What happens to your reptiles when you go away?

[Incyra]

We re homed a bearded dragon beginning of last year. We didn't go anywhere last year but are thinking of a few days away sometime this year, if restrictions allow. Can I ask what you do with your reptiles when you go away? Do you have someone willing to come in and feed them, its if he poos while we are away, I don't feel its fair for someone to deal with that! Or are there people who look after them, a bit like catteries for reptiles!!

I'm a pet-sitter and I'd happily do daily or twice-daily visits for a reptile :)

We have a friend who looks in on our reptiles (We look in on their snakes in return - he tends to get fewer volunteers for that in general!)

Otherwise local to us the local reptile specialist store also does "pet boarding" for reptiles while you are away, makes sense actually as they are the only place locally with plenty of vivs with correct lighting/heat lamps etc...

Next door feeds our cats when we go away and DD preps the Geckos food and leaves it labelled in the fridge and neighbour is happy to feed him too. DH has rigged up a sensor using a raspberry pie and we can check his humidity and temp from anywhere in the world

A local reptile shop used to board my chameleon

We haven't been away with since we've had our Crestie.
But my mum is happy to feed the turtle, fish and other animals.
She prefers not to deal with the hamsters much, for the fear of them getting out and she isn't very comfortable holding them, but she'll happily feed the rabbits. We don't go away too long, only a day or two. The last time we went away, she had to deal with spraying the mantids enclosures, she didn't mind too much though, as she could do that through the mesh.

The trouble with my Crestie is he is good at hiding, so she will be extra worried about him escaping and if she can't see him, she won't know if he escaped or not.

I always have to leave her a detailed list of what to do, along with my number and emergency vet details etc. Even though she has my number in her phone, but in case of an emergency and she can't access it for any reason. Even when we just had a couple of animals, she preferred I left a detailed list, so she can tick things off as she goes and feels comfortable leaving.

She won't deal with live food though! Luckily no one needs them every day.

I don't particularly like people in our house when we aren't home, not that I don't trust them, just not too comfortable with it, not sure if I'd like a stranger. Not being morbid, but if my mum was no longer around or not available for whatever reason I would need to find someone suitable, a lot of friends aren't hugely local, wouldn't want anyone driving here twice a day to look after our babies.

If it means I couldn't go away for whatever reason, I wouldn't. After all they are our responsibility and we are the ones that committed to them. My partners family all live around 3 hours away now, I have taken hamsters with me that needed daily meds before, but if it meant he had to go see his family without me, I wouldn't mind and have stayed behind for the animals before.

I will definitely look more into sitters though, because if I were one, I wouldn't mind checking on all types of animals, just wouldn't like feeding rats to snakes. Good to have a back up.

Many years ago before I had my own place a woman I worked with asked me if I would look after her terrapins and tortoises when she went away for two weeks. It meant staying at her place. I jumped at the chance because it was an opportunity to get away from the tiny two up two down I lived in with my parents and experience some privacy. So the trip was good for both of us. She knew I loved reptiles (had tortoises when I was younger) and that the house would be occupied while she was away. It gave me the opportunity to find out what it was like to shop, cook for and entertain myself. Loved it.

Our beardie goes to a reptile 'hotel', a local business who has converted a large area of their house with lots of vivariums. It seems a popular choice as they're always busy.