Smaug, rescue 115.2

Smaug came back last night. Which is good and bad. For local people, I give them a 3 month window to "foster" a beardie before they finalize adoption so they can be positive that they want to commit to a beardie. Smaug was a little bit too much responsibility for his family and they brought him back. But, since he's always been one of my favorites, I was happy to have him back. :)

I think he wants my Jelly Bellies 

Smaug is a BIG boy and can be very aggressive when he sees other beardies. But by himself, he is a sweetheart who loves to be held. I'll keep him away from other beardies and hope he stays mellow and calm. He'll eventually be adopted out again to a home with no other bearded dragons or lizards.

Nubs Came Back!

Nubs was one of my most difficult rescues. He went as close to death as a beardie can get and yet he still survived. Absolutely a miracle.

See?

I very slowly brought him back to life (crying the WHOLE time). After a few days, he looked like this:

And then a year later, he looked like this:

And now he's back with me. He's still pouting and not very happy. I hope he recovers quickly. He's such a sweet beardie and I am really hoping that he'll like to play dress up with me! ;)

For all of Nubs story, click on the label "Nubs" and read the oldest post first and work forward. It was such an ordeal.

Apollo, repeat rescue number 22.2

Apollo came back to me last week and, happily, was adopted out today. I did manage to get a couple of cute pictures of him before he left.

He was NOT a fan of the bunny ears. :) 

Penny & Lizzie, rescues 14.2 & 15.2

"The Girls" came back to me last night.

Even though they have spent their entire lives together, they had to be separated last week because they started attacking each other. One more reason you shouldn't house beardies together.

This is Lizzie, the snuggler. She adores being held and carried around. One of her fingertips was hanging by a thread and I had to remove it. Tomorrow she'll go the vet to have the bone filed down so the finger can close.

This is Penny, the curious & fun one. She loves to explore and look around. Her colors are amazing!

Both girls are in great condition and eat well. They will both come with a 40 gallon set up and some food. Penny can be adopted at any time, but Lizzie will have to wait till her finger is healed.

Message me if you're interested in adopting one of these girls. :)

Gem, rescue number 36

I actually paid $20 for Gem yesterday because he needed to get out of the home he was in. His owners weren't bad, but they didn't know better and honestly expected their 8 year old to take full responsibility for Gem's care. And in this case, what the child didn't do and what the parents didn't know hurt Gem. 

At Kaitlund's house until I could get him

He was kept in a 20 gallon tank filled with crushed walnut shell (I HATE!! that stuff), with no UVB bulb, and with a weak basking light (maybe 80 degrees at best). For the past few weeks, they fed him bananas. 

Yes, bananas. Nothing else. 

He was COLD! It has taken 24 hours to get his temperature back up. He freaked me out because I brought him home and he went totally black. I've seen beardies get black before, but never like this. He was doing much better this morning. 

I put him on a warmed rice bag and that helped him a bit. Then I left him alone in my room so he could calm down while he warmed up.

Mmmm, a warm rice bag on the bottom & a heat light on top

This morning, he was back to normal colors and is doing better. He ate some greens and some wax worms. I'll take him out in a bit and see how he does with me & my kids. 

This is his normal coloring

Once I have a good idea of how his health is and how social he is, I'll place him for adoption. 

Pickle, rescue 24.2

Mr Pickle came back today. I'll see if I can work on him to help him be more social & friendly. I'm not sure what happened to him with his first owners for the first couple months of his life, but it has made him fearful towards *every*thing! Poor guy.

Sickly Spike and his Adventures in Veterinary Medicine

Three weeks ago I took in Spike because he was struggling to breathe. We discovered he had two big abscesses in his throat that were constricting his airway. We put him on antibiotics and the abscesses cleared up. But then the infection spread to his beard. I tried treating him at home for the past two weeks, but the infection was more than I could handle. I even attempted to make an incision to drain the fluid & pus, but it needed more aggressive surgery. 

Today I took Spike back to Parrish Creek and Dr Echols used his surgery tools to clean out Spike's beard as best he could. Then he created a flushing tube out of a feeding tube that I could use to keep his beard open to flush it out twice a day for the next 4 weeks.

Spike is NOT thrilled with the new device. He keeps eyeing it warily. It will help me keep the area clean though. Poor beardie. He's had a tough life this year. Hopefully we can get him all healthy by the end of the year and let 2014 be a good year for him. 

Volcano, rescue number 25.2

Volcano came back to me today. He did not play well with his new owner who loved him and tried everything she could to make him happy. He did the same thing at this new house that he did at the house he had before I got him-- hissing, puffing up, running away, and just being mean.

So now it's time for the next intensive level of Volcano rehabilitation. He may be with me for awhile as he learns how to play nice and be friendly. Aggressive beardies are very unusual. I don't think he's aggressive, but I do think he knows how to act so he's left alone.

But his grumpy behavior has no impact on me. He puffs up and I laugh at him. He tries to be fierce and I shake my head and ask if that's all he's got. You see, once you own a diva iguana, "Aggressiveness" takes on a whole new meaning. Volcano is in the little leagues for aggressiveness and we're going to fix that with him.

Update on Spike

I discovered yesterday that Spike has two infections in his beard from old injuries and so I did an "I&D" procedure-- incision & dissection to remove the pus. His beard looks dreadful. I'm hoping to treat his wounds locally with a topical antibiotic so I won't have to take him back to the vet to get antibiotic shots. We'll know in a week. Until then, I have to clean out the wounds in his beard twice a day, remove the pus, and pack the wounds with cream. He hates it. I don't blame him. 

I had to squeeze out Spike's wounds tonight and then pack them again with cream. He hated it! Poor guy! So I kept him wrapped in his towel and put him on a heated up corn bag so he'd be nice & warm & wrapped up. He's much happier now.

Spike, rescue 3.23

Spike has come back to me again.

Poor guy. He just wants a good, permanent home and he keeps being bounced. :(

He's temporarily in Master Oogway's tank while I clean the 40 gallon tank I just bought for him. His mouth & face are wounded too because he got into a fight with another male beardie.

So sad.

Yoda, rescue number 18 *and* the Start of Hospice Care

Today I brought Yoda home to die. He is a tiny beardie, only 6 weeks old and weighs only 7 grams. He has been having full body seizures for the past 24 hours and I don't think he's strong enough to survive. His owner tried everything he could to get him healthy and keep him that way, but it wasn't enough. Sometimes beardies are just genetically flawed.

Having some sun time

I gave him a bath to get him to drink a little

He's a tiny little guy 

 After getting him out of his bath, he had a full body seizure. He went completely rigid while shaking and then flipped upside down. Poor little guy. It's heartbreaking to watch.

Sometimes beardies can't be saved. Sometimes beardies just die. Sometimes all you can do is make the end peaceful & loving.

So once again I am doing hospice care for an animal.

----------------UPDATE 9/12/13-------------------

Yoda is still alive. He is healthy and happy and headed to his new home on Saturday. Crazy, huh? Even though he had all the right supplements & lights, his body was not processing calcium. I gave him calcium syrup & an injection and he never had another seizure. By the next Wednesday, he was running around and active. He's been eating like a champ -- only when I give him roaches-- and has a new lease on life.

Crazy, huh? You just never know sometimes.

Spike, rescue number 3.13

One of the agreements I have with my adoptive families is that if they are ever unable to take care of their beardie that they bring him/her back to me.

Last week, Spike, my 3rd rescue, came back to me. He's a sweet boy, but a tad stand-offish (I think it's because of his German Giant boy genes). We've made good progress with him in the last few days and I'm hopeful we can place him soon.

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At his previous owners house