A manager of Colorado Gators and Reptile Park in Alamosa thought she was pulling a dead tortoise from the wreckage of a burned building where more than 100 animals died in April.

But Thing 4, a red-footed tortoise, had survived the fire by burrowing under another exhibit in the reptile barn and poked his head out when Erin Young found him.

Thing 4 was one of the few survivors of an electrical fire that broke out in the reptile barn around 4 a.m. April 18. It was discovered by an employee who lives on-site at the attraction that features alligators, many reptile species and other surrendered exotic pets. 

By the time Young and others reached the fire from across the street, no one could get into the building because of the smoke, she said. 

“We could open the doors, but we couldn’t get in at all,” she said. 

The fire got into the spray foam insulation and the large barn that was converted to take care of rescued animals could not be saved, she said. The survivors included nine tortoises, a lizard in a water exhibit and some grumpy dwarf caiman that the firefighters helped pull out of their water tanks, she said. After, a short break to grieve and work on facilities the park reopened on April 29. 

Now owners of Colorado Gators are planning to demolish the burned-out shell of a barn and rebuild a larger structure that will be purpose-built to care for animals, Young said.

In the months since the fire, the requests for help from pet-owners who can no longer care for exotic pets have come in as always, Young said. 

Colorado Gators staff have advised most owners that they can’t take additional animals right now, she said, but they have made exceptions for those in dire situations, such as a family that could no longer take care of a lizard because they were going to be homeless.

The Colorado Gators staff have seen the exotic pet fad cycles since starting to take them in around 1990 and since then requests have come in from around the country, Young said.

One of their largest rescues was a 10-foot-long, 350-pound alligator living in a Chicago basement.

“He sent an electrician down to the basement and forgot to mention there’s a big alligator in the basement and the electrician was not impressed,” she said. 

Now that alligators are illegal in most places, Colorado Gators staff don’t see as many. Instead, they take in their cousins, caiman, Young said. 

The Colorado Gators staff works to educate visitors on their pet choices, because not all reptiles for sale in stores make good pets, even though they may be cute when they are little. 

For example, the staff has seen a string of requests from reticulated python owners who can no longer care for the snakes that get big fast and tend to be aggressive. 

While Colorado Gators is rebuilding its new structures, the staff works to give distressed pet owners other options, such as pet shops, she said. 

While the timeline for the new building depends on insurance coming through, Young said, the staff expects to return to their policy of taking in as unwanted pets as possible. 

“We love the animals. It’s not their fault that people didn’t research the kind of pet that they got,” she said.