Kreature Plays Peek-A-Boo

Kreature wanted out of his cage early today-- around 9 am. He walked into the kitchen, got a drink, and then went directly into my bedroom. Usually he takes a stroll around the kitchen first to check out the tortoises' mercury vapor bulb basking area, the kitchen sink rug, and the back door. He bypassed that today and went right to his Target bag.

In a little bit, I'm going to drag him out from the dark closet and make him bask in the sun on my bedroom floor. He can't spend all his day hiding in a bag! Even if he wants to.

The Price of Otis

Proof that my kids have the same weird sense of humor that I do. I found Otis, my male cherryhead tortoise, walking around the house looking like this: 

I started laughing! "Otis!," I said, "you are way under-valuing yourself! You're at least worth $10!"

Ha ha ha!

Welcome to the Zoo.

Norman, rescue 173

Norman went to the vet this morning. It was a visit for firsts! First vet visit with a tegu, first vet visit wrestling a large lizard into and out of a box, first vet visit leaving with my clothes & the exam room splattered with blood. Yeah, it was that kind of visit.

But before that, let me introduce you to Norman. He's a 3 year old Golden tegu who is actually quite nice-- if you aren't touching his feet or tail.

While we waited, I snuggled him and kept him calm. Sweet baby. I know he's in a lot of pain because of his feet & tail so I was patient with his struggling. Plus, he lived his whole life with one person and now he's with me in a new place, a new tank, and a new area. Super stressed.

Norman's owner got busy and overlooked his shedding. The old skin stayed stuck on his toes and started to cut off the blood supply. The result is nails and toes that are in various stages of dying, dead, and falling off.

Here's his right foot:

Here's his left foot.

The tips of some of his toes will have to come off, but he shouldn't lose too many of those.

His tail had a major cut in it and is almost completely detached. While we were examining him, he snapped his tail and broke open the scabs. The tail started bleeding as he snapped it back & forth like a whip, leaving me and the room splattered with blood. Then he peed all over me and my shoes and the floor. Not my best vet visit.

I opted to leave Norman at the vet to have them sedate him and work on each of his toes. They will pull off old shed and then snip off the toes/nails/tips that are dead or dying. I had the option of trying to soak him myself and removing built up skin, but I didn't want to do that. It would make me the bad guy for him and it would take forever and be the most painful. This way, it will all be over quickly and with the least amount of pain.

I don't even want to think about the vet bill at this point. I'm guessing I may do a mini fundraiser for Norman to help pay off the bill and help me get him an appropriate set up when he's ready to leave his sick tank. More details on that to come.

Somewhere along the way.....

I think back to the dreams I had for myself and my life when I left high school.

Somewhere along the path to growing up, those dreams totally disappeared.

And here I am now- standing in my bathroom, holding a 15+ pound lizard, taking a selfie while sticking out my tongue to show him how he should do it.

And tomorrow?

I'll be picking up another tegu that needs help.

Because who knew I'd grow up to be a middle aged, slightly pudgy Mormon mom with three kids and a house that's a zoo who has more than one tegu? Not me! ;) I was thinking of being an elementary school teacher.

Nope.

Instead I'll have a Kreature in my closet and a tegu named Norman to entertain me.

Welcome to the zoo!

The "Kreature" ON the Stairs

I had to run a couple errands this afternoon and planned to be away for at least two hours. Like normal, I locked Kreature up in his box so he would stay contained while I wasn't home to supervise.

Imagine my surprise when I came home today and my youngest attempted to run upstairs to his room.

There was Kreature, chilling on the TOP step. I didn't think tegus could or would climb! But he did. No idea how he got out of his box, but he did. He was nice enough to poop on the kitchen floor instead of the front room carpet which I really, really appreciate. :)

I picked him up, carried him downstairs, and helped him into his box.

Apparently the tegu wants to roam upstairs and down. Crazy guy!

Upping my Sign Game

For the longest time, I had a sign on my door that warned sales people not to ignore my "NO SOLICITING" sign or I would feed them to the evil iguana that lived upstairs.

