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.

Two Successes and a Dope Move

I got both the male & female Savannah monitors placed in good foster homes. Yay! The male is doing great, and the female went to her new home and immediately started drinking.

Male

Female

My "Dope" -- as in D'oh!-- as in Drat!!-- as in Dummy Me!-- move was that I left my tortoises outside yesterday afternoon. I didn't remember until I got home just after 9 pm. DRAT! It wasn't dangerously cold, but it was chilly. So I had to hunt around in the dark backyard to find Georgie & Otis and then pull the little ones out of their big yard box and get them all inside and under a night light so they could warm up.

They are fine, but I still felt dumb.

See? Even people you think know almost everything still make mistakes!

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.

Blaze, the sickly Savvy

Blaze was out tonight when I turned off his lights and so I decided to try something. 

I pulled him out and wrapped him in a blankie. He loves it!! 

He loves having his head rubbed! He's so cute!! 

Now if I can just get him to eat on his own. I'm still having to tube-feed him every few days. 

He goes back to the vet on Monday. He's had a month of tube-feeding, but isn't getting any better. 

Ugh! Of course!

Blaze, the sick savvy from the fire, hates my guts. He hates me looking at him. He hates me touching him. He hates me tube-feeding him. He will not eat on his own. He hisses. He puffs up. He whips his tail at me. 

In an effort to make him happier, I sent him to be with my rescue sister who has the healthy one. 

Within 4 hours, I get a pic of Blaze eating. 

Then an hour after that, I get a pic of him 

chilling with Marybeth. Uh huh. Of course. 

Today he ate again without hissing or puffing up or fighting. 

Yep. 

Savvys hate me. Babies hate me. Good thing I don't take it personally. Good thing I have my rescue siblings to take the ones who hate me. 

Blaze Update

Right now, Blaze is the sickest of the fire victims. He's very lethargic and has to be tube fed.

When we first got him, he couldn't even lift his head up. He definitely more active than that, but he's got a ways to go. 

His bones are pretty soft all over. They aren't as bad as Gary Dean's were, but far softer than they should be. That may explain why he's not eating. 

Today he got another tube feeding and then some sunshine therapy. 

I expect him to recover, but I plan on it taking a month or more.