BeWild Reptile Rescue

Jubilee the leopard tortoise came to us a few months ago from a hoarding case. She was thin with an overgrown beak, and has been doing really well living in a big outdoor enclosure! This week, we sedated Jubilee for a beak trim and routine bloodwork, which luckily came back normal. Tortoises her size are very strong, so we really needed some sedation to properly dremel her beak! She’s happy to be back outside and has been chowing down on her salads.

Scallop is an adult male eastern box turtle who was surrendered last week. He was purchased at a flea market 4 years ago. As a reminder, it is illegal to sell box turtles in NC. It’s very sad to us that this handsome, healthy box turtle now has to live in captivity permanently. While our goal is always to keep wildlife wild, we cannot release a turtle who has been captive for years with no known original location. Turtles have very small home ranges and usually do not do well when relocated.

Scallop gets to stay in a grassy outdoor enclosure while here, and optimally we would place him at a wildlife center if possible. If not, he will be up for adoption to a home that will provide him a naturalistic outdoor enclosure for the warm months.

Drysdale visited our friends at Avian and Exotic Animal Care yesterday. We would like to formally apologize for his hissy fit, which included biting a technician and peeing in the pocket of the vet 😬.

Drysdale came to us last year when his owner passed away. He was emaciated with a severe respiratory infection and many wounds. Drysdale has almost DOUBLED in weight, his wounds have healed, and his breathing is significantly better. He still has intermittent wheezing but no discharge, and we’ve run multiple viral panels and did a sequencing panel called a MiDOG.

Dr. Tepedino recommended radiographs of his lungs, which showed chronic scarring but no fluid pockets. These radiographs can serve as a baseline in case we need to compare images in the future. He definitely has permanent lung damage, but is otherwise doing great and should be able to live a mostly normal life.

The good news is that Drysdale already has a home lined up, with none other than the technician he gave a little love bite to yesterday!

Reginald, we do not wear plants as hats.

Flotsam and Jetsam are two adult leopard geckos that were surrendered last week. Flotsam is an adult female who has mild metabolic bone disease but is otherwise in good shape. We have started her on a a course of oral calcium but luckily this shouldn’t affect her mobility. Jetsam is an adult male, and he is a bit overweight so he’s been started on a diet!

We had 2 snakes surrendered this week, Shrimp the western hognose snake and Barracuda the ball python. Shrimp is a 1 year old male that was surrendered because he can be a little spicy, which is normal for juvenile hognoses! Barracuda is a 5 year old female. Both look to be in great shape!

Please read: We are not currently accepting applications for these animals. We quarantine all animals for a minimum of 30 days before evaluating whether they will be listed for adoption. Available animals are listed on our website.

FOUND TORTOISE - PLEASE SHARE!

Barnacle is an adult male Russian tortoise who was found in a backyard in Fuquay Varina. He looks to be in good shape. Please contact us with photo proof if this is your tortoise! Thank you to the Good Samaritan who transported him here.

The sickest three leopard gecko intakes this spring are all doing great, and we wanted to share some update pictures! Hopefully these three will be up for adoption in the next few weeks.

Wanda was surrendered with severe metabolic bone disease and she was very thin. Recovery was a challenge as she had a broken jaw that made eating insects difficult, even with daily calcium and pain meds. Volunteers assiduously syringe fed her for several months, and now she is eating insects on her own and gaining weight well!

Logan came to us with a vitamin A deficiency. He was particularly difficult as he absolutely HATED our syringe feeding formulas and would regurgitate food unless we went very slow. He maintained condition until his eyes healed well enough to hunt, and now he’s a fantastic hunter!

Sinestro was found as a stray and came to us from the shelter. He was another vitamin A case who had to be syringe fed for awhile. He started eating insects a few weeks ago and is doing great!

FOUND GECKO - PLEASE SHARE!

Bobbit is an adult male leopard gecko that was found outside an apartment complex in Chapel Hill. A couple had been watching and trying to catch him for days and finally got him last night! He had been outdoors during several nights in the 40’s, and would have been an easy snack for outdoor predators.

Bobbit is a little thin but in decent shape considering the circumstances. If this is your gecko, please message us with picture and location evidence!

Orca is an adult male leopard gecko who was surrendered this evening. Orca is emaciated and has apparently not eaten in 2-3 months. He has evidence of a vitamin A deficiency, characterized by a buildup of keratinaceous material over his eyes and hemipenes. He is a super snow morph, which we very commonly see presented with vitamin A deficiencies. Anecdotally, this morph seems to be more sensitive to nutritional deficiencies.

We gave Orca subcutaneous fluids, oral multivitamins, flushed his eyes with saline, and applied lubricant. We removed a moderate about of material from each eye socket. Due to his emaciated condition, Orca unfortunately has a guarded prognosis. While we have rehabilitated geckos in his condition, we can also see irreversible organ damage with cases like this. Refeeding syndrome is also a very real threat in this case, so we will prioritize rehydration and start him on very diluted amounts of liquid diet.

As with any thin gecko, we always worry about cryptosporidium and other parasites. We will be sending out a PCR and doing an acid fast stain on a f***l smear. We have strict rules with our rescues in terms of PPE (personal protective equipment) and sanitation, and transmissable diseases like this are why!

If your gecko is having health issues or is not eating, check out ARAV.org to find a veterinarian that has experience with exotics in your area.