Adelaide Lizard Rescue

23/11/2021

Sweet rescue Spike having his first silk worm!

21/11/2021

I can imagine my husband with this sign!!

16/11/2021

Our latest rescue Spike is loving his Lizard Lunch! He’s currently got a few issues which I’m treating, ranging from a burn on the underside of his tail that has caused an infection, and coccadia. He has some teeth and part of his dental plate missing, and several toes missing, which are causing no issue. Due to the strength of the antibiotics I’m also giving him subcutaneous fluids to help flush his kidneys.

He loves any food you put in front of him, and is such a sweet boy!

07/11/2021

Edit: new home found!!!

Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out in the last rescue, Peter’s, new home. Whilst he was fine with me, and in his last home, it seems that it’s a possibility that the presence of cats in the house is freaking him out, so he is back to for adoption.

Please note, he has been black bearding and opening his mouth at his new owners. The only thing we can think of is the cats, as we don’t have any here at my place and he was fine here, and fine with his first owner.

Just incase, though, I’m going to ask that any interest in him please come from a cat free home, and ideally an intermediate to experienced owner, incase he is a rare one with an attitude and needs a confident handler.

Please PM me ASAP for interest, let’s get this little love a home!

Fully vet checked, with bloods and faecal being clear. Born Jan 2020.

25/10/2021

6 June until 21 August 2021. These are the dates of when I got the next rescue, and the date he went to his new home.

Sweet little Bumper and Bumper’s sibling were brought to a veterinary practice from a pet shop to be euthanised, due to not being able to sell and going down hill in health.
The veterinary practice contacted me, and asked if I could take on the sicker one, as one of the nurses was going to keep the healthy one.

At only 6 weeks of age, it was very clear little Bumper was very sick. I affectionately named him “Bumper” due to an evident bump on his back/tail.

Of course, all rescues go straight to the vets, so that’s where we headed. Unfortunately little Bumper had hypocalcaemia (low calcium levels), which was clearly evident in his X-rays. Bumper also has a fracture in his left front arm. He also has high levels of pinworms and coccidia, and was so weak and ill that he wouldn’t move and couldn’t eat independently.

Bumper was put on medication to clear up the parasites, as well as having to be syringe fed a concoction I make up and find I have great success with for sick dragons.

He was having Liquid Gold to assist bone health, of course whilst having the correct temp and lighting set up. Poor little Bumper was 29g when he first arrived to me.

We had lots of ups and downs, at times, quite a few times, I thought he wasn’t going to make it. But thankfully, Bumper kept holding on, and suddenly just seemed to turn a corner. Eating independently, moving around, responding to his name, actually climbing- it was wonderful to see him acting like a bearded dragon should!!

We had lots of regular vet check ups in between, and once Bumper was gulping down bugs and salad, shedding, gaining weight and had a repeat of bloods and faecal tests that came back clear, he was finally ready for his forever home!!

It was a bittersweet day, as you can’t help but become attached, and to watch him go from almost death to thriving and full of life- it’s just wonderful. I had him a long time, but thankfully like with all the rescues, I knew he was going to an amazing home!!

There will always be a special place in my heart for little Bumper, though!

21/10/2021

Did you know today is National Reptile Awareness Day?

A day to celebrate all reptiles, and raise awareness to promote education, conservation, and appreciation.

20/10/2021

Do you know of an SA based rescue or place highly invested in animal welfare and education, either for pets or wildlife, that you love?
Give them a shout out!!

We love:

