Jeffrey R. Applegate Jr., DVM, DACZM

Owner
Since Dr. Applegate was a kid, he has always been drawn to exotic and non-exotic animals. Each time that someone asks him why he became an Exotic Vet he always answers this,

“I get along with animals and medicine makes sense to me, so it just seemed the right choice”.
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During his younger years he turned a trip to Bay Head Beach to see a whale into a question and answer session with the University of Penn student faculty who was leading the event.

Fun fact: The University of Penn student faculty became Dr. Applegate’s mentor and friend.

After completing the Veterinary Science merit badge in Boy Scouts, Dr. Applegate later accepted a position at the Point Pleasant Veterinary Hospital during high school.

After high school he attended Virginia Tech for undergraduate studies in animal science and biology and Kansas State University for his veterinary education.

Following a small animal rotating internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City he worked for almost 6 years as an exotic animal clinician at the Oakhurst Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey.

He then served as faculty at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in the Exotic Animal Medicine Service for five and a half years where he remains involved as adjunct faculty.

He very much enjoys teaching and looks forward to continuing teaching opportunities within the confines of private practice through community outreach events.

Dr. Applegate is a founding officer of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium (HBVC), in which he has served various leadership roles.

He also serves as the Education Manager for the Exotics section of the Western Veterinary Conference.

While he is comfortable working with almost all species Dr. Applegate shares his time at home with two African gray parrots Harley and Echo, and Marlin, a large mix-breed dog. When not at work or home Dr. Applegate enjoys the outdoors, backpacking, SCUBA diving, and physical challenge races.

Paige Savo, DVM

Veterinarian
Dr. Savo grew up on a farm in North Carolina where she spent most of her free time helping out with the livestock herds and poultry flocks. During her childhood years she had the opportunity through 4-H to travel all over the state to show award-winning goats and turkeys.

There wasn’t a day that went by where Dr. Savo wasn’t surrounded by animals. She always wants to be a vet for exotic animals she always wants to offer exotic pet veterinary services.

Becoming a veterinarian seemed like the obvious choice, so Dr. Savo followed her passion and ended up at North Carolina State University for both undergraduate studies and her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (DVM).
She graduated in 2014 receiving dual bachelor’s degrees in animal science and poultry science.

During this time, she also worked as an assistant at an avian and exotic specialty hospital—where her passion for exotic animal medicine began to blossom.
While attending the College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State, Dr. Savo focused on exotic and zoo animal medicine training under Dr. Applegate, and other leaders in exotic animal medicine for much of her 4 years.

She led the NC State Turtle Rescue Team for 2 years managing over 1000 turtles for various medical and surgical conditions.

She received medical training in a variety of species including reptiles, small mammals, raptors, parrots, poultry, and fish.

Dr. Savo has published a primary research study on turtle survival rates based on blood parameters of injured turtles and has traveled to the Galapagos to conduct wildlife research on Galapagos tortoises.

Dr. Savo is currently working towards board certification in exotic animal medicine.
​After graduation Dr. Savo moved to Colorado Springs where she worked as a small animal veterinarian at a private practice for 3 years providing the opportunity to work with dogs and cats—while maintaining her skills with non-traditional pets.

She is very excited to be back on the East Coast to join the team here at Nautilus as an exotic animal veterinarian. Dr. Savo shares her home with her husband Rich her son Enzo, and a small “zoo” of beloved animals. In her free time she enjoys gardening, crafting, hiking, and baking.

Dr. Mosley

Veterinarian
Dr. Mosley grew up in the suburbs of Massachusetts, about an hour south of Boston. Her love for animals started out with family dogs and cats and expanded with exposure to livestock, wildlife and exotic pets through some of her favorite childhood activities – frequent visits to local zoos and sanctuaries and taking every opportunity to search for and observe wildlife in their natural habitats. She started vocalizing her decision to pursue a career in veterinary medicine at the age of four, and never deviated from that path.

Throughout Dr. Mosley’s undergraduate studies at The University of Vermont (UVM), she worked and volunteered in as many different fields of veterinary medicine as she could, in attempt to narrow down her veterinary interests and prepare for veterinary school. A few of these positions included working as a technician at a small animal veterinary hospital, volunteering at her favorite childhood zoo, working at a horse barn and volunteering at an aquarium. She also earned a position in the UVM Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management (CREAM) program, where she helped manage the UVM dairy herd and oversaw the herd’s preventive health program. Dr. Mosley found herself most drawn to the positions that allowed her to work with the greatest variety of species and knew that this aspect of her day-to-day work was going be a non-negotiable for her future career as a veterinarian.

In 2018, she graduated from The University of Vermont with a bachelor’s degree in animal science with a minor in nutrition and food sciences and started a dual degree program – Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and Master of Public Health (MPH) – at The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Throughout veterinary school, Dr. Mosley continued to explore different avenues of veterinary medicine – she worked in regulatory medicine with the United States Department of Agriculture, spent much of her free time volunteering and working at the Tufts Wildlife Clinic and conducted research and wrote a thesis on herpesviruses in Neotropical primates. Prior to her clinical year, she homed in on wildlife, zoological and exotic pet medicine and received additional medical training specific to these species prior to graduating in 2022.

Following graduation, Dr. Mosley was thrilled to accept a position with NAEVS as their first specialty exotics veterinary intern. She plans to continue her advanced training at NAEVS with the ultimate goal of board certification in zoological medicine. Dr. Mosley lives with her husband Steve and three cats – Zeppelin, Creedence and Jett. She attributes much of her passion for reptiles and amphibians to her husband who re-introduced her to the world of herping at the start of their relationship many years ago. When Dr. Mosley isn’t in the clinic, she spends much of her free time weightlifting, cooking, hiking, skiing in the winters and relaxing with family and friends.