Before & After Savvy

My rescue sister rescued a juvenile Savannah monitor for me a couple weeks ago. Here's a "Before & After" picture of the Savvy. He's doing great & headed to a new home soon. Glad to have helped with this with one.

Top Pic: Most Recent
Bottom Pic: the One in the Online Ad I saw

Another Savvy, rescue 192

On Saturday night, a friend from back home in Utah sent me a link to a local Salt Lake City ad that showed an adult savannah monitor not in good shape.

Poor baby! The ad originally listed the Savvy & set up for $300.

I immediately got my rescue sister on it. She managed to get the guy talked down to $50 for just the Savvy. The poor baby was stuck in a 55 gallon tank with ONE light-- a single 75 watt bulb set 18 inches above the bottom of the tank and programed to turn on for only 4 hours a day. :(

Again we feared he'd be in bad, bad shape and were happy to find he wasn't *too* bad. Every time the sunshine would hit the plastic transport box he was in, the savvy would stretch out and bask in it.

The second Marybeth got him home, he went into her bath. He was SOOO happy to splash and soak. He had at least 3 or 4 layers of old shed on him and was happy to soak it off. At first, when Marybeth would lightly splash water onto his back to get him all wet, he'd respond by whipping his tail and splashing her back.

After awhile, Marybeth reached up and started scratching his head. Oh he liked that! Then he started whipping his tail to splash her when she stopped!

After helping to get a layer or two off, she took him outside for some direct sunshine time. He did great on a leash.  

Marybeth will keep him until I get home and then I'll find him either a new home or a foster home to take care of him. I'm relieved that he was a fairly easy rescue-- especially since right after he got to Marybeth's house, she took in a small Nile monitor for our rescue brother.

Tiny Poop = HUGE Progress for Junior!

I woke up to find Junior had pooped a tiny bit! YAY!

And then I saw that Junior himself was no longer bloated and puffy!

His belly has been so bloated & full that he had no extra skin showing. He looks NORMAL!

Then he looked up at me after he took a drink!

This baby Savannah is the BIGGEST fighter I have ever ever had! I'm SO amazed by him!

Wide Awake Junior

I walked into my bedroom today and saw this:

Junior's eyes were open and alert. He watched me for awhile, looked around him again, and then crawled to the back of the tank where he went back to sleep.

Whoa! I was not expecting to see him alert. But I'm glad I did!

A Video of Junior Crawling

• Look at this wee lil' baby go! Such progress. Love him! SO happy to see him moving-- even if I have to stop working to make sure he doesn't fall out of his box. 

Our Yearly Tortoise Checkup

Spring means "Tortoise Checkups" and so I made an appointment to take all 5 in today. And then Junior went along to get his second Calcitonin shot. It took two laundry baskets to transport them all. Thankfully, my daughter went along with me to carry one of the baskets. 

Here's a line of torts-- Sissy (box turtle but honorary tortoise) at the top, then Leo the Russian, Curly Q the desert tortoise, and Otis the cherry head (red foot) tortoise at the end. 

All of them got weighed and checked. Otis & Leo & Sissy got beak trims.

Leo took some persuasion to come out of his shell so we could trim his beak. He was not thrilled. See?

Otis wanted to mount all the other tortoises and we had to keep pulling him off of them.

Curly Q peed all over the counter & floor & Dr Folland's tie. I told him he should keep a backup tie in his office on days I come. The last visit with Norman started with Norman projectile pooping onto his tie too. ;)

Sissy got a few dead spots of shell scraped off and we checked her nails. She's missing most of her toe nails on her front feet. And she obviously got bit by a dog at some point in her life too. She's a very sweet box turtle. I don't normally like box turtles, but I really like her. She fits in the zoo well.

Georgie has tripled her weight since last year. She's my leopard tortoise who stayed in the laundry basket for most of the visit. She is not social and doesn't like to interact with anyone. I didn't even get a picture of her.

Junior got his second Calcitonin injection which will help pull calcium back into his bones. I watched him poop out urate pieces this morning but no fecal matter. He still has a lump in his belly, but it is actually smaller and on the opposite side of his belly than it was before. So strange! He's a lot more alert and aware than he was before. But his bones are still rubber. He'll have a long road to recovery.

The vet's staff blocked out a whole hour for me so we could get everyone checked in, examined, and treated. We stayed right on time. It was great!

