Sweet Minnie

Minnie has not been well the past two weeks. She won't eat and she's been very lethargic. I've ended force feeding her twice. Today I took her with me to teach in my youth detention class and she stayed tucked in my shirt with her eyes closed most of the time.

When I got home, I put her in the sunshine in an open window so she could warm up and get some UVB. I sat at the table and did my homework. After about two hours, I noticed she had moved to a small shady spot so I decided to put her in the living room window where there is more shade. The second I picked her up, I could tell something was wrong. Her entire belly was bloated. It felt like someone had blown up a balloon.

I got on the phone right away with my vet's office and took her over there. As I drove her breathing became more strained and her beard turned black. Her eyes started to appear sunk-in-- all signs of dying. The vet was able to drain a lot of blood & stinky fluid from her belly which surprised all of us. Because her history is so unknown and her health has been so poor, it was pretty easy to choose to put her out of her misery quickly through euthanasia. :(

Minnie and her siblings were underfed as babies and they ate each other to survive. She and her brother were abandoned in a house in Salt Lake. She has had a crappy life from the beginning due to lazy and negligent owners. At least in the end, she was loved and cared for. I held her in her blankie every night and let her bask in sunny windows.

And she also got to be the Easter beardie too. :)

Stubs & Minnie, rescues number 46 & 47

This brother & sister pair were abandoned in a house a month or so ago. As babies they were severely underfed and had no choice but to eat their clutch mates (and each other). They were also kept on sawdust. ugh. 

Stubs is missing the tip of his tail, all his fingers on one hand, and a couple fingers on each foot. He is really a sweet beardie and quickly learned that he likes to snuggle at  night. He is a sweetie. And he was adopted out tonight. Yay! 

Minnie is the sicker of the two beardies. Her eyes are massively swollen and she's very lethargic. I did manage to get her to drink yesterday, but she will not eat. :(  She loves being swaddled, but I discovered if I wrap her up in a towel, she will never, ever get out. I had to unwrap her today to make her eat. She is very docile and calm-- that could be her temperament or it could be that she is so sickly.

I'm taking her to see Dr Folland on Monday. I've flushed out her eyes multiple times but they are still huge. She loves to sit in the sun in the window and immediately goes to sleep-- actually everything makes her go to sleep. That's part of the problem. It may be awhile before she is healthy enough to adopt out.

The green is just from the mercury vapor bulb on her cage.
She's not actually green. :)  

NOTE: I changed her name from "Mimi" to "Minnie." Mimi just didn't seem to fit her. :)