* Animals Anonymous
(Educational environment & wildlife demonstrators)
* Tails of the Heart
(Rescues and adopts out rats and mice to loving homes)
* Bugs n Slugs
(Education and conservation of invertebrate animals)
* Freedom Hill Sanctuary
(Emergency care & rehoming of farm animals)
* Animals For Adoption and Rehoming South Australia
(A page dedicated to assisting safe rehoming of pets, as well as a comprehensive list of independent reputable dogs and cat rescue organisations)
* SA Rabbit Rescue and Adoptions
(Home based rabbit shelter and adoption organisation)
* Fauna Rescue of South Australia Inc.
(Wildlife rescuers and carers, ranging from possums to birds and kangaroos, etc. Aim to always rehabilitate and rerelease to wild wherever possible)
* Safe Pets Safe Families - Keeping people & pets together
(Providing care & support to people and their pets in crisis)
* Paws & Pals - homeless support
(Providing care to those with pets experiencing homelessness)
* Windamere Horse Haven
(Giving abused, abandoned and neglected horses a second chance at life)
* Minton Farm Animal Rescue Centre
(Rehabilitates injured and orphaned native animals)
* Southern Koala and Echidna Rescue Ltd
(Koala and echidna rescue and rehabilitation)
* 1300Koalaz
(Rescue, rehabilitation and where possible, release of koalas)
* Adelaide Koala & Wildlife Centre
(Veterinary care for orphaned, unwell and injured wildlife)
* Bridging The Gap - Greyhound Rehoming SA
(Greyhound adoption after retirement)
* Rescue SA Inc
(Rescuing sick, injured and orphaned flying foxes and microbats)
* Australian Lions Hearing Dogs
(Train, deliver and support dogs for deaf or hard of hearing owners)
* Guide Dogs Australia
(Assisting people with low vision or blindness with guide dogs)
* Delta Therapy Dogs
(Providing assistance Australia wide with therapy dogs and multiple programs)
* RSPCA South Australia
* Animal Welfare League SA

20/10/2021

19/10/2021

This beautiful boy isn’t a rescue, but my own dragon, Hufflepuff. He’s enjoying some Lizard Lunch after a tank clean!

18/10/2021

This one was a wild Bluey that Fauna Rescue called me about in November 2020. A lady found it being harassed by a cat outside, and it had a few marks on its head and body.

Thankfully nothing too major, wounds were cleaned and he was vet checked, kept at home with me for a few days (see photo one), and rereleased close to his original found site (second photo).

He was very well behaved and rather placid, and a lot bigger than the photos let on!

18/10/2021

I wouldn’t really call this one a rescue! Pancake, aged 6 months, came from a beautiful home, the owner simply wanted to rehome to someone who could give her more time and attention.

I got her mid February 2021. As with all rescues, though, a vet visit was in order. She had a lot of motile organisms, so we popped her on 10 days of Flagyl to clear that up.

Pancake was eating well and incredibly sweet, and loved soaking her front feet in her water!

To make it even better, the same wonderful owner who adopted Titanium (who became Norbert!) also adopted Pancake! AND that owner is also a vet nurse! I kept Pancake at my house for a little longer whilst she got another enclosure sorted, and I’m happy to report that Pancake is loving life with her forever mum!

It was wonderful to deal with a healthy dragon, and a lovely original owner and new owner!

18/10/2021

This one was another heart breaker, unfortunately. I suspected as soon as I saw him that he would need euthanasia. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and couldn’t understand how people wouldn’t get veterinary attention for this poor beardie.

This one was rescued by a man who saw him in a poor situation on gumtree. However, he continued to house him in the exact same way as the previous owner, except he offered food. He told me that he was the third owner, making me the 4th- and this dragon was only 8 months old!

I must stress this- good intent to rescue isn’t enough. If you are going to rescue, you can’t just take them from one house and environment and into your house with the same set up. Rescues must receive vet attention. They have to have the best husbandry, and often require a lot of time and attention.

After, from memory, about a week of him having this beardie, I then took him on.
I named him Daughtry, after the group, as the song “home,” was playing in the car when I picked him up and thought it was meaningful.

I sat in the car crying for a bit, horrified by his state, knowing he was in agony, and not being able to do anything about it yet as it was a Saturday evening, at the end of December in 2020.

He had metabolic bone disease, many broken bones (I’ll expand on that shortly), underweight, couldn’t walk properly, foot twisted, his jaw didn’t meet properly, and he had what appeared to be bite marks on his body, and other indentations, and sores on the edges of his mouth. And this was just from looking at him. Heaven knows what was happening internally.

Knowing he likely only had a couple of days left on earth, I treated him to gentle hugs, yummy food, and finally, correct heat and lighting. He couldn’t chew properly, as his jaw was like rubber.

I took him to the vet on Monday, where we decided to do X-rays before anything else due to his condition.

We were horrified.

I will copy and paste what I posted in the group after seeing the X-rays:

“Hi everyone, I wish I had better news for you all. Unfortunately we have opted to euthanasia the latest rescue, Daughtry.

In his 8 months of life, it’s clear it has been one of suffering. His bones have slightly whitened, so it’s clear that the last home did give him some calcium powder, but it’s just not enough.

