A Crazy Time for a Vacation, but.....

My husband & I have been planning a vacation for months and it's finally here-- right in the middle of LOTS of chaos. Oy vay! This week has been beyond crazy, and I wasn't sure that I'd make it to today. Between Junior and now my little silkie beardie who wants to die on me, it's been hard to gear myself up for leaving!

I'll be adding updates of Junior as often as I can, but not as often on Blogger because the Blogger app no longer works on my iPhone. I will do the most updates on my rescue page on Facebook (CLICK HERE) and on my Instagram (CLICK HERE).

Luckily, I have great friends at the vet's office and can get frequent updates from them and an occasional picture. I also have a good friend who is taking care of my silkie beardie and my in-laws will be here to help my kids take care of my zoo. I am leaving all my critters in good hands and am looking forward to the break. Maybe I can even get caught up on some sleep!

Oh, and I'll be near a beach. How awesome is that?!?

I'll be sure to share a Vacation Slide show when I get back for you!

Only at my House

We have company in town and staying with us. I realized I needed to post a warning sign---

Oh, the Irony of a "House Pig"

I'll just be flat out honest-- we couldn't take the house pig. Seriously. He was TOO hard. He was potty trained, crate trained, food trained, kind, SUPER noisy, and fun. And he was TOO much.

We made it 24 hours with him before all of us were done. My dogs-- especially my old dog Belle-- were a mess. By the time the pig left, the two dogs had started nipping at him. 

Between it being Spring Break week and having a sick Savannah monitor and a shedding tegu and a shedding silkie beardie and insomnia, I reached my breaking point.

I felt SO guilty admitting that I couldn't handle the pig. We had dreams and ideas of what a house pig would be like and we are all completely wrong.

PLEASE do your research before committing to a house pig. Borrow or rent one if you can before you buy. Cisco was used to going to different houses and was okay going back home, but some pigs are heartbroken when they get bounced again and again.

We loved Cisco, but he wasn't a good fit in our zoo.

Pig Sitting Cisco

We are watching a 5 month old "house" pig for the next few days. He's adorable!

The first 10 hours were great.

After that, it became difficulter and difficulter. 

House pigs are like toddler beauty queens on drugs-- hyperactive, stubborn, adorable, demanding, adorable. Our house is filled with grunting. 

The dogs aren't too crazy about him. Teddy feels neglected by the lack of attention to him. By the end of the evening, he was spent. See? 

My old lady dog is terrified of him. :( She's not eating or acting normal. Poor thing hasn't eaten since he came. I was hoping she'd be better this morning.

Nope.

Poor Belle. 

After all the critters we've had (including a nasty Savannah monitor, a 10 foot long starving Burmese python that sent met to Instacare bleeding profusely, and the toddler tegu Kreature to name a few), this one is the HARDEST!!

Seriously.

It takes a special kind of soul to have a house pig.

Enjoy this adorable video of him scratching his bum on the stereo though. It made us all giggle! Sorry it's sideways!

Norman's Vet Visit & Clearance

Today was Norman's vet checkup after his surgery. It went super fast and easy since he's been shedding and all the stitches fell off on their own.

Norman let me know -- without a doubt-- that, nothing personal, he hates my guts. :O Ha! Silly boy. His feet are a mess but they are a healing mess. There is still one toe tip that might fall off and he's lost a couple toe nails on his own.

Because he's been so grumpy with me lately, we are going to move him to Joe's house (Joe of the "Kreature is my best friend now and comes on command and is potty training really easily and taps my ankle so I can rub his belly & jowls" house). Norman was raised from a baby by a man and only tolerated the guy's girlfriend.

I'm guessing that Norman (like Kreature) will ADORE Joe. Let's be honest, I adore Joe too! Really! He's my rescue brother. Am I a bit bitter that Kreature is a puppy dog for him when he was a total brat/toad/stinker to me? . . . . . Maybe. But I'm getting over it! ;) Ha!

Joe will continue to make sure shed doesn't build back up on Norman's feet (I'm picturing Norman holding out each hand to Joe while reclining on his chest and purring!) and he'll be fine.

Mostly I'm teasing. I do roll my eyes as I see all the adorable pictures of Kreature with Joe and then look down at the brown spot on my bedroom floor carpet where Kreature pooped. Yep. It's okay. Because Pepper (a bearded dragon) LOVES me and didn't like Joe.

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.

Monday's Craziness

Mondays are the day of the week that tries to kill me the very most. Ugh. So while I have planned to list the beardie purses today-- and am still planning on it-- I haven't had any extra time to do it. I did get 3 sewn.

But first I'm off to the fabric store to check out their premade straps before I pick up the carpool for junior high.

