Today's Vet Visit

In a moment of delusion, I made vet appointments for my warm blooded and cold blooded at the same time. 

Bad, bad idea. 

First, I had to wrestle my dogs into jackets and harnesses. It's like painting the toenails on a hummingbird. Oy vay! 

Then I had to get Drake ready to go in a warm box. Then I had to get Sunny ready. And I had to load my purse, a present for my vet, an ice cream bucket with a snake, my cup of Dr Pepper, a tote with Drake, and two dogs into my van. 

All those things (minus the Dr P) had to get out of the van and into the vet's office 6 minutes later. Crazy!! 

Remind me not to do that again! 

The dogs were a spastic mess and wrapped themselves around my legs in the waiting room and whined and barked. 

The dogs both got their Bordatella booster shots. Teddy was only happy when someone was holding him. Luckily, he's such a cute dog that almost everyone in the vet's office held him. He was happy! 

Sunny, the baby ball python, had a little spot on her belly yesterday that burst like a blister and her skin was very fragile. And she hasn't popped since her surgery. 

Dr Folland got her poop without any problems. He's concerned about her fragile skin, but we can't do anything about it right now. 

I'll be watching her and keeping her in a soft environment until she has a good shed or two. Hopefully she'll grow out of it. But it's also possible the skin issue is a symptom of a more serious problem (like IBD which is a fatal disease). 

The last thing I did was hold Drake while he died. 

Crazy appointment!!! In the future, the dogs will go solo to appointments or I will drag one of my kids along to help me. 

Sweet Drake

I'd been dragging my feet about taking Drake to the vet to have him put down. I kept hoping he would rally and get better. 

But he didn't. 

Today I took him in and let Dr Folland euthanize him. Poor Drake was so weak and tired that he didn't even flinch as the vet struggled to find a blood vessel to inject the medicine into. His blood pressure was so low that it took six times before it worked. :( 

I held him while he died. Poor baby. Even Dr Folland apologized that all the meds and blood tests and eye drops and force feedings couldn't help Drake live. 

Fly high, little Drake, now that your eyes are clear and bright. 

Drake & Hermy at the Vet

I took both of my sickies in their "As Is" state (which was SO hard). Drake's eyes were sealed shut and Hermy's nose was coated with snot. 

Neither one of them had a very good check up. :( We've exhausted almost every option with Drake and nothing is working. It took a lot of prying and swabbing to get Drake's eyes open. He hates it. The whole experience was super stressful for him and really wore him out. I brought him home and put him on his hammock. He hasn't moved on his own since yesterday morning. Today I had to really work to get his eyes open, and now, 6 hours later, they are stuck shut again. Plus he's gaping and gasping all the time. 

No drops, shots, cleanings, force feedings have improved him. His blood work is unremarkable and didn't show any obvious signs of illness. My vet and I are stumped. 

Poor Drake. As I've watched him today, I've thought about what Dr Folland told me yesterday. He said the best measurements for deciding if an animal has any "Quality of Life" is whether or not they can eat, move, and drink on their own. Drake can't do any of those. I think the kind thing to do now is to let him go. 

He hurts my heart. :( 

Hermy got another antibiotic shot and is getting antibiotic mouth drops to treat two mouth ulcers. I've forced her to stay near a heat lamp to keep her temps up higher. We'll recheck her in a week. 

Because she's a protected species, I have to seek permission to move or treat her. I sat in the vet's office and wrote an email to the Division of Wildlife Resources supervisor to ask permission to euthanize her. Her decline has been slow and steady over the last 3 years. I think it's time. She has a massive urate stone in her bladder, an egg shaped mass in her belly, an antibiotic resistant respiratory infection, and is at least 70 years old. 

I love my Hermy. She's my oldest living pet and the pet I've had the longest. I'll miss her. 

Sad day at the vet. 

Update on the latest Rescues

Sunny had surgery on Thursday and had a rough weekend. The 3rd day always seems to be the worst day. She's more active today. 

------------------------

Leo the Russian tortoise is doing GREAT!! He eats and drinks everyday and looks & acts so much better. He loved the raspberries I gave him today: 

----------------------

The unnamed chameleon is putting on weight and still hates my guts. She should be ready to be adopted out soon. 

-------------------

Drake is doing terribly. :( He's going to the vet again tomorrow. His eyes used to seal shut every few days, but now it's almost twice a day. He acts like he can't breathe either. I'm not sure what else we can do for him. He hates me cleaning his eyes and the stress of it makes him struggle to breathe. 

---------------------

Dash has been eating like a pig!! He will be able get back up to normal weight easily. He loved the raspberries today. I had to flick them with my finger to catch his interest. 

