About Course

Starting and Running a Reptile & Amphibian Rescue is a self-paced course for people who have become the person others call when a reptile, amphibian, or small exotic animal needs a home, and who are asking honestly whether that should become a rescue.

It covers everything about running a rescue except the animal care itself: whether and how to start, choosing a model, researching the laws that apply to you, liability and insurance, intake and adoption, the systems that keep a large collection healthy, emergency and fire planning, volunteers, boundaries, funding, recordkeeping, and how a rescue ends well. Reptiles and amphibians are the center, with invertebrates and the small birds and mammals that arrive at any exotic rescue.

The course is written from a working rescue in Louisiana. It teaches you how to find the rules that apply where you live rather than pretending one set of rules fits everyone, and an appendix orients readers outside the US. It is not legal, tax, or veterinary advice, and it is not wildlife rehabilitation training.

Completion earns a certificate of completion. There are no quizzes or assignments; optional self-led activities throughout build toward a written operating plan, and a library of generic templates and worksheets is included.

Decide, on purpose and with the costs in view, whether to start or continue a rescue
Choose a model, a species scope, and a capacity ceiling that fit what you actually have
Research the laws, permits, entity options, and tax rules that apply where you live, and know what to ask a professional
Run intake, quarantine, adoption, and transfers with the paperwork that protects animals and people
Build the daily systems, records, and continuity plan that let a large collection be cared for by someone other than you
Plan for power loss, cold, heat, storm, fire, and your own absence before they happen
Recruit and keep volunteers, hold boundaries with the public, and fund the work realistically
Know how a rescue ends well, and write the plan now

Course Content

Unit 1: Orientation
What this course covers, what it leaves to other courses, and how to use the optional activities, the outside-the-US pointer, and the attachments library.

S-1.01: What this course is, and isn’t
S-1.02: How to use this course: activities, the outside-the-US pointer, and the attachments

Unit 2: Should You?
The honest version of why people start rescues, what the work actually is, what it costs in time, money, relationships, and mental health, and the line between your animals and the rescue's.

Unit 3: Choosing a Model
Foster network, home-based, or facility; adoption-forward or sanctuary; species scope; the capacity ceiling; pets versus wildlife; and the no list.

Unit 4: Making It Legal
How to research your own laws, entity choices, tax basics, liability and insurance, and permits including the wildlife rehabilitation pathway.

Unit 5: Intake, Triage, and Disposition
Intake policy and the surrender conversation, the forms, triage and quarantine, euthanasia, adoption, transfers and referral, and what to tell the public about wildlife.

Unit 6: Running the Place
Recordkeeping, managing a large collection, feeding logistics, facilities, and biosecurity.

Unit 7: When Things Go Wrong
Emergency planning, fire safety, remote monitoring, the continuity packet, personal safety, and veterinary resources.

Unit 8: People
Volunteers and their documents, boundaries with the public, officers and a board, outreach and education, and gaining exposure.

Unit 9: Money
Funding models, donations and receipts, grants, earned income, and a budget you will actually keep.

Unit 10: Endgame and Resources
Exit strategies, what happens if something happens to you, further reading, the outside-the-US appendix, and the attachments library.

Attachments Library: Templates and Worksheets
Generic templates rebuilt from a working rescue's forms, plus three worksheets. Each is presented here as a lesson so it can be read and edited in place; attach printable versions to the lessons that reference them once they are laid out.

A-00: Attachments library — read me first
A-01: Pet / Exotic Animal Acceptance Form
A-02: Wildlife Acceptance Form
A-03: Field Collection Form (office use)
A-04: Avian Acceptance Form
A-05: Adoption Agreement
A-06: Donation Receipt
A-07: Captive Birth / Hatch Record (office use)
A-08: Wildlife Release-Site Permission
A-09: Continuity (“Away”) Packet Template
A-10: Shelter Maintenance Tasks Reporting Form
W-01: Capacity Ceiling Worksheet (S-3.04)
W-02: Legal Research Worksheet (S-4.01)
W-03: Emergency Plan Worksheet (S-7.01)

Receive an elegant certificate upon completion.

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About Course

What Will You Learn?

Course Content

Unit 1: Orientation What this course covers, what it leaves to other courses, and how to use the optional activities, the outside-the-US pointer, and the attachments library.

S-1.01: What this course is, and isn’t

S-1.02: How to use this course: activities, the outside-the-US pointer, and the attachments

Unit 2: Should You? The honest version of why people start rescues, what the work actually is, what it costs in time, money, relationships, and mental health, and the line between your animals and the rescue's.

S-2.01: Why people start rescues, and why most shouldn’t (the honest version)

S-2.02: What a rescue actually does all day

S-2.03: The cost nobody budgets: time, money, relationships, and mental health

S-2.04: Your own animals vs. rescue animals: the line that keeps you sane

S-2.05: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and personal risk

Unit 3: Choosing a Model Foster network, home-based, or facility; adoption-forward or sanctuary; species scope; the capacity ceiling; pets versus wildlife; and the no list.

