Sound up for piggy beeps and boops π½πΈ
Jack and Mattie would really love to go home with their new family! They're open to meeting new people and other beings as long as they can be patient and respectful of Jack and Mattie's space. They prefer to keep their little feet on the floor and love to bop around exploring and checking out their space. Application to adopt these brothers on our website!
How Lady Berry asks politely to come out π₯Ί
She is the gentlest hamster we've ever met. She sniffs everything to check it out and can be a little nervous in new situations, but warms up quickly. Lady Berry is appropriately a year and a half old. She loves broccoli, berries, greens, and sunflower seeds!
#adoptable #adoptme #adoptdontshop #hamster #syrianhamster #smallanimalrescue #vermont #vt #newengland #burlington #burlingtonvt
Lady Berry is available for adoption! She's a syrian hamster, and is approximately a year and a half old. She came to us when her previous folks were no longer able to care for her.
Lady Berry got her vet exam today and all is well! She got extra points for being cooperative and easily handled. Not even an attempt to bite, which is quite rare for a hamster at the vet π She will gently come up to you to ask to hang out when it'stime for food, and loves to eat snacks from your hand. Applications to adopt her available on our website.
She will require an enclosure that has at least 620 square inches of unbroken floorspace (approximately the size of a 40 gallon tank) but bigger is better! She is in a 75 gallon tank right now and loving it.
#asmr #syrianhamster #hamster #teddybearhamster #smallanimalrescue #exoticsrescue #vermont #vt #burlington #burlingtonvt #newengland
Meet Max, our most recent intake! He is a 2 year old bun who was part of an unexpected litter.
Max has a home lined up, which is amazing! However, he needs to be neutered before he's ready to be adopted. His neuter is going to cost $300-400.
Our adoption fees do not cover the full cost of rabbit care. We are also taking in two more rabbits this week from the same home who will also need to be neutered. Costs will be as much as $1200. Please consider contributing to Max's neuter so we can place him with his new peeps!
(Surgeries will be done at Shelburne Vet, so if you'd like, you can call them and ask to put a credit on our account!)
#rabbit #rabbitrescue #exoticsrescue #smallanimalrescue #bunny #rescuerabbit #adoptdontshop #rescuebunny #rabbit #spayandneuter #spayandneutersaveslives #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #burlingtonvt #donationsneeded
Madeline is SUPER SMART and LOVES FOOD, making food puzzles the perfect enrichment activity! Many small animals can utilize food enrichment toys made for cats and dogs. Her normal pellets are in this puzzle, just one or two tiny bits in each compartment, nothing fancy.
In this video, she shows 3 different learned activities- lifting the white pieces (which must be done pulling straight up with her mouth), opening the latch of the red pieces (which must be done by nudging her nose at one specific side), and sliding the red pieces (must be moved either by nose or paws in a specific direction). Some of these actions cannot be performed without performing another one first (ex. Sliding red pieces cannot be done without also lifting white pieces).
She has only used this puzzle a couple of times and with a bit of practice is already a master. She knows where the food is by following her sensitive nose and stops using the puzzle when the food is gone. Learning is pretty neat!
If you try this with your animal and they don't pick up on it, it does not mean they're not smart. They may not be motivated by food, or maybe are too motivated to calm down to problem solve. It may take more trial and error for an animal who has always lived in captivity and had food in a bowl to problem solve, compared to an animal like Madeline who was a stray for 2.5 months and needed to learn fast in order to survive. All animals, however, have this capacity to learn, especially in a reward based system!
#adoptable #adoptme #rabbit #bunny #rescuerabbit #rescuebunny #animallearning #animalenrichment #animalbehavior #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #adoptdontshop
Momo! He's struggling to catch and eat his own food, but as you can see he's very hungry. Tong feeding (and pre killing bugs for him) has been super helpful, and he's off the syringe feeding. The bugs are generously dusted with not just calcium/multivitamin but more powdered grub pie as well. We're still giving him treatment for mouth rot but it is doing much better.
He also came in with very clogged hemipenes which we are going to try to sort out at the vet's with another visit soon. Another symptom of a possible vitamin a deficiency.
#reptilerescue #reptilerehab #leopardgecko #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Juniper has spent the last several weeks in foster, getting used to people! She's made some pretty significant progress with some patience, love, and treats. As you can see, she'll even take gentle pets!
Juniper is a degu. They are social and we'd like to see her go to a home that already has a degu, or at the very least would be open to getting a friend for her in the future.
They're fairly delicate and aren't ideal for handling with children under 12. The foster home has a cat and small dog and she has done well with them around.
