Eye Bulging

It's pretty normal for some reptiles to "bulge" their eyes out. They have a little blood vessel flap they can open that releases blood into their eye sockets, forcing their eyes to push out into their eye lids. When they are done, the little flap opens again and the blood returns to the vessel.

The first time you see eye bulging, you might be creeped out. It looks like their eyes are going to explode.

I've seen it on bearded dragons, chameleons, and iguanas.

They do it if their eyes are itchy or if their skin is shedding or if there is something in their eyes or if they are bored or whatever. My beardie rescue Dory had a malfunction with the blood vessel flap behind one eye and so her eye was perpetually swollen. Turbo, my sweetheart iguana, developed an aneurysm behind one of his eyes and it was a mess every time he rubbed the eye and it ruptured. That poor iguana lost SO much blood. He eventually had to have is eye removed because it had died after being shoved up into his eyelid for so long.

So next time you see your beardie (or iguana or chameleon) and it looks like their eyes are going to bulge out of their heads, don't panic. It's totally normal. :)

An End

I got a phone call from my vet's office today, but since I was shopping, I sent it to voicemail. I knew they'd be calling about picking up the ashes of Turbo & Sancho, but I still wasn't able to deal with it. 

I sent my husband to pick it up. He handed to me and I started crying. 

The box is beautiful. 

I love the engraving on the top. 

It now sits on my mantle with Kip's ashes. It's where my beloveds rest. I'm going to add a bit of the fleece blankets I wrapped them up in last week to add on top of the box. 

Always in my heart. Turbo and Sancho. 

A Hard Memory-- comes with a warning note (see below)

WARNING NOTE: do not read this post if you are very tender hearted about dying animals. It's heart breaking. It's not gruesome or nasty but just really really sad. 

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On Monday when I put my beloved iguanas down, I had an extra traumatic experience that has been too painful to recount until now. I still expect to cry as I write this though. 

Sancho died very quickly and very peacefully. I held her as her breath slowed and she went to sleep for good. Her tail (where they injected her) bled on me and her nail scratched a hole in my shirt and her spines scratched up my arms, but she passed peacefully. 

Turbo didn't die quickly. He went to sleep and snuggled into my neck, but he didn't stop breathing. 

5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Sancho was long gone. The vet came in multiple times, but Turbo was still breathing. 

Finally- after about 35 minutes, the vet decided to give Turbo another injection. But, since there wasn't enough blood pressure left in his tail, he injected it into his belly. And then left. 

It must have hurt poor Turbo who reared up and struggled against me. His mouth was gaping and he was trying to thrash about. I kept trying to hold him and soothe him, but I couldn't hardly talk because I was sobbing. 

Turbo didn't die easily or quickly or nicely. It has been haunting me. It felt like forever until he calmed down though it was only a few minutes. When he was gone, I knew it. I didn't need the vet to use his heart monitor. Turbo was gone. I laid him down on the towel next to Sancho. 

I took a few pics and paid my bill. I didn't even wait for the vet to come back in to checkI left. I was numb and aching all at the same time. I felt broken and I was tired of sobbing in public. 

I got in my van and just sat there, staring down at my hands. My shirt had iguana blood and pee (Sancho lost control of her bowels at the end). My hands and arms were scratched. My head was aching from crying. I was a mess. I just sat there, unable to move. 

I heard a tap on the window. It was my vet. I rolled down the window. He reached in, patted me softly on the shoulder, and said he was sorry. I shrugged in response. I appreciated his gesture but I had nothing to give back. 

Later that night, as my sweet husband wrapped his arms around me, I choked out the experience of Turbo thrashing. The pain of the memory was festering in my heart and I couldn't bear the weight of it. I had to share it. I felt slightly better after telling someone. That's the point of this post too. I can't carry the weight of those sad 5 minutes alone. I need to let them go so I can remember the good times instead. 