Well, it's been months since I've had an evil iguana and the sign needed an upgrade. I kept "meaning to do it" for weeks until today when I came from to find police cars surrounding my next door neighbor's house. Someone broke in to her house today while she was there. :(

That was motivation enough for me. I retyped my "WARNING" sign. I'm quite pleased with it.

I love the irony of my front door "LOVE" sign and the fact that it has a bunch of glitter hearts taped to it. It works great with the "WARNING" and "No Solicitors" signs, I think! ;)

Here it is up close:

Kreature, on the other hand, isn't overly impressed with his new duties as "Guard Tegu." Can you tell? 

NOTE: "Argentinian tegu" just sounded better than "Argentine" tegu but either would have worked. 

Kreature Sun Bathing

Kreature's cage ended up in my craft room/front room which faces North and gets no sunshine. I've been anxious for him to discover the sunny spots on my living room floor (which faces South), but he never had.

Until today.

Kreature came out for his normal drink of water and to poop (thankfully on the tile this time!). Then he discovered a patch of sun on the kitchen floor and basked in it. Sadly, I kept taking pics of his adorable basking and that irritated him.

He left the kitchen and wandered into the living room.

Ah ha! The sun!

He found it and would NOT leave.

Which would have been fine had it been any other day. But today is Valentine's day and I had signed up to help with a 3rd grade class party. And, of course, he found the sun 8 minutes before I had to leave.

Kreature shifted around so he could get optimal sun on him.

He tried to keep his eyes open as he laid there in the sun, but it was a lost cause. His eyelids got heavier and heavier. Here he is with "Half Eyes."

After a few moments, he was OUT. If I didn't have to leave for the school, I think I might have curled up in the sunny spot on the couch and taken a nap with him.

Instead I went to help keep 3rd graders entertained and left my daughter to make sure that Otis and the other critters didn't get TOO friendly with a sleeping Kreature. He's friendly-- but not during nap time or dinner time.

Welcome to Hormone Season!

On Sunday, my hubby turned to me and said "The beardies are going crazy today! What is wrong with them?"

Yesterday, my friend, who helps me clean, asked me "Does the vacuum scare the lizards? They are very active today!"

Nope.

It's the start of hormone season.

Oy vay!

Look at these guys-- you can see how alert they are for my pics.

Max

A month ago, all my big boys were slugs. They barely moved, barely ate, barely opened their eyes.

Smaug

All of the sudden, it's like they drink energy drinks every morning and spend the day trashing their tanks and glass dancing.

Neville

Yesterday, I heard the pattering of little feet & claws across my wood floor. Somehow Neville figured out how to escape. Ay yi yi!

Ziggy

Their cages are a disaster. They poop and then finger paint with it. Their food bowls are constantly being shoved against the glass. Their water dishes look more like nasty water troughs in a cattle feed lot.

I have to dump the greens quickly and jerk my hand out of the tank so I don't get bit! They devour the greens within moments of getting them. Their beards are perpetually black and, in their minds, there is *always* something to bob their heads at.

Hormone season starts around now and lasts for a couple months.

Yes, months.

I know. I'm shaking my head too.

Beardies can SMELL each other. And their smells are very strong right now. So even if your beardies can't SEE each other, they know the others are there. This is why I am toast. My house & my tanks will be crazy for awhile and my house will only be quiet at night when it's dark.

Good luck to all of us!

Things Overheard at my House, edition 2

-No! No mating during breakfast! 

-Don't bite the dog! He's not your dinner! 

-Did you HAVE to poop on the carpet?! 

-I just cleaned your tank, Dude! This is why you can't have nice things! 

-Otis! Can you stay out of the kitchen please?! 

-Would anybody else like to poop before I leave the house?! 

-Fingers are friends, not food!! 

-Put that back! 

-That's not a roach! Hey! OW! Not a roach!! 

-Have you ever thought about just drinking out of your water dish?! Take a sip. Try it sometime. 

-Don't step on the tortoise! 

-That is not your food! You are not a tortoise! 

-Ooooh! Scary! (In a baby voice) You's a scary widdle 'um. 