#adoptable #adoptme #degu #degus #smallanimalrescue #exoticsrescue #adoptdontshop #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Madeline came to cuddle up on the couch last night! She's had a blast coming up to and jumping on us lately... occasionally using us as launch pads π€ She takes some time to warm up but will soon be your best friend (especially if you have salad π₯)π
#bunny #bunnies #rabbit #rabbits #rescuerabbit #rescuebunny #adoptdontshop #adoptme #adoptable #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #cute
From foster: "Juniper update! She is very curious and will come up to me to investigate. I still have to be calm and move slowly to avoid startling her. She loves her oats and those usually get her out of hiding. Oats and patience! She is not quite ready for any real pets but she has come up to touch my hand briefly several times over the last few days which you can see at the end of the video!"
We would strongly prefer she go to a home with other degus. However, if we are not able to find someone with another degu in the near future, we will consider adopting her out on her own, especially if the adopter is open to getting another degu in the future. Single degus need a lot of time and attention from their humans as they are social animals who would live with others of their kind in their natural habitat.
#degu #degus #smallanimalrescue #exoticsrescue #adoptme #smallcritters #smallmammal #adoptable #adoptdontshop #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Sound up for something silly π
Madeline would love to spend her holidays in her new home π₯° she has gotten so amazingly comfortable around people over the last few months and even comes up for pats now! Just look at these moves!
All our rabbits are spayed and neutered before being made available for adoption.
#adoptable #adoptme #rabbit #bunny #rescuerabbit #rescuebunny #adoptdontshop #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Pepita got a recheck at the vet this week and we're now tackling the issues that were less pressing than the heavy parasite load since she is improving. Here I apply betadine to scales on her belly, feet, and tail that have been rotting. This can happen due to high humidity and/or unclean conditions and is a bacterial infection that can spread to the body. After applied the betadine sits for 5-10 minutes, she is given a warm bath to rinse it off, then a topical antibiotic cream is applied. This will be done daily until the rotted scales are gone- they will fall off eventually.
We're also investigating an ulcer in her mouth. It may be an abscess, or a tumor. We're seeing if it responds to oral antibiotics.
Sometimes people might wonder, why bother rehabilitating reptiles if they were in such poor condition? Are they suffering? Pepita still shows a will to fight, a healthy appetite, and is responding to treatment. They do certainly feel pain and that is taken into consideration when assessing rehab cases. One way they can show that they are in pain is by darkening their beard and body from tan to black.
We don't know how long she has or even how old she is now, but as long as she is comfortable and accepting of treatment, we're happy to have her around. Reptiles can take weeks or months to recover from injuries or illness. Taking it one day at a time here β€
#reptilerescue #reptilerehab #exoticsrehab
Excellent news from Pepita this week! She's found a leafy green she loves π She's eating arugula on its own, without a topping of bugs! This is the first time she's eaten greens without being "tricked" into it or syringe fed them. She emptied her plate of all greens for the first time last night.
She's at around 320 grams right now. She's certainly still very very underweight but she's making improvements at her own pace!
Pepita still spends a lot of time resting and sleeping, but she is getting up and moving around the tank with more intention these days. We had some decor in for a bit, but she had trouble navigating around the relatively flat rock and handful of artificial plants we put in. She didn't seem to feel the need to hide behind the greenery and they were just a hindrance, so she is back to having a bare tank for now.
#reptilerescue #reptilerehab #beardeddragon #beardie #herpetology #parasitology #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
After a hard day of harvesting grass at the edge of the meadow, Madeline sits down and has some of it for a lovely dinner out of her foraging basket πΊπΎπΏ
Is this what Madeline dreams about when she naps? ππΎ Well, that and finding her new home π
Madeline would love to join your family! She's gotten quite comfortable around humans and is willing to try out homes with dogs, cats, or other fixed rabbits. She may do well with respectful older kiddos. She is spayed and an excellent litterbox user. Estimated 3-4 years old. Make sure you chew proof your home and have plenty of alternatives for her to enjoy, she loves to shred! #adoptable #adoptme #adoptdontshop #bunny #rabbit #rescuerabbit #rescuebunny #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #cute
We are thankful for... Chicory, our super sweet senior sanctuary dwarf hamster πΉ β€
We took him in last August (!?) Before we even officially formed the rescue. The dwarf hamster he was living with, Siggi, was one of our first adoptions. Chicory showed some health issues with his eyes and started going grey while we were troubleshooting that- we didn't believe he had much time left and that it wouldn't be fair to a new family or to him to go through that transition for such a short period of time. Thus we decided to keep him right where he was as a sanctuary animal.