I'm so sorry, Turbo. I'm sorry if I made you die. You were so sick and only getting worse. I couldn't watch you suffer any more. I'm sorry the last 5 minutes of your life sucked. I hope you forgot all about it as your sweet iguana soul went back to heaven. I love you dearly. I'll never forget you and I'm sorry. Always remember us snuggling together while I rocked you. Those will always be the happy times. 

With love forever for my handi-capable iguana Sancho and my one eyed lover boy Turbo. You both were the best. 

Bittersweet

My head hurts and my eyes are swollen this morning. There are two less lights to turn on and two less iguanas to give kisses to. :( 

I did something important this morning-- I moved Junie downstairs to the corner cat tree where Sancho spent the last year and a half. 

I didn't want Junie and I didn't know what to do with him when he was brought to my front door. He had been left behind after a local young family was killed in their home in a murder-suicide. He was given to another reptile rescue who kept him in a plastic crate for two weeks and blamed his testiness on having watched his family die (ignoring the obvious fact of being locked in a crate. Ugh!) 

I wasn't technically supposed to have Junie and I had to keep it quiet for awhile. Since Turbo was free roaming in my room and Sancho was in the living room, the only safe place to put Junie was in my craft room upstairs. That's where he's been for the past 4 months. 

Junie seemed to be happy enough (if you can tell if an iguana is happy) and was becoming nicer and calmer. But he didn't get much interaction and he was locked away all the time. 

Now he can be downstairs with the family. I expect him to be a terror for awhile once he discovers his new freedom and all the sunny windows. Over time, I hope he settles in and enjoys the tree to climb and the windows to bask in. I don't think he'll ever be as sweet as Turbo & Sancho were, but I hope he's at least happier than he has been. 

Heartbroken

I stood in the exam room and rocked Turbo and Sancho while we waited for the vet. I rocked them and kissed them and cried. 

Turbo: 

Sancho: 

And I held them as they died and sobbed. 

I am heartbroken. 

Sadness times Two

I knew this day was coming and I've been dreading it. 

And today is the day. :( 

Both of my special iguanas, Turbo & Sancho, have been getting worse, and, instead of waiting until they get worse, I'm opting to have them put down today and then cremated together. 

Turbo has stopped eating. He doesn't move much and he has blood filling his only good eye (he lost his other eye due to a massive blood clot). Sancho's limbs are freezing up and I've rescued her multiple times from being on her back/side. Plus she's losing control of her bowels and can't get her body turned around to get food & heat. 

It's time for both of them. I've put it off as long as possible, but their health keeps getting worse. 

At 4:30, I will take them in and hold them & love on them while my vet puts them down.  I've been heartbroken for days and can't even talk about it without getting choked up. The vet's office knows I will be bawling today and won't expect me to speak. 

The only good thing about putting them down at the same time is that they can be cremated together. Their little box of ashes will sit on my mantle next to the ashes of my beloved doggie Kip. It's a small comfort though. 

I never wanted to rescue iguanas, but these two are the most amazing two I've ever met. 

Here's some of my favorite pics of them: 

Sancho & her sexy leg: 

Sancho giving me loves: 

Turbo giving me loves: 

Turbo showing off some sexy leg: 

Who knew that iguanas could be so much like kitties and become so special to me? I will love these two forever. 

I will still have Junie, a slightly wild male iguana who is a pill. He haunts my craft room. 

And whipped me with his tail Saturday: 

With love to Turbo & Sancho. <3 

Turbo is Hanging in There

Turbo is still doing well. The swelling in his arm stopped growing and he's fairly active overall. He has good days and bad days. He still loves to be pet & scratched like a kitty cat. I have to be careful giving him mangoes or bananas because he'll take my fingers off in his zeal to eat them. 

For now there's no plan to put him down. When he stops eating or his spine/arm start swelling again or he shows that he's in a lot of pain, then I'll do what's necessary. 