Then I hear things like this from my hubby and kids: "If I overheard you just now and didn't know you had a house full of animals, I'd be very very concerned." 

My Chaotic Craft Room

My craft room is where my Etsy shop magic happens. Mostly. It also happens at my desk in the kitchen with my laptop, printer, and postage machine.

But the front room, turned craft room, called Etsy room is where I "work."

And it's pretty much a disaster currently. And by "Currently" I mean, this year.

You walk in my front door and find 4 tanks. To the right is my craft room/Etsy shop/library/whatever. You have to walk buy 3 large beardies, a 6 pound snake, and a 20 pound lizard to get into my living room and the rest of the house. It's like a Courage Test. Or it's like that one weird part on the movie "The Neverending Story" where the main guy had to walk past the big angel statue thingies that shot lasers from their eyes. If you're not brave, you can't come in. Ha!

This is the view from just inside the front door. Chaos? Yes. ;) But I did finally put away all the extra Christmas supplies!

I have lots and lots and lots of supplies & stuff. Lots. And I actually know where most of it is! ... sorta.... Give me a few minutes and I can find it. 

I have a tegu in my craft room. Kreature's box is about to be upgraded and I haven't found the time to clean this one and upgrade it to the bigger one. This one spills dirt and bark all over the floor and the top of it becomes a resting spot for homeless items in my house. 

I'm still retraining Kreature on how to poop on the tile, or in his box, or on the pee pads (which is what he did when I first had him). He's not learning very quickly and that's why I have a couple poop stains on my carpet. Thank goodness we have a carpet cleaner in the garage! 

I have a plan for cleaning this room but it's similar to that great kids' book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie." I need to switch the tegu cage, but then I'd have to move the empty blue tongue skink cage, which will require me to make room in the garage which will require.... And so it goes. 

My life is sort of an organized chaos. I can find and get most everything I need to keep functioning. Sometimes things get really lost-- like the 3rd pair of feeding tongs I cannot find. And what on earth did I do with those syringes I got from the vet yesterday? I put them in a drawer, but I can't remember *which* drawer. 

When you live in a zoo, you gotta expect some amount of chaos and a healthy dose of poop. People ask me all the time what it's like running a rescue. This is my frequent response: "It's about Poop, lots and lots of poop." :) 

Thanks to all you who read my blog and buy from my Etsy shop. You are helping me pay my credit card bill off after the most recent trip to the vet. In this business, trust me, there is ALWAYS a recent trip to the vet (like yesterday). 

A Day in the Life of My Zoo

There's a program in the Mormon church where church members are assigned people/families to visit/check in with each month. Men are called "Home Teachers" and women are "Visiting Teachers."

We have a new Home Teacher that we adore! But he comes from a 100% non-pet home. He and his companion teacher came over last night and walked past an open cage with a 20 pound tegu lizard in it, past 6 tanks with 2 pound lizards and a 4 pound snake, and sat in the living room where our two dogs played with each other and our friendly tortoise Otis wandered around. I had to pop up every often to make sure Otis wasn't "visiting" Kreature, the tegu, resulting in a bloody bite. And I was baking cupcakes. And letting the dogs in and out- like 4 times.

You know, just a normal day in our "Zoo." (Seriously, we were just happy that nothing was "mating" with something else- that is a successful visit in our book.)

Our friend sat in the rocking chair with a look of amused bewilderment on his face. Poor petless guy. ;) It was cute and amusing to watch. Our other friend has dogs so it doesn't seem to phase him.

#welcometothezoo #becarefulwhereyoustep

Rescue Chaos & Overlaod

My house looks like a rescue bomb went off. I got home from vacation a week ago and had vacation things and Christmas things and everyday stuff to put away. Add to that 6 separate rescues in 5 days, and my house is crazy. And I had to open my Etsy shop back up. On top of all it, I got sick while we were in California and I can't seem to get the cold out of my lungs. And it's ridiculously frozen here-- like the high is 17 degrees.

