Sweet Sunny

I'm sad to announce that Sunny, my wee little baby ball python who was recovering from surgery, died tonight. She was having a hard time pooping after the surgery (because she kept prolapsing, the vet surgically attached her intestines to the abdominal wall). She pooped shortly before she died and it appears her belly started bleeding inside.

Poor Sunny.

I'm sorry I couldn't do more to save you.

Reptile Roll Call for January 5, 2017

Here's most of my reptile zoo (minus the 3 ball pythons who didn't want to leave their hides to have their pictures taken; I have Lucy, Sunny, & Bones). Also, Gumby, the MBD leopard gecko didn't want to come out either.

First the Torts. I only have FOUR! That amazes me. 

Georgie, my female Leopard tortoise 

Hermy, my hibernating Desert tortoise

Leo, the happy little Russian tort

Otis, our house tort

And now my beardies-- 

Baby Sawyer, with a little pudgy food belly

Dash, my old man who is shedding

Flame, who is also shedding 

Gen, my big girl who is sorta bruminating

Max, my big boy who is 6 years old

Neville, the latest addition 

Noel, who is looking sickly this morning

Smaug, my big boy who is looking for a home as the ONLY beardie

Tiger, who has been wheezing again :( 

Ziggy, who has pretty much trashed his tank in the last few days 

 And last, but not least, Lady Squinty Dink the Dainty Skink of bluTonguesville!

Couldn't get the lighting right for a good pic 

We also have two dogs (Belle & Teddy) and a hedgehog (Pixie).

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. 

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. 

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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: 

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

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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. 

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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. 

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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! 

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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. :) 

Update on Sunny

Sunny ended up having surgery to reattach her colon to her abdominal wall. 

She has an inch long incision above her vent. 

The success rate is usually about 75 to 85% and I'm hopeful she will be fine. 

Sunny at the Vet

It took 2 weeks, but Sunny, my baby ball python rescue, finally prolapses again. She pooped last night and the end of her intestines came out of her vent. :( 

Dr Folland will gently push her prolapse back in and then put a stitch or two on the sides of her vent to prevent it pushing out again. If that doesn't help, then he will surgically attach the end of the intestines to the inside of her belly.

UPDATE at 9:32 am: 

Dr Folland just called. The best bet for Sunny is to surgically attach the colon back to her abdominal wall since the stay sutures along the vent are not likely to work. The fibers holding her colon inside her body have broken down and don't appear to be reconnecting. 

If the surgery doesn't work, then the only remaining option is euthanasia. 😞

Vet Visit

Today was a long vet visit. I took in Sunny, Tommy, and had my rescue sister bring in Zeus, a red tail boa. 

Sunny stayed warm in my shirt before the visit. She looks great and her vent is in good shape. I'm going to inject a little mineral oil in her feeder mouse tonight and see if she prolapses again. If she does, Dr Folland will put a stitch along the sides of her vent to keep her from prolapsing again. 

Tommy's beak has started growing but it grew out weird and bubbled. Dr Folland said (as he often does for my rescues) "Weird! I've never seen anything like this." He filed down his beak so it can grow in evenly and smoothly. 

Tommy, in response, pooped all over the floor and peed on their hands and shoes. He was NOT happy! 

Zeus has a mouth wound that looks okay overall. We'll treat it with an antibiotic cream daily for a week to help it heal. Dr Folland says Zeus is a beautiful and healthy snake. 

Overall it was a good vet visit and not nearly as complicated as I thought it might be. 

Sunny, rescue 159

This sweet baby ball python keeps prolapsing (her intestines start to fall out when she poops). She's prolapsed three times in the last three weeks. 

My vet says it's not uncommon for babies to prolapse and his first treatment will be a small stitch in her vent. 

If that doesn't work, they will surgically attach the cloaca to the abdominal wall so it cannot be pushed out. 

We'll start with the stich on Monday and see how she does.