S-3.01: Foster network, home-based, or facility

S-3.02: Adoption-forward vs. sanctuary, and the mix in between

S-3.03: Species scope: herps, inverts, and the “misc small exotics” question

S-3.04: Setting a capacity ceiling before the first intake

S-3.05: Pets vs. wildlife: deciding whether rehab is part of your mission

S-3.06: The “no” list: boundaries you write down before you need them

Unit 4: Making It Legal How to research your own laws, entity choices, tax basics, liability and insurance, and permits including the wildlife rehabilitation pathway.

S-4.01: How to research your own laws (state, county, city, HOA)

S-4.02: Entity choices: informal, fiscal sponsor, LLC, 501(c)(3)

S-4.03: Tax basics for a small animal nonprofit, and the questions to bring to a preparer

S-4.04: Liability, waivers, and insurance

S-4.05: Permits: exotic animal, venomous, and the wildlife rehabilitation licensing pathway

Unit 5: Intake, Triage, and Disposition Intake policy and the surrender conversation, the forms, triage and quarantine, euthanasia, adoption, transfers and referral, and what to tell the public about wildlife.

S-5.01: Intake policy and the surrender conversation

S-5.02: Intake forms and what each field is for

S-5.03: Triage, quarantine, and when to call the vet

S-5.04: Euthanasia and the animals you can’t save

S-5.05: Adoption standards, the application, and follow-up

S-5.06: Transfers, networking, and the rescue you refer to when you can’t help

S-5.07: What to tell the public about wildlife: the triage script

Unit 6: Running the Place Recordkeeping, managing a large collection, feeding logistics, facilities, and biosecurity.

S-6.01: Recordkeeping: one record per animal, paper and digital

S-6.02: Managing a large collection: tasks-of-the-day and the reporting form

S-6.03: Feeding logistics at scale: feeders, rodents, produce, supplements

S-6.04: Facilities: building-level climate, racks, quarantine space, water, waste

S-6.05: Biosecurity and cleaning systems

Unit 7: When Things Go Wrong Emergency planning, fire safety, remote monitoring, the continuity packet, personal safety, and veterinary resources.

S-7.01: Emergency planning: power, heat, cold, storm, evacuation

S-7.02: Fire safety specifically

S-7.03: Remote monitoring and the “someone must respond” protocol

S-7.04: The continuity packet: what has to exist if you’re unreachable

S-7.05: Personal safety: bites, venomous policy, zoonoses, first-aid kit

S-7.06: Finding and keeping veterinary resources

Unit 8: People Volunteers and their documents, boundaries with the public, officers and a board, outreach and education, and gaining exposure.

S-8.01: Finding, screening, and onboarding volunteers

S-8.02: Volunteer documents: waivers, procedures, and permission for personal variation

S-8.03: Boundaries with the public, surrenderers, and adopters

S-8.04: Officers, a board, and the paperwork that keeps a nonprofit alive

S-8.05: Outreach and education programs: ambassadors, booths, presentations

S-8.06: Gaining exposure: social media, press, and working with shelters and animal control

Unit 9: Money Funding models, donations and receipts, grants, earned income, and a budget you will actually keep.

S-9.01: Funding models and what actually works at small scale

S-9.02: Donations, receipts, and in-kind gifts

S-9.03: Grants: realistic expectations

S-9.04: Earned income: education, merchandise, services

S-9.05: A budget you’ll actually keep

Unit 10: Endgame and Resources Exit strategies, what happens if something happens to you, further reading, the outside-the-US appendix, and the attachments library.

S-10.01: Exit strategies: succession, wind-down, transferring animals, closing well

S-10.02: What happens to the animals if something happens to you

S-10.03: Suggested further reading and organizations

S-10.04: Appendix: Outside the US

S-10.05: Attachments library

Attachments Library: Templates and Worksheets Generic templates rebuilt from a working rescue's forms, plus three worksheets. Each is presented here as a lesson so it can be read and edited in place; attach printable versions to the lessons that reference them once they are laid out.

A-00: Attachments library — read me first

A-01: Pet / Exotic Animal Acceptance Form

A-02: Wildlife Acceptance Form

A-03: Field Collection Form (office use)

A-04: Avian Acceptance Form

A-05: Adoption Agreement

A-06: Donation Receipt

A-07: Captive Birth / Hatch Record (office use)

A-08: Wildlife Release-Site Permission

A-09: Continuity (“Away”) Packet Template

A-10: Shelter Maintenance Tasks Reporting Form

W-01: Capacity Ceiling Worksheet (S-3.04)

W-02: Legal Research Worksheet (S-4.01)

W-03: Emergency Plan Worksheet (S-7.01)