Keep watching. I won't disappoint if I can at all avoid it.

And no news on poor little Junior yet.

Norman's Bath

Norman's tail has been shedding so he got a bath today. And used the bath to poop everything all out! 

Because he pooped, he didn't have anything to spray with me!

I ended up only covered with Silvadene antibiotic cream! Bonus!

We are making progress! ;)

A Kreature IN my Bed!

Yesterday, Kreature went upstairs and disappeared. After quite a bit of searching, I finally found him snuggled up under my son's blankies *on* his bed! Somehow he managed to jump onto his bed so he could an extra soft resting place.

He was NOT happy when I moved him.

Today, after I heard a lot of banging & thumping, I discovered that Kreature had crawled onto my bed!

He started off behind my pillows and then moved down to my soft blankies.

He huffed at me when I pulled the pink blankie back to see him.  Later he moved under my pillow to sleep.

He made sure to sleep in both of the spots where my dogs always sleep. Always! They were so unhappy with him taking their sleeping area.

Kreature is rather spoiled and believes he must now have the softest blankies and most cushiony places to sleep. His cage has several towels and blankies to burrow into instead of bark to dig in. I'm pretty sure I'm ruining him, turning him into a big softie!

Tegu Bathtime

For fun, I wrestle small alligator-like lizards.

Norman somehow believes that if I touch his ouchy feet that he must then cover me with some type of bodily fluids. Last time was poop; tonight was vomit.

yip-pee.

Oy vay!

I may have gotten vomit on my arms and floor and clothes, but I did manage to get off some old shed and get his feet coated with Silvadene cream which helps soften the old skin too.

Here we are after the drying off and cream coating.

Yes, his expression is fairly smug. Mine is not so much.

Kreature has been a brat for the last few days. He broke my bracelet and tail whipped me so hard I got a bruise and he's been restless.

I pulled him out of my large pile of clothes and put him in the bath too. 

After I pulled him out the bath, I wrestled him onto the counter so I could coat his back with Silvadene cream too. He decided a couple weeks ago to rub his shed off by using the heat lamp fixture and ended up with some burns on his back. They aren't bad, but they are starting to shed and I'm trying to keep the dry skin moist.

He did not like that.

I did not end up bleeding or covered in poop or vomit. I did get whipped a few times and was fairly out of breath when I put him back in his tank. 

I'm exhausted.

Oy vay! 

Kreature's Monday

Yep, that about sums up his day. He stayed on his blankies until 2 pm today.


NOTE: Junior is at the vet; no word yet. My tortoises are all outside and I tried taking pics, but my phone is on the fritz and deleted them all. I'll try again.

Updates to follow. Until then, imagine yourself feeling as laid back as this tegu.

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.

Norman at the Vet

I took Norman in for a one week, post-surgery vet check up. He was NOT happy about this and squirted poop & pee all over my awesome vet and his new tie. (I was secretly happy that I avoided all of it by holding Norman with his back to me; last time I left splattered with blood & poop so I was happy to leave clean). The bonus is that they had enough of a "sample" to run a fecal test on Norman. Might as well clear him of any parasites he may have.

His feet are healing okay. He may still lose a few toes. Dr Folland was able to pull off some more shed and then glued back together parts of his skin that had split open. I'll take him back in three weeks to have his stitches removed and to see how he's doing. 

Once I get Norman out and held securely, he usually calms down for me. Last night, I held him and rocked him in my rocking chair. Ha! He actually seemed to enjoy it. 

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.

Bring home Norman

I picked up Norman, a 3 year old golden tegu. Poor guy is super stressed being moved. I'm going to let him take his time in his new sick tank and hide all he wants.

He's got a vet appointment on Monday morning at 10 with my vet. His feet are in BAD shape and we are definitely looking at amputations. :( Poor baby. He's adorable and very snuggly. I'll post pics when he decides to come out.

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 in my Closet

Kreature disappeared today. It took awhile to find him. Actually, it was a moving bag of clothes that gave him away. ;) 

For some reason, he loves the weight of the clothes on top of him.

He made himself a nest in my favorite brown skirt that had fallen on the ground and pulled the bag on top of him.

He was NOT happy when I pulled the bag off. I'm thinking he needs a bean bag to burrow under and he'd be happier (and safer without the plastic on him).

the Kreature Under the Bed

Guess who is hiding under the bed because I tried to put him in the bath?

Kreature is shedding and super irritable as he's rubbing on everything trying to get the shed off. I picked him up to carry him into the bathroom. He hated being held, scratched me to get down, and then hid under the bed. 🙄

Like a toddler! 

It took almost 10 minutes for him to come out. 

I stood there wondering when exactly I had lost control of my life. :P 

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!