While it was expensive to have them all checked (just over $500 for all 5 & the shot), it's important to me to keep my regulars updated in the vet's system. They become established clients and we can track weights and such.

Update on Junior

No poop yet for Junior and so I've only done a once-a-day tube feeding. Today he was a lot more active and his movements were more coordinated as I fed him. Good signs!

Junior's X-ray

Look at this picture of Junior's Belly. I circled and annotated the spine because it's almost impossible to see: 

 Now look at an X-ray of the belly of a healthy Savannah monitor:

Healthy & strong bones almost glow on an x-ray. The calcium in them shows up bright and the edges are clearly defined. Junior's bones are a mess-- you can't see his spine and his ribs are hardly visible. Poor baby Junior. His body didn't get enough calcium and his body robbed it from his bones, leaving his bones a rubbery mess.

Junior pooped a Wee Little Bit!

Junior pooped this morning, a tiny pea-size nugget. Yay!

I have been super worried that the mass in his belly was blocking his digestive system and that tube-feeding him would cause lots of problems. Phew! He pooped so that should be okay.

I gave him another tube feeding this morning and will give him some this afternoon. I waited two days before repeating it because I was terrified of giving him a lot of Critical Care and having it create problems. Now that I know his guts are mostly working, I can give him more food. Hopefully with more food & calories, he'll be more active.

He did wobbly walk around his tank today. He fell over onto his back and laid there for a few seconds until I righted him. I took out the washcloth I had folded into a basking spot so there are no longer uneven ledges he can fall off of. I hope that helps until he gets more strength back.

So today's rollercoaster is a bit more up than down.

Tomorrow? Who knows!

Junior's Hard Day

Junior is having a down day. He's very lethargic and not opening his eyes much. I'm SO grateful that the sun is shining and I can give him an hour of sun therapy.

Rescue is a rollercoaster- up & down and up & down! Some days, you think "Alright, we got this; he'll pull through;" other days, you think "What am I doing? Am I just making him suffer longer?"

It is exhausting. And heart breaking.

Dr Folland told me yesterday that if Junior does die, it will be quick. That is a comfort. There are so many praying & pulling for him, but his poor little body might not have the ability to continue.

For now, I'll focus on his sunshine time. In an hour, I'm dropping off one of yesterday's rescued savvys to another rescue who will rehab him and rehome him. Tomorrow the female will go to a foster home.

An Update on Junior

Junior saw Dr Folland today (my primary vet). Dr Folland didn't think the lump in Junior's belly responds like a poop plug should and so he had an x-ray taken. Poor Junior's bones barely showed up on the x-ray. :( They are faint outlines instead of bright, white lines.

There was no mass at all that showed up. A fecal mass would have had distinct edges and shape.

Curious.

But the thing is-- Junior is not strong enough to survive a surgery right now. So for his sake, we need to pretend as though it's not there and go back to feeding Junior. He needs the calcium and calories right now. I tube fed him as soon as I got home.

Junior got a shot of Calcitonin to help pull calcium back into his bones.

On the way home, Junior was quite active! I think he enjoys Ray LaMontagne too! ;)

Now we wait. I tube feed him twice a day and see what happens. If he has a bowel obstruction, then we will know soon. If there is a mass somewhere in his belly, we will deal with it later when he's stronger. He's got a lot of spunk in him and that helps.

As Dr Folland was leaving the room, I asked him if I was doing the right thing by keeping him alive. He said "yes, at this point." He then warned me to not put a lot more money into Junior because the chances of his survival are still low because of how bad off he is.

That's the hard thing in rescue-- you just never know. $5,000 couldn't save a $60 chameleon named Lotus. But I've saved other reptiles without a single vet visit. You do the best you can given the information you have.

So as long as Junior keeps fighting & trying, I will too.

It's Raining Savvys!

About 40 minutes before I had to leave to take Junior to the vet, I had two almost adult Savannah monitors dumped off at my house.

With nothing.

Thankfully, I had an empty tank. All I could do immediately was dump them into the tank.

Ironically, this brother & sister pair had been dumped on a sister by a brother. The sister did NOT want them or like them. She said they were mean and hadn't been fed for awhile.

Once they warmed up, I was able to feed the male. The female had no interest. I left them in their small tank with a towel and heating lamp and went to the vet.

After dinner, I debated bathing them, but wasn't sure I wanted to stress them out. But then the male pooped, stinking up my entire house. That helped made my decision. I cleaned out their tank while they soaked.

