated.
> I know your not asking for free stuff, but depending on donations etc is a big fat NO! where rescue animals are concerned.
> 
> Best Wishes
> Dixon.


thanks dont worry im not depending on it I used to be a carpenter but if you dont ask you dont get

no you wouldn't of think any one would bie in dire need to give their animals but in the paper around here your always reading about people finding stuff that shouldnt be in the wild and iv spoken to the local rescues that dont take and thay do get contact about them enough that it would be would be worth while

humpteen reptiles is not a problem to empty rooms since the kids moved out no vet cost my sons a vet 

as for DWA's i get that but it was just my way of saying there is no reptile we wouldnt take.

yes i am building a website at the moment all will be cheeked out by my son all new home will be vetted visited and quizzed on the reptile time 24/7 its in my own home and were retired 

i see what your saying about the flame war but still dont quite get the term

I also have always took them in and always will but i havent been doing it officialy just going throw the motions now because i do it anyway and next year there putting the DWA fee up to a £1000 and as i said if im a rescue i dont need it 

no i couldnt take 15 i could take 2 after 1 or two days building a encloser and find new home for the others fairly quick

thank you i will be commenting on more post to help people and show my experience 

also a question for you are you a official rescue or do you just get them from friend of a friend of a friends if official did you need to register as a charity if so would you be willing to help me with any questions about the charity stuff because that proper confused me

thank you 
warren


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## Salazare Slytherin

wozaa3 said:


> thanks dont worry im not depending on it I used to be a carpenter but if you dont ask you dont get
> 
> no you wouldn't of think any one would bie in dire need to give their animals but in the paper around here your always reading about people finding stuff that shouldnt be in the wild and iv spoken to the local rescues that dont take and thay do get contact about them enough that it would be would be worth while
> 
> humpteen reptiles is not a problem to empty rooms since the kids moved out no vet cost my sons a vet
> 
> as for DWA's i get that but it was just my way of saying there is no reptile we wouldnt take.
> 
> yes i am building a website at the moment all will be cheeked out by my son all new home will be vetted visited and quizzed on the reptile time 24/7 its in my own home and were retired
> 
> i see what your saying about the flame war but still dont quite get the term
> 
> I also have always took them in and always will but i havent been doing it officialy just going throw the motions now because i do it anyway and next year there putting the DWA fee up to a £1000 and as i said if im a rescue i dont need it
> 
> no i couldnt take 15 i could take 2 after 1 or two days building a encloser and find new home for the others fairly quick
> 
> thank you i will be commenting on more post to help people and show my experience
> 
> also a question for you are you a official rescue or do you just get them from friend of a friend of a friends if official did you need to register as a charity if so would you be willing to help me with any questions about the charity stuff because that proper confused me
> 
> thank you
> warren


 
Hi Warren I am not a registerd animal rescue, nor will I ever be, the rescue work I have done has been entirely off my own back, I have done alot of voluntary work for rescues (charities) but no I didn't need to register as one, word gets around that you keep alot of animals, peeps come for advice, peeps get that advice, and then the pet shops get to know you, pet shops end up with animals dumped on them or left outside, the pet shop gets in touch with us and if we can we will help.

Locally people come to you and even on occasion the animal got dumped on us and sometimes not just reptiles, but cats, rabbits, rats, mice and guniepigs.

My anology of 10 niles and 10 iguanas was a bit extrememe but it gets the point across.

Alot of the animals that fell into our care were not exacly in the best of health either.

I look forward to seeing the end result of your website, feel free to drop me a message when it is done, and I look forward to seeing some of your posts too 

If your son is a vet I suppose that would significantly help especially if you have already discussed it with him.

To be honest the "flame war" is a term for people jumping to conclusions in anger or frustration, if you seen one of those threads you would understand, trust me lmao.

With regards to charity work and information I would speak to Denise at reptilerescueden, she does alot of charity work and rescues reptriles too, she would possibly be able to offer a bit more advice.

Wish you the best of luck with your rescue.


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## Podarcis

Hi Warren,

Whilst I applaud your intentions, I would, perhaps patronisingly, ask you to consider this really carefully. Much like SS, I have taken on loads of "free" animals as rehomes. That includes tortoises and turtles, snakes, lizards and other things. Brilliant. Some of this even comes with free vivs! Great right?

But these animals need feeding, housing, heating, lighting and, of course, veterinary care. You seem to have considered a lot of this stuff, but it is worth restating for others considering doing the same thing. This year I had a first; I turned down an RSPCA rescue request because of a lack of space.This feels rubbish but it is sometimes unavoidable.

Lastly, I have never needed to advertise, and I've got loads. A word to the wise, given the experiences of many members of this forum is that those who are advertising may be up to something more than rehoming.