More than a year later, he's still kicking! He may not be able to see but that doesn't stop him. He spends his evenings running on his wheel, waiting for snacks so he can hide them, and digging holes to sit in. We appreciate every day we have with this sweet old boy π₯° #sanctuary #smallanimalrescue #smallanimalrehab #senior #seniorlove #AdoptASeniorPetMonth #hamster #hamsters #dwarfhamster #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Pepita is slowly but surely improving- we hit a big milestone this week, where she's willing to eat greens on her own (albeit with a bit of enticing with a topping of bugs...)! We've kicked back syringe feeding to AM only, which she still seems to need to get started in the morning.
Still working on the aim... sometimes she is really good at singling out a bug and avoiding the greens, other times she's not so lucky like in this video π
If you'd like to donate toward Pepita's care, we will be needing to recheck her fecal in the coming weeks to see if the medication is effective at ridding her of the internal parasites she was infested with upon arrival.
#beardeddragon #beardie #reptilerescue #reptilerehab #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #bugs #herpetology #parasitology
Tucker is back from foster for his 3 week coccidia protocol! He's doing well for appetite and energy, but is very dark and stressed a majority of the time- potentially because he's not feeling well.
This particular parasite is extremely difficult to get rid of and requires an intense cleaning regimen to eliminate. Coccidia is actually quite common in reptiles, but often is not deemed an issue in small numbers. Under stress or other illness, parasites can begin to take over.
Did you know? Necropsies of 1100 reptiles in 1972 at a zoological park found that 40% of the specimens were actively parasitic! In 79% of those cases, parasites were deemed the cause of death. It's not always obvious when they're present- parasites are incredibly common and can become a silent killer. They can also spread quickly between reptiles.
We're learning so much more about internal parasites thanks to these two, Tucker and Pepita, and are hoping to make parasite testing part of standard protocol in the foreseeable future, even in asymptomatic animals.
#beardeddragon #parasitology #beardie #reptilerescue #reptilerehab #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland
Pepita update: we sent out a fecal for her last week and the results came back yesterday. She has a very very high burden of pinworms, above the counter the lab even uses, which explains a lot. She also showed moderate levels of isospora, a type of coccidia. The pinworms are fairly easy to treat, the coccidia a bit harder, but the bulk of the issue right now seems to be the pinworms. She got her first dose of antiparasitic medication last night and we hope she starts to feel a bit better and put on more weight! We're grateful that this seems to be a big part of the puzzle, as opposed to something untreatable. *old video, protocol regarding food, surfaces, and cleaning has been changed greatly!*
Full update on Tucker soon, but ultimately we are going to assume he has the same parasites and treat accordingly, even though he is physically in much better shape.
Guess what? Madeline is accepting HEAD PETS! This is a big deal. When she first arrived, she had been outdoors as a stray for 2 and a half months, potentially even longer. When we would touch her back gently, she would jump, and her entire back would twitch even after. She's come so far from the survival-mode rabbit we first met in July.
Madeline is looking for a new home that will allow her to continue to make progress and get comfortable with physical contact at her own pace. She is not afraid of humans in the slightest and will beg you for food, follow you around, flop, and binky! Her litterbox skills are great and she has done well free roaming in bunny proofed areas.
We are unsure how she will do around other rabbits but are always willing to set up a bunny date. She has no known experience around cats or dogs but that does not rule out her going to a home with either!
#adoptable #adoptme #adoptdontshop #bunny #rabbit #rescuerabbit #rescuebunny #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #cute
Squirrel πΏ really loves to take hay baths π she must go to her new home with her piggy friend Cow.
Cow and Squirrel, bonded pair, 1.5 y/o, females, and familiar with small pups and children (they may do well around larger dogs and cats but they don't have the experience to say for sure!). They've met Margot the rabbit through the bars and go up to her without hesitation! They will squeak up a storm when it's time for dinner. Option to take their 4x2 cage and some accessories for an additional donation! #adoptme #adoptus #adoptdontshop #bondedpair #guineapig #guineapigs #cavy #cavies #vermont #vt #burlington #newengland #cute
Margot is available for adoption. She was temporarily pending but the person ended up not even being able to come and meet her. We really want to see this incredibly smart gal find a loving home! Please share if you can or spread the word to anyone looking to invite a rabbit into their home! She is spayed, estimated 1-2 years old (originally found as a stray), comfortable around dogs, cats, and kids! She loves attention (but not being picked up/on laps) and really needs to have regular mentally stimulating activities to stay happy. Set up an appointment with us to meet her π₯° #adoptable #adoptme #rabbit #bunny #adoptdontshop #fromstraytohousebun #houserabbit #foodpuzzle #enrichmentforrabbits
