Not A Charity (And I'm a heartless asshole)

File: Hammerhead Lizard, a Diplocaulus model 2.jpg (47KB, 610x400px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 610x400px

I occasionally accept reptiles that people want to give up, but generally only accept ONE healthy or somewhat sick critter at a time that I am confident in nursing back to health on my own with a vet visit or two.

RECENTLY I've been getting dropoffs (cardboard box on the front porch) that are about dead and need either immediate/serious medical attention or humane euthanasia.

That said, I'm not a goddamn charity. I don't take donations of anything and supply my own supplies, food, basic medical care, and make sure every animal is perfectly healthy before I find it a good home. This means several hundred to a few thousand dollars in vet bills per animal. These are just normal/common lizards and such, nothing terribly fancy.

Do I drop a few hundred dollars on a shaky animal I have no history on, do I eat the cost, or do my best for them on my own? Again: I run this privately as a hobby, and it's only recently this has become an issue, today marks the third animal in a week I've had dumped on my doorstep because someone doesn't know how to use fucking google.

So far everything dumped on my porch has been a leopard gecko, all with varying cringe-inducing levels of MBD. One had to be put down, and another needed shots and a special diet. That brings be back to my question.

I do this for catharsis, not to spend all my time and money drenched in sorrow over other people's awful, expensive and completely preventable fuckups. I can only build so many tiny coffins at a time.

I will in the meantime do my best for any animal in my care, but my moderate medical knowledge and training is not an excuse to let any animal go without access to a professional when I cannot offer them complete care.

Feel free to call me heartless, but I am not responsible for other adult people who can't understand how to look up the barest basics of an animal's care and then refuse to pay for their mistakes either emotionally or financially.