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## Janine00

Hi Warren.... Everything they said ^^^^ ... and good luck! : victory: Credit to you for trying to ensure you set up everything as it should be. There are any number of us that will take on 'rescues' but it is right that there are often numerous posts on here by (often) youngsters, who think that by saying they are going to start up a rescue, they will get lots of free stuff.... hence the 'flaming'. (Flaming threads can sometimes (very occassionally) be amusing if you are bored with nothing to better to do - also why people will often respond by saying something like.... 'gets out popcorn and makes self comfortable'.

Hopefully someone else will be able to help with charities info, however, as you have internet access, there should also be some information available to you on the charities commission website The Charity Commission for England and Wales

There is also a wealth of good 'home remedy' type information if you bother to search through some of the threads on here, and often they are similar to what vet's will advise, if they have experience of reptiles... a guy named Wildlife Warrior has posted a number of them along the way - often very good. He now writes for Practical Reptile Keeping, so does not post so many on here, but all of his threads also used to tell people to see a vet as well, and advised that his threads were something someone could consider using before they could get to a vet and ONLY once something was a known diagnosis - such as a burn etc. Personally I like his 'honey' recipe :lol2:

Welcome to the forum :welcome:


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## wozaa3

ok thank for the comments so far guys please keep them coming and i see what your saying and like say im new to forums not just this one and unaware of these facts and the idea of people doing just for free stuff had never crossed my mind

thank guy and keep comments coming
warren


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## Salazare Slytherin

Janine00 said:


> Hi Warren.... Everything they said ^^^^ ... and good luck! : victory: Credit to you for trying to ensure you set up everything as it should be. There are any number of us that will take on 'rescues' but it is right that there are often numerous posts on here by (often) youngsters, who think that by saying they are going to start up a rescue, they will get lots of free stuff.... hence the 'flaming'. (Flaming threads can sometimes (very occassionally) be amusing if you are bored with nothing to better to do - also why people will often respond by saying something like.... 'gets out popcorn and makes self comfortable'.
> 
> Hopefully someone else will be able to help with charities info, however, as you have internet access, there should also be some information available to you on the charities commission website The Charity Commission for England and Wales
> 
> There is also a wealth of good 'home remedy' type information if you bother to search through some of the threads on here, and often they are similar to what vet's will advise, if they have experience of reptiles... a guy named Wildlife Warrior has posted a number of them along the way - often very good. He now writes for Practical Reptile Keeping, so does not post so many on here, but all of his threads also used to tell people to see a vet as well, and advised that his threads were something someone could consider using before they could get to a vet and ONLY once something was a known diagnosis - such as a burn etc. Personally I like his 'honey' recipe :lol2:
> 
> Welcome to the forum :welcome:


I would just like to add, Christian (Wildlifewarrior) has helped me out significantly with some of my own rescued animals. and he is a very nice guy, he even leant me a viv ontil I could afford to pay for it (which I have now) to help me out with one of my rescue water dragons, he was also happy to look over my iguana ontil he could see a vet.

The water dragon when I picked it up was kept in nothing other than a 3ft fish tank no source of UVB and was severely dehydrated.

I trust his advice completely, with his help this water dragon is now eating by itself, showing some lovely greens which it wasn't before hand and I can only say he is completely a nice guy.

Of course seeing a vet is the way to go in most cases, but learning some basic first aid is essential for any reptile keeper and he has been happy to share this with the commuity, all of which most of us have benefited.

his methods have helped out even the most expirienced keepers, and his threads and articles are always very informative.


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## wozaa3

just like to say came across my first flame war and would like to say i think it was out of order since it was all directed at a child if you wish to comment on this post please pm me because this thread is about my rescue and rehome and i dont want to get off topic.


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## Salazare Slytherin

wozaa3 said:


> just like to say came across my first flame war and would like to say i think it was out of order since it was all directed at a child if you wish to comment on this post please pm me because this thread is about my rescue and rehome and i dont want to get off topic.


You get idiots and nurotic know it alls, all the time dude, but I doubt even saying PM me will work on threads, mostly it does not happen, I just ignore them.


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## Specialist Wildlife

*Dwa*



wozaa3 said:


> I also have always took them in and always will but i havent been doing it officialy just going throw the motions now because i do it anyway and next year there putting the DWA fee up to a £1000 and as i said if im a rescue i dont need it


Just to warn you that who ever told you rescues are exempt from DWA requirements were incorrect, even if it was your local authority.

The only exemptions from DWA are for Pet Shop licenses (It normally has to be stated on your pet shop licence what you can hold for sale in the case of DWA) or a Zoo Licence which you cannot get on a domestic residence.

You will still need your DWA and public liability insurance, which if you are operating as a rescue normally has to have a £5,000,000 minimum when you disclose to your insurer what it is you want to do.

Hope that helps.


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