--------------------

Curly will be headed to his new foster home tomorrow. He is active and loves eating. I had him wrapped in a blankie the other night and he loved it! 

--------------------- 

3 of the 6 snakes are going home tomorrow. Phew! That will leave me with 3 snakes, 1 tegu, 1 chameleon, 6 tortoises, and 9 bearded dragons. Only 20 reptiles! That's sorta low for me. :) 

Vet Trip

I took Leo and Drake to the vet today. Leo got a beak trim and a Vitamin A injection to help with his swollen eyes. I have a two week game plan now to help him get back on track. If he's not eating within two weeks, I'll take him back to the vet to be tube fed. 

Drake is still not eating on his own. He sleeps all the time and has lost weight. He breathes through his mouth a lot too. 

Drake stumped Dr Folland on his last visit, and today he tried to repeat the stumping. His eyes are clear, his mouth is clear, his belly was soft. Nothing obviously wrong. He has zero body fat though. 

So they took blood to do basic blood tests to see if anything shows up. We'll start there. 

He is still shedding off the nasty stained sand. 

Blood tests come back tomorrow and we'll go from there. I'll start force feeding him every day instead of weekly to help pack on the calories. 

Morning Drinks

I teach all my beardies to drink out of their water bowls. 

I set them right by their freshly filled water dish and then I start flicking my finger in the water to make it move. 

Sometimes I have to scoot them so they are halfway in the bowl while I am flicking the water. 

If they don't start drinking, I will put a drop of water on their nose. If they don't lick that off, I will take my fingernail and lightly scratch their lips to trigger a licking response. Then while they are licking, I will put another drop of water on their noses for them to lick off. And then I'll start flicking the water in the bowl again. 

Those few steps are almost always enough to get them to start the tongue flick required for drinking. Their bodies will flatten out into a pancake shape and they will duck their heads. Sometimes I'll gently push their heads into the water if they are trying to drink too high above the bowl. 

Once they are flattened and drinking, they can drink for up to 8 minutes. Their bodies will stay flat and their eyes will half closed. It's adorable! 

It took me over 18 months to train Ziggy how to drink. I kept repeating the process over and over again both with his water dish and in the bath. He finally learned and drinks immediately when he sees me filling up with water dish. 

Usually once you get their tongue flicking triggered, their instinct takes over and they'll drink. The key is moving water. Instinct tells them stagnant water is bad. That's why most beardies will drink in the bath-- because they are moving the water around them. 

Oh and it's very common to see them gasping for air for a couple minutes after they've been drinking. And the next few poops will be very runny. 

And usually my beardies drink good once a week. In the wild, they store up water when they find it. It's okay if you don't see them drinking every day. 

Here's Drake who was a little confused and was trying to drink in the corner of his tank. Silly boy! 

Next time I "teach" a beardie to drink, I'll try to get a video of it. 

Update on Drake

Drake has decided his new life goal is to look dead while sleeping. 

I am NOT a fan of this goal. :( 

Everyday I gently poke him to make sure he is alive. 

It is not fun. 

Today I pulled him out. I cleaned his eyes good and gave him some warm Critical Care. Then I put him on his hammock in his basking spot. 

At least for awhile he looked alive. And "for awhile" I mean 8 minutes and then he found a cool spot on the opposite side of the tank and sprawled out into his "sleeping death" position. 

He's not one that I will let bruminate fully and since he's intent on doing that, I think I will wake him up every few days and give him a good dose of Critical Care or baby food. 

Bruminating Beardies

When the seasons change and the days grow shorter and colder, most beardies start to bruminate. Bruminating is a light version of hibernating. For a week to several months, adult beardies will sleep constantly. Some will open their eyes and raise their heads; some will not move at all.

Don't panic. This is normal-- BUT only for beardies over a year. Juvenile beardies who appear to bruminate are actually sick and need bet attention immediately. 

So what about food? I always keep pellet food and water in their tanks. I cut way back on the greens, offering them greens only every couple days and only when I see they are alert and moving around. Most of my boys will pop right up if they see the roach container in my hand still.

Ziggy hasn't moved for 4 days.

For the most part, just let your beardies be. Lights go on and lights go off at normal times. Just let them sleep. It's pretty boring for us, but necessary for them. If you want, you can make them a cozy little box to hide in or a blankie to sleep on. My guys tend to just plop down and nap. The older they get, the longer they bruminate too.

I've been a bit more assertive with Drake as he's starting to bruminate because he's been sickly. So I'll let him sleep, but I'll also check him daily to make sure he's alive and responsive. :) He hates it, but it makes me feel better.

If you notice sunk in eyes or no response at all when you touch them, this could be a problem. Wake them up and give them some water to drink to keep them hydrated.