Firstly, note the right front arm. Those 2 bones reasonably parallel to one another? The inner bone is bent, but has healed. Non issue. Now note the left arm. Completely crushed. Now we could amputate, which I would do and he would live a healthy life. His tail- quite obvious, but again, could be left or at worst amputated. You’ll also see a bowel movement, which would be painful to pass due to what I’m about to mention.

Now look at his ribs, particularly that left side of his torso. Many are completely broken. They have come off of his spine. Every breathe, every movement, would be agonising. There is nothing we can do for that, it cannot be fixed at all. The rest of his life would be one of pain, and he has suffered enough. It’s time for him to rest, be pain free and at peace.

The breaks are secondary to MBD. This has all been caused from either no UVB or incorrect UVB, and no or too little calcium.

Please. Take time to read the care sheets in our bearded dragon group (see name of it on photo). Invite as many people as you know to the group so that they can share the group to people they know, and so forth, so that we can get these beautiful creatures the correct care to thrive.

Rest in peace, little Daughtry. You’re free now x”

As you can see, no faecal or blood test was needed. There was no way he could continue living this way, it was cruel. The kindest thing to do was put him out of his suffering. I take comfort in able to provide him relief, and that he was able to experience love and care for at least a couple of days.

18/10/2021

The next rescue came from better circumstances than the others. He was 16 months old and named “Jellybean” from his previous owners.

They were needing a new home for him as they had adopted 2 off of gumtree, but were unaware that they should be housed together, and they began fighting. They couldn’t afford another tank so were wanting him to go to a lovely new home and contacted me.

He had a few toes and tail tip missing, and had never been fed salads EVER.

I rescued him at the end of November 2020. Surprisingly, his faecal and bloods were good, so he just needed some TLC and to learn to eat salads before being adopted. He was a bit dehydrated and underweight, too. Thankfully, after only a bit of coaxing, he began eating salads by himself and fell in love with leafy greens.

He was adopted quickly into a home with a little boy who had wanted a pet lizard for over a year! And the owner even got the tank made from scratch especially for him! They also kept the name Jellybean!

18/10/2021

The next rescue broke my heart, and unfortunately doesn’t have a happy ending.

This little girl was the result of backyard “breeders.” They didn’t understand the morphs they were putting together and it resulted in the production of the unethical silkback bearded dragon.

Silkback bearded dragons should never be bred. They lack the beta keratin scales, only having alpha keratin as their visible skin. They often have a range of health issues, from eye problems to skeletal issues and more. They require slightly different care to bearded dragons due to their tissue paper thin skin. Although skeletally and physically they have the same needs as the regular bearded dragon, if they are under the same strength UVB it will burn them. So it’s very hard, because their skeleton needs the usual UVB, but they’re skin cannot handle it, so the only thing to do is provide lower levels of UVB. They also require bathing to assist shed around their toes and tail, and moisturising with aloe vera or vegetable glycerin at night. You can’t have sharp climbing items in the tank, as the skin can tear easily. Skin infections also occur more easily. They are also more sensitive to temperature extremities.

Anyway!! This happened on July 30, 2020. I had multiple people message me asking me to save this one that was put on Gumtree. This little love I called “Thumbelina,” because she was 3 months of age but the size of a hatchling. She was 13g. The breeders had incorrect lights and temperatures, and only fed crickets and spinach.

My heart immediately broke. She had toe infections, was missing her tail tip, and had no life to her. But, to make it worse- when the vet went to do a blood test, the needle went straight through her bones- due to her inadequate care and breeding, her bones were like rubber and basically non existent. Another huge issue was Coccidia- I wish I’d taken a photo of the slide. I have never seen that much Coccidia in a living bearded dragon. Most adults wouldn’t survive that amount, let alone a baby. With these massive issues, and at a young age, the vet said she wouldn’t survive but I still had to try.

We commenced Baycox for the parasites, liquid gold for the bones, and she was too weak to eat, so I syringed Wombaroo, as well as electrolytes. I bathed her regularly and applied aloe vera. It was constant care for this little one, and very exhausting and draining.

After 3 weeks, however, her little body couldn’t take it anymore. On her last night with me, she did something she never did though- she moved (she hardly moved due to her condition and weakness). She moved to the front of the tank and stared at me. I put my hand inside the tank- I don’t like taking them out too much, as the heat and UVB is incredibly important for rescues- and she crawled into my hand, and snuggled in. I sat there crying, because I just knew this was her saying goodbye. And it was. She passed away.