For being the same age, the male is quite a bit bigger than the female. The male is covered with nasty old shed.

My last experience with this size Savvy did not go well. I had a female Savvy chomp onto my finger and not let go. Dr Folland grabbed a pair of forceps and pried her jaw off me. Needless to say, I'm rather bite-shy around savvys now. The thought of these two being "Aggressive" made me nervous.

I'm happy to report that they were totally mellow as I got them out of the bath. The male is actually more docile than the female!

Here's me with the male:

Here's me with the female:

Savvys are quite cute. But they are big and have a POWERFUL bite (trust me on this one). I think I already have homes for both of them. Phew.

Waking up Junior

I turned on the lights on this morning and didn't have to move Junior to make sure he was still with me. Instead I found his head up and his eyes open! Woo hoo!

Vet visit at 4:45 pm today to deal with the poop issue.

Junior Holding up his Head

Still no poop! But this little guy had more fight as I was giving him today's saline injection. When I put him back, he held himself up right.

His next vet appointment is tomorrow and I'll have my primary vet exam him and see what needs to be done.

Such a cute little dinosaur!

Junior's Day

When I returned to the house this morning, I found a tiny bit of poop and a tiny amount of urates that Junior had managed to push out.

That was a good sign.

This afternoon, he got a water bath and then a sunshine bath.

He's so weak that everything wears him out and he ends up sleeping a lot.

I sure hope he makes it. My regular vet, Dr Folland, has an idea for how to treat him next if he hasn't pooped by Thursday afternoon. I have an appointment scheduled and, depending on the poop situation, he may get more meds for his constipation or we may be able to start him on Calcitonin shots that will help bring calcium back into his bones.

Sad News for Junior

Junior's got some sort of blockage in his gut. Originally, he had urates built up, but he managed to push those out. Now he's got a fairly large poop plug that's not moving and his belly is bloated. 

I've backed off his tube feedings and am keeping him well hydrated. If there's no poop by Monday, he'll go in to the vet for an enema or something. I can tell his belly is bothering him. 😫

One of the problems with MBD is the lack of muscle strength and coordination it causes, including in the belly & digestive tract. If he can't figure out how to poop, he won't really have a chance at life. He's been doing so good too! I hope he can pull through this.

Come on, baby, poop!

This sounds funny, but will you join me in praying that Junior will be able to get rid of his constipation and poop? 

Junior in the Sunshine

Junior got his calcium shot, his saline injection, and a partially tube-feeding (the tube plugged up for some reason and he only got 1 cc). Then I put him in the sunshine in my window while I worked in the kitchen. 

At first, he slept. 

Then he decided to perk up a little bit and popped his head up to see me. He's so stinking cute! Especially now that he isn't dying. 

Junior wobbles around like a newborn giraffe and has almost no coordination, but he's attempting to move around. That is a GREAT sign!

Good News for Junior

Junior woke up and moved around his sick tank a lot this morning. He was very alert too.

Then I noticed that he was able to poop out the hard urate plug that had been stuck in his belly. Yay!

It's about time for him to have his daily saline injection and then his calcium shot. Then he'll get some food and a chance to bask in the direct sunshine.

He's still very wobbly and uncoordinated, but it's a relief to see him have the strength to move around. For the first 10 hours I had him, he barely moved at all and couldn't even open his eyes.

Junior's Sunshine Therapy

Junior got his saline injections and calcium injection today and I had him out in the sunshine at 1 pm for maximum UVB exposure. 

There have been studies about how powerful and effective direct sunshine is for treating/preventing Metabolic Bone Disease. Reptiles thrive on direct UVB-- even those with the most expensive Mercury Vapor bulb you can buy!

Window glass is treated to filter out the sun's natural UVB rays and so direct sun is the best. Plus, it's free.

The sunshine and its warmth really helped perk up Junior. He was much more alert and active in the sunshine. After he got about 30 minutes of sunshine (I didn't want to stress him too much), I gave him his first tube feeding of Critical Care. It's going to take me some time to get the hang of this new tube and system. Dr Echols didn't give me a small one to minimize the risk of accidentally puncturing a delicate organ. I ended up overfeeding Junior and he had formula coming out of his mouth.

I think tomorrow's tube feeding will be better.

Junior made it through the Night

I'm happy to report he woke up happy and is slightly more alert this morning. I'll give him his saline shot & calcium shots in an hour or so and then try tube feeding him. Every morning he wakes up is a victory!