Turbo is the sweetest one-eyes iguana ever. 

The Sick Room

My bedroom has become the "Hospital Ward" for my rescue. 

Here's an Update on my Sicklies: 

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Turbo is doing okay. He has good days and bad days. The swelling in his arm & spine has slowed. On good days, he eats and is active. On bad days, he doesn't want to be pet and he sleeps all day. This pic shows how he sleeps. It's adorable!! 

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Bugsy is not doing well. He's on antibiotic shots but he still sounds like a whoopee cushion sometimes when he breathes. He stopped eating too so I started force feeding him today. He just mostly sleeps a lot. 

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MuShu is still having a hard time with her guts. I'm waiting to make sure she can poop normally after such a major prolapse. Some days she's really lethargic and hardly moves; other days she's very alert. It's just a slow recovery process. And she still won't eat on her own so I'm force feeding her too. 

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Roscoe is now the newest member in the ward. His tank is where Ginny's tank used to be. He's got a long hard road ahead, but I expect him to eventually recover. His whole cage is covered with polar fleece so he can't get his nails stuck and everything is low so he can't fall off. 

Sicklies Update

Ginny got her final approval from the vet on Monday. Her wound looks great and is healing nicely. She's starting to shed and has put on 40+ grams.

Next week, Ginny will be traveling to her new forever home in Florida to her new momma Linda who is beyond excited. Ginny will have a good, good life there. 

Bugsy is doing better on antibiotics but still struggles with his pnemonia. It'll take all 3 weeks (and maybe more) to get him completely better. At night, he lives to snuggle on my shoulder. 

It wasn't such a good day for Turbo. He got up, basked in the sun for a bit, and then went back to his "bed." He didn't eat and when I got near him, he bobbed his head at me. :( 

Poor Turbo. He's been doing okay lately and I tend to forget that he's so sick. Then days like today remind me that he won't be with me long. 

3 Iguanas

Why do I have 3 iguanas?

Because I don't want 4. ;) And I can't say "No" to rescuing iguanas kept in crummy conditions. 

Turbo: 

Sancho:

Junie:

Hospice for Turbo

No real change in Turbo-- good or bad. He's still grumpier than normal and bobs his head more than he ever did.

He gets a LOT more treats: 

Morning sunshine 

Mango (he LOVES mango!!) 

Head rubs

Unless he drastically declines, I don't plan to put him down this week. Maybe not even next week. 

We're just taking it a day at a time really. 

Bad News for Turbo

The good news is that Ginny is ok and should feel fine-- just very slowly.

Turbo is now on hospice care. It will only be a matter of time before I have to put him down. :( 

Because of an infection in his spine, he is quickly losing control of his back legs and tail. He's not able to pick himself up when he poops now so it's a mess to clean him up. 

His arm swelling is growing weekly and he's no longer able to put any weight on it or use his fingers. 

If the swelling was only in his arm, we could treat him with antibiotics and prolong his life some. But with it in his spine, there is no chance to contain or control it. 

Dr Folland also discovered that Turbo's eye socket was bleeding because of trapped suture material that wasn't dissolving. He was able to remove the suture and flush out old blood so that should help stop the bleeding. 

Poor guy was in so much pain during his appointment and was angry with me after. I laid him down on a soft towel and stroked his back till he went to sleep and then picked him up and held him. 

I don't know when I'll take him in to be put down. It hurtsy heart too much to think about it right now. It will be soon. He's in too much pain and the infection is spreading too fast. 

Not Such a Good Day for Rescues

Ginny's arm keeps swelling and the scales are discoloring. :(

Plus she's darker than normal and a lot more listless. 

Turbo is having a bad day and his eye socket is bleeding. He keeps trying to nip at me and he bobs his head at everyone else who gets near him. That's his "Back OFF!" move. 

I bumped their vet appointments up from next Monday to this Wednesday. No reason to wait. I'll keep you posted.