I get mixed emotions thinking of her. She was such a darling, and I’m blessed to have known her and learnt from her. Obviously sadness for her, as she was let down by the people who bred her. But also anger, that people can care so little about an innocent animals life. She deserved better.

Rest peacefully little Thumbelina! ❤️

18/10/2021

The next rescue is little “Nubbin-“ affectionately called that due to his little nubbin in place of his full leg.

I got Nubbin at the start of July 2020 from someone who rescued him from a home that housed 2 dragons together, resulting in his leg being bitten and hanging off.

However, she then realised she couldn’t look after him or afford more vet treatment, so I took him on.

He was only around 6-12 months of age, and a real sweetheart!

He was healthier than Titanium, the first rescue, though he was still anaemic and underweight and had pinworms. Correct food and husbandry helped the anaemia, and medication for the pinworms.

He was a character and didn’t let having 3 legs slow him down at all!! He happily accepted salads and bugs without hesitation, and grew strong and healthy very quickly. However, possibly due to not being fed correctly/enough food, he tried to eat everything in sight- his hide, and his food and water bowl. I advised the new owners to not put loose substrate for a while, and just keep an eye on him if and when they do.

He was soon adopted into a loving family with kids that adore him, and renamed him Rocky.

17/10/2021

How are you going in the 6th game?!?! 😂

16/10/2021

To start with- “Titanium.”

Titanium was dumped, along with 2 shinglebacks, at Blackwood Vet. The vet passed them on to Bev at Minton Farm. The shinglebacks were in reasonable shape apart from mites, but Titanium wasn’t. Bev contacted me and I took on Titanium to try and rehabilitate him. (I picked “Titanium” because that was the song that was playing when we left Minton Farm with him after picking him up. I thought it was fitting of his strength!). He was dumped on 31/10/19, and I got him 2 days later.

Titanium had a host of issues- extremely underweight, dehydrated, mites, anaemia, a bacterial infection, Coccidia, ascarid eggs, lots of motile organisms inc balantidium, and needing a whole heap of medications in both oral and injection form- such as Ceftazidime, Flagyl, and Ivomec.

I began with Wombaroo slurries as he was too weak to eat. We gradually progressed to live bugs and salads, and he became an eating machine! (Please note- slow and steady is always the best way with rescues).

After nearly 2 months with me, this sweet boy who loved to put his feet in his water bowl was ready to find his forever home! (We think he was around 2 years old, too).

He has the most amazing home now, and his new name is Norbert!

Please note, many of the pictures will have our groups name on them, too.

16/10/2021

Welcome to Adelaide Lizard Rescue! I’ve been doing this for a while but only just created this page.

I’m a qualified vet nurse and am currently a stay at home mum, but will be returning to nursing part time shortly!

I rescue, rehabilitate and rehome previously pet bearded dragons, blue tongues, shinglebacks and other medium to small lizard species (ie Egernia, etc). This is either through people contacting me wanting to rehome their own pet lizard, due to change in circumstances or due to medical issues with the lizard, or vets and other clinics contacting me to take on lizards that may have been dumped or surrendered to them.

All of the rescues are given a complete veterinary check up, which includes blood testing and faecal testing, along with any other testing that may be necessary, such as X-rays, dentals, more extensive bloods, etc.

Depending on those results, depends on the next step. 95% require some type of medication, so I take them home to treat them with their meds and make sure they’re getting correct food, supplements, lighting, etc. Unfortunately not all rescues end well, and those that are too far gone unfortunately require euthanasia. Thankfully, there’s a lot more rehabilitation and rehoming occurring!

To help with the costs, as I was selling my own items to pay for the lizards care, I’ve started a small business called Lizard Lunch. All profits go towards the lizards care.

When adopting one of the lizards from us, you’ll be getting a healthy lizard, with paperwork proof of veterinary care, and lifetime access to correct, up to date scientifically proven care and information (see group link in comments). I strive to stay as up to date as possible with all reptile lighting, nutrition, medical care and all husbandry.

Lizards are not given “first come first served.”
You must prove that you have correct set ups and lighting, and are able to provide veterinary check ups and correct care. I will help with care info and provide you with all the information you need, so new owners or first time reptile owners are certainly welcome.

I’ll post some of the previous rescues and their stories, and once they are up, keep an eye on the page for any new additions! I won’t ship interstate, so South Australian based rescues and adoptions only.