Pictured at Pet Angel in Molendinar company director Tom Jorgensen (at back) with Toni and Terry Steltman and son Jake Cleary of Mudgeeraba holding the cremated body of their pet bearded dragon Charlie. Picture: Mike Batterham

That was until he met Toni and Terry Steltman and their pet lizard Charlie.

Mr Jorgensen began Pet Angel Funerals — a pet funeral and cremation service that cremates about 30 pets a week — after giving up the commercial building game in 2015.

While he has had a lot of interesting requests in the past year, laying a beloved bearded dragon to rest was the most unusual.

Pictured at Pet Angel in Molendinar company director Tom Jorgensen and wife Anne. Picture: Mike BatterhamSource:News Corp Australia

“We’ve cremated cats dogs, guinea pigs, ferrets and chickens but this was the first time we had ever cremated a bearded dragon,” Mr Jorgensen said.

Ms Steltman said she didn’t think twice about having Charlie cremated as he had been a member of her family for the past 10 years.

“We rang a few of the other pet crematoriums and they said they couldn’t cremate Charlie because he was too small but Pet Angel they told us it would be no trouble because they have a single chamber cremator making it easy to collect the ashes uncontaminated,” she said.

Charlie the bearded dragon, who was cremated at Pet Angel Funerals, Molendinar.Source:Supplied

The Steltmans spent about $400 having Charlie cremated.

The Mudgeeraba couple are among a trend of Gold Coasters shelling out hundreds to cremate their pets.

“I wouldn’t care if I had to pay $1000 to have it done,” Ms Steltman said.

“Even though some people thought we were stupid doing it, the last thing I would want would be to move and have to leave him behind in the backyard.”

Other businesses similar to Pet Angel have popped up across southeast Queensland, including Pets in Peace at Loganholme and Pets Eternal at West Burleigh.

Pets Eternal director Alison Moore said funeral services allowed owners to grieve naturally and move on faster after the death of a pet.

“Grief is a human emotion that we can’t explain and whether it’s for a pet or a person or a house, we need to go through that and studies show those who have a ceremony to say goodbye to their pet move on faster than those who don’t,” she said.

Pets Eternal offers a full burial and funeral for $800, which includes a lock of hair and paw print plaque, with optional release of doves or balloons.

Headstones and plaques cost extra and attract an ongoing plot maintenance fee of $44 a year.

The West Burleigh business also provides exhumations of animal remains at a rate of $150 for two hours of digging.

Mr Jorgensen said individual cremations with pick-up of the deceased pet and delivery of the ashes were the most common request but many also opted for a full funeral service which cost $665.

The undertaker said the most common pet cremated on the Gold Coast was a staffordshire bull terrier.

“Because of how many people live in highrise buildings, I originally expected to see mostly designer dogs but that’s not the case,” Mr Jorgensen said.

“It’s normally those with staffies who don’t have a backyard to bury their pet in.

“I definitely think in the future we’ll be seeing more reptiles, including snakes and turtles.”