Here’s a true story from the news of my region.
Sherrie Baldwin, of Salem, OR, is a reptile devotee who made the news after she gave her pet Bearded Dragon mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She had found the lizard floating in water in its cage. The incident gained national attention, and Baldwin enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame.
Unfortunately, her landlord was disturbed to learn that Baldwin had been rescuing Bearded Dragons from the area and keeping them in her trailer. She had as many as 24 Bearded Dragons on site. However, the rental contract did not allow reptiles as pets. As reported by the Salem Statesman Journal, Baldwin had to find new homes or face eviction.
When news of her dilemma spread, the public responded with a remarkable outpouring of support. Hopeful Bearded Dragon owners contacted Baldwin from as far away as New York and Dallas. As of Friday, October 17th, all but a few lizards had been surrendered to new owners at no charge, simply on the promise that they would be well cared for and some under veterinary care would continue to receive medication.
The next step is for a local church group to help Baldwin with cleanup required by her landlord. Let’s hope they honor her efforts and allow her to remain in her home.
This is both an inspiring story and a horrible occurrence. I hope that her landlords give her a new timeline seeing as she has complied to the best of her ability given the short amount of time they gave her.
I’m with you!
Amazing she was able to rescue and keep so many – 24! I looked up bearded dragons and was surprised to learn they are native to Australia, and were introduced into the US in the 1990s as pets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogona I would have thought with a name like ‘bearded dragon’ they would come from somewhere else (e.g. Indonesia, like the komodo dragon)… but I guess we have native dragons in Australia too 🙂
As with many exotic pets, people buy these “dragons” on a whim, just thinking that they’ll be a cool pet to show off. They don’t realize these animals have distinct needs, can live a long time and will grow quite large. There are rescuers for many types of reptiles — I knew a lady who rescued turtles, tortoises and chameleons, and another couple who rescue larger lizards such as tegu and iguanas.
As a bearded dragon owner, Never before have I had a pet which I could identify with more. She has her own attitude, and is very affectionate. She does require time though – and she sits on my shoulder a good part of every evening. She actually gets mad if I don’t every night.
There is very little they could ‘ruin’ in a house. As a landlord, I’d prefer someone having a bearded dragon to a cat or dog. 24 does seem excessive – and I’d worry mostly about the lighting involved as a possible fire hazard – but as long as its maintained well – Bearded dragons are the easiest to care for reptile. I mean, it is important to keep them clean, and any responsible beaded dragon owner would. Keeping the crickets can be a bit tricky to keep them contained. So far, I’ve only really had one ‘incident’ while we were away.
I see them given to kids as pets – bad idea. They really are a pet more geared for an adult who will take care of them. They are great with kids – but don’t expect a kid of today to spend the time daily to look after them.
Thanks for the info. I actually knew a teacher who brought her Bearded Dragon to school riding on her shoulder. It was a hit with the kids, needless to say.