Here's the thermometer on the dashboard yesterday as I was picking up Lily and Kiwi. Ignore the dust. I obviously need to clean out my van again. 17 degrees.

Blah.

So here's an in-depth look at a few of the areas in my house where things sorta exploded.

I've tried to use my shelves to keep things organized. Um, I'm pretty much failing at this.

Once upon a time, I had a nice desk set up for writing at. Now it just holds random light bulbs- are they dead or not? I can't remember-- and random supplies I set down and never put away.

Lily & Leo are on the floor of my bedroom since all the shelf space was taken by other tanks.

We recently moved my crafty room/Etsy shop down into our front room. I think there were, like, 12 seconds when it was actually organized. Now? Nope.

Supplies from Christmas, new Etsy material I haven't listed, a Halloween decoration or two, and more tanks that didn't have anywhere else to be put.

This was originally my "Critical Care" area with Gumby, Sunny (the baby ball python), and Baby Sawyer. It keeps me from using my table for working on Etsy, but it got the tanks off my kitchen counter.

We added 8 foot bookcases in the craft room to store our massive collections of books (I love books!) and the shelves end up housing random reptile equipment too.

My fridge supplies are sorta contained to one shelf in the fridge. So I keep the Critical Care between the Oyster sauce, pineapple juice, and horseradish. Oh and the extra ketchup package from Chick-fil-A.

Also in the kitchen-- in plain sight so I don't forget-- are my baggies of syringes for the sicklies I'm feeding. They are right next to the Christmas goodies that were given to us that we haven't eaten yet.

The living room isn't quite as bad either. I've been trying to move Georgie around and put her in a bigger box by herself. She keeps getting bumped off the list and I haven't gotten around to her yet. I let her free roam a couple days ago and she's quite happy with it.

The chameleon cage-- which I keep promising myself to not use for a long time-- actually sat in the garage for a week and a half! Woo hoo! It is now back on the side table in front of two south facing windows in my living room. Kiwi is having a hard time with her back legs and so I have the bottom of her cage lined with blankets so she can't fall and hurt herself. Just in case, I also have my small cage set out in case I need to downsize her.

The grandfather clock that I inherited when my grandparents died is one of my favorite possessions in my house. I recently just got it fixed so it's back to chiming every 15 minutes. It too gets to share in the rescue chaos. It's my "Shed Storage." Here's sheds from at least 5 different snakes. Under my great horned owl puppet, there's a baggie with a lot of interesting beardie sheds.

Yesterday all of the beardie tanks were cleaned too. . . . Not that you can tell!  Dash did some serious poop painting and Neville has been rearranging his.

Maybe one of these days I'll actually get myself organized, but definitely not until I get over this stupid cold (both the one in my body and the nasty cold outside!) Can't wait until Spring!!

Lady Squinty Dink, rescue 168

The last 24 hours may set a record for intakes-- two leopard geckos, a partially paralyzed baby beardie, and tonight a Blue Tongue Skink.

Introducing Lady Squinty Dink the Dainty Skink, the Duchess of bluTonguesville!

Lady Squinty is a juvenile blue tongue skink. My first! I've always wanted to rescue one of these. I was super worried about this one though. Her eyes were sealed shut, all of her toes are missing, and the end of her tail looks like it's dead. I was most worried about her being blind.

One pic showed a large clump of dead skin and dried blood on her left eye.

The other eye didn't really even show up on the pics!

When Lady Squinty Dink arrived, the dead clump of skin seemed to be falling off. I grabbed my bottle of saline solution and squirted it all over her eyes. The one clump came off after some soaking and with a little help from a Q-tip. All of the sudden she had an eye!! Woo hoo!

Her second eye opened a little bit once I soaked it with saline and then cleaned it with a Q-tip.

Lady Squinty Dink is in a basic tank set up for now--

Tomorrow I'm taking Noel and Baby Sawyer to the vet for checkups and Dr Folland said to "Sure, bring the blue tongue along." So we'll all go. I'll have Dr Folland check out Lady Squinty Dink's eyes and tails and limbs. We'll see what he says.

For more information on blue tongue skinks, click HERE.