Read more information HERE about bruminating from a past blog post.

Drake needs a Good Home

Drake is about a year and a half home and needs someone to love him forever. :)

He has weepy eyes that need wiped with a damp cloth or swab every few days, but it's not a fixable problem. He just looks like he's weeping some days. 

His scales are stained a nasty orange color because he was stuck on sand. He has already started shedding it off and is a gorgeous yellow color. 

Because his eyes are often weepy, he has a harder time targeting his food. I have to help him eat insects by keeping them contained in front of him. I put the superworms in a cup and flip the roaches on their backs. He wasn't eating enough before and became very skinny. He's already put on weight. 

He's used to being held by kids and loves being held in his soft blankies. He hasn't even minded his vet visits. 

I'm willing to ship him overnight within the US to the right home. Message me for info. 

Drake!

Drake's tank is in our room and his poop tonight smelled SO bad that it set off off the smoke detector!! 

Ha ha ha ha!! 

I guess there's a first time for everything. 

Time for a fecal test. 

You can see he's shedding off all the nasty orange-stained scales and is normal looking over most his body. You can tell the difference if you look at his hand. 

Updates on the others from the Vet

Akime got her special bandage off today. Hooray! Her skin is all healed over for arm. Because the skin is so fragile, we put a simple wrap cover on it to protect it from her grabbing. When she gets stressed, she grabs at the bandage with her good arm and can't let go. 

She and Lotus are going to a their new home at a Chameleon Sanctuary next week! Woo hoo! We've just been waiting for the bandage to come off. 

Drake appears to have defective or blocked tear ducts that prevent his eyes from draining properly. He will always have weepy eyes that need wiped frequently so they don't get crusty. 

He's been shedding off the nasty sand stained skin too which is making him into a handsome Beardie. I'll start looking for a home for him soon. 

Georgie got an injection of antibiotics to help with her runny nose and goopy eyes. She was not happy to be examined and eventually outlasted the vet who wanted to look in her mouth. 

Baby Foot got his nails clipped since they had curled up and under his feet. We did get to see that he is for sure a boy. Until now, his shell has been too deformed to tell. Definitely a boy. :) 

The next vet trip will be for Midnight the iguana. Everyone else -- so far-- is healthy. 

Field Trip to the Vet

It's another big vet visit today. 

I have Georgie (runny nose) and Baby Foot (nail & beak trim). 

Drake still has runny eyes. 

Akime needs her arm bandage off. 

And Henry is a new guy who is a mess. 

Luckily, they scheduled me a full hour. I'm going to use it! 

Babysitting

Since a good friend of mine is having surgery today and will be in rehab for a week or so, I am babysitting her two Beardie boys. 

Hunter 

Preacher 

To keep them away from my other beardies, I have them in the front room with my tortoise box. 

Next week the two chameleons, Akime & Lotus, will be going to their new home which is a chameleon paradise. That will free up some more room for me. Woo hoo! 

Drake is on a round of antibiotics and then he should be ready to be adopted out. He's a sweetie, but has a hard time eating food. I think it's because his eyes are still weepy. He's starting to shed so he's not such an ugly stained orange color. And he's putting on weight so he's not so stick-like. 

Sleepy Time

Midnight--

Drake--

Teddy-- 

Drake's Night Out

I took Drake out to put in his eye drops and then brought him into the living room to watch a movie with me and my family. 

It's always fun to watch beardies having a chance to explore for the first time. 

He walked around a bit and then settled into our laps for a nap. 

Drake at the Vet

Drake has been struggling with eye problems in the past month and, even though he had seen another local vet who tries to treat reptiles, I wanted to have my awesome vet take a look. 

Dr Folland suspects a lot of the problems Drake has had are due to inadequate housing conditions-- sand substrate, too low of heat, no UVB, etc. Now that he's got a high powered UVB and a basking spot of 105, we both think Drake will start to flourish. 

His eyes look okay and probably had sand in them enough times that he's been having an inflammatory response. I have an antibiotic drop and an anti-inflammatory drop to put in his eyes three times a day for the next week. 

Yesterday, I got him to eat 3 roaches on his own! He hunted them down and everything. He's still very underweight, but I suspect he will start doing much better now. He will look SO much better when he sheds too. He's got that nasty sand stain coating on his scales. :( 

Drake, rescue 152

Drake is just over a year and has had eye infections for a long time. Lately, he's stopped eating and moving around. That's why his owners chose to surrender him to me. 

I let him take it easy today. He ate some baby food squash and he had a nice long drink. 

Tonight he's having some couch time with me. 

Tomorrow I'll see if he'll eat some roaches on his own.