Sarah's Bearded Dragon Rescue: August 2014

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Happy Shark Week!

One of my shark costumes ended up on Discovery's Shark Week last night! Woot! Woot!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Bowser, rescue number 54

I can't believe I'm up to 54 reptiles! And I can't believe I got a beardie that is healthy, normal, social, and easy going. Crazy! No force feeding, no shots, no medicine. Nothing.

Weird! ;)

He was well loved by 4 boys for the past two years, but the family decided it was time to let him go. I'll keep him until I can find him a great home.

And I'll probably make him model some of my beardie costumes too. :)

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Sweet Rico

Rico died sometime in the night. He was gone when I woke up this morning to switch out his lights. His body attempted to process and expel some of the saline I gave him and it was too much for him. His liver or kidney (or both) had already shut down.

Rico will be buried in my beautiful herb garden with many other beardies. He was loved in the end. Last night he even turned his head to look at me-- really look at me. I thought he was surviving. I know he wanted to, but it was too little too late.

I am sad. Losing beardies takes its toll on my heart always.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Rico, rescue number 53

Rico's story is horrifying and heartbreaking. He was kept in a tank and fed pinky (baby) rats until he started getting aggressive and the owners stopped feeding him. He spent the last two months of his life in a tank with no UVB, no water, no food, and no heat. He wouldn't eat so the owners gave up on him and decided to leave him to die in his tank when they moved out of their apartment.

Luckily for Rico, a friend of mine found him when she helped her friends move and brought him to me. It's pretty touch-and-go right now. I gave him a 10 mL injection of saline last night and put him in a sick tank with some cozy towels and a nice heat light. I wasn't sure if he would make it through the night. Sometimes animals will struggle so hard to survive that when they don't have to struggle or when they get the nutrition they desperately need, their bodies shut down.

At 3:30 am, I woke up with a headache and was super relieved to see Rico still breathing. Yeah! He cleared the first hurdle. When I turned his day lamp on this morning, his eyes sorta opened. As I was regulating the temperature, he opened his mouth in an attempt to cool down. Another good sign!

Tonight he'll get a second saline injection and tomorrow night another one. On Thursday, I'll start with a very weak baby food squash & Critical Care formula to start to put some calories back into him. It's all about baby steps. Dr Folland likes to tell me that it takes a lot to kill a beardie, but when they are bad it takes a long time to get them back to health.

I'm more optimistic today about his chances than last night. His body is absorbing the saline without shutting down. The more he hydrates, the better he'll feel.

Baby steps forward, little Rico. :) Baby steps.