Shedding Norman

Norman has been shedding and I soaked him yesterday. He actually let me pull off a lot of the skin that was hanging on him. So exciting!

Norman stayed in the bath for over an hour. I kept adding warm water. He did not want to get out. Look at this video of him soaking in the warm water.

Norman's Back!

I made it two whole days before I realized that I really missed Norman.

Like really.

He may be a brat, but he was MY brat!

And he hated Joe. Like HATED. Lunged at him, tried to bite him, hissed at him.

Crazy! Joe is the Tegu Whisperer! But Norman wasn't buying it.

I drove down (120 mile round trip) and brought Norman home yesterday. I used my baby talk voice the whole time and called him "Mr Puffy Pants." I'm so happy!

You can tell Norman is happy too! ;) That's his "happy" face.

He didn't eat last night, but I'll try again tonight.

I'm SOOOO happy that he's home.

He's a brat, but he's my brat! :D

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.

An Update on Kreature

Every day, my rescue brother Joe and my rescue sister Beth and I chat on Facebook about everything from movies to animals to what is frustrating to us in life.

Part of today's discussion revolved around Junior (who is having a tough day) and Kreature. I'll just let you read the screen shots.

First one-- when Joe & I posted at the same time.

Second one-- (after I asked Joe to take pics for me)

The GIF I put on was PERFECT! She was making the jealous/stink face that I was making when I read that!

Well, just because Kreature never ever once did that for me doesn't mean he doesn't love me too! ;) So there! :P

You can see why I had no issues sending Kreature back to Joe. They both adore each other. And maybe Kreature never came to sit with me because I never sat down. I am always going and moving. I can't think of a time when he could have sat with me or asked for his jowls to be scratched. Yep, that must be it.

I'm still a bit jealous too.

I might let Joe watch Norman in a few weeks when I'm on Spring Break. I'm guessing that Norman will do well with Joe because he was raised by a man.

P.S.-- more about Junior in the next post.

Bathing the Demon Tegu

Since I felt pretty confident after bathing two "aggressive" Savannah monitors,  I decided to bathe Norman (who is actively shedding right now).

Yeah, that exhausted me the rest of the way.

I couldn't take any pics because it took both hands to contain him. I put cream on his hands & feet and noticed he's missing a few more toenails. He goes back to the vet on Monday. I hope that Dr Folland is happy with his progress.

I argued with Norman as I tried to smoosh him to my chest to hold him still and keep him from whipping me. I told him I had to make him look good and show I had tried.

Norman wasn't impressed.

He started to poop on me.

Ugh.

Norman, Norman, Norman.

I call him "Mr Hissy Pants" because he huffs and puffs when he sees me.

Again, I will say it's amazing how my definitions of and tolerance for "Aggression" has changed after having iguanas. Norman is all huff & puff, but he doesn't even compare to the demon iguana Ramses. Or Midnight. Or Junie.

Perspective. It's a beautiful thing.

Swapping Custody

I share custody of Kreature with my rescue brother, Joe. It was his turn for visitation rights! ;)

So I'm happy-sad or sad-happy that Kreature is now at his dad's house! (hee, hee, hee)

I sent his favorite Target shopping bag, my red dress that he loved to cuddle up in, and his favorite blankies to poop on. Joe is going to potty train him better. Woo hoo!

I'll still post Kreature updates since Joe & I talk everyday, but there won't quite be as much tegu drama without him here to body surf down my stairs or hide under my bed when he's mad at me!

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! ;)

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 in a Target Bag

Calling him a "Weirdo" is an Understatement! Kreature is happiest when he's curled up in a bag of my clothes. This is where he spends most of his day. Crazy tegu!

Snuggling Norman + Treating Ouchy Toes = Being Pooped On (Again)

While I was cleaning out Kreature's cage earlier, Norman came to the glass of his tank to watch me. He huffed and puffed at me while I talked to him and then flicked his tongue out a few times.

I decided to take him out and spend time with him tonight. 

First, I rocked him in the rocking chair and talked to him while we watched our new DVD "Moana." 

He did really well for awhile until he decided to go exploring. It didn't help that my extremely curious dog Teddy kept smelling the stub of his tail. 

That was when I decided to coat his toes with Silvadene antibiotic cream and touched his ouchy back feet. And that was when I got pooped on.

Again. 

Good thing I had a towel. 

Good thing he's cute too. 

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.

Bored Kreature

I left Kreature locked up in his cage yesterday while I was at church (and not home to supervise him). He was fine at first, still waking up, and not ready to get up.

By the time I got home, he had gotten over the "waking up" part and had actively destroyed his cage. He pulled up his towel and started scratching at the styrofoam underneath. There are stryofoam pellets all over his tank. I need to pull out the shop vacuum and clean it all up.

Just one more thing to add to today.

For now, Kreature is in my clothes bag in my closet. That boy is crazy when it comes to women's clothes! Oy vay! He may need an intervention.

Salmon Sunday for Kreature

Kreature is becoming a spoiled tegu. He passed over steak the other day because he wanted salmon. Silly tegu! Good thing I had a slice of salmon frozen I could thaw for him.

He ate about half of it and then closed his eyes to digest in the warm sunshine. Every so often, he'd lick his lips.

Norman is not used to fish as a food and didn't have much interest in his salmon. 

Blogger isn't letting me upload my video of Kreature eating and so I'll post it directly on my Facebook rescue page. :)

The Glamour of Rescue or "How I ended up wearing Poop."

I bought a bigger cage for Kreature last night and spent the day getting it cleaned up and ready for him to use it. Once he was in the bigger cage, I could put Norman in the one Kreature was in.


Since Kreature spent the day wrapped in one of my dresses under the Target bag (such a weirdo! ;) ), I got everything set up for him without having to move him. I moved his dog bed (minus the stuffing because he ripped it all out) and his piece of slate and added a water dish. The sliding glass doors in front are how I get him in and out.

Norman has been in a 40 gallon sick tank on my craft room table and had to be moved into the smaller cage. If I had to get him out, I might as well clean his wounds.

Yeah, that didn't work so well.

At all.

This is me covered with Norman's poop. After wrestling him out of the tank, into a towel, holding him tightly so he'd stop tail-whipping me, and keeping his mouth pointed away from my fingers, he did the only thing he could to show me how much he hated me.

He pooped.

While still holding him tightly, I had my daughter use a towel to wipe up the pee running down my legs.

I did manage to get him into his new cage. He was pretty freaked out by it at first. It has his same box and blanket in it, but it's still new. Every time I got near him, he'd start hissing & huffing at me.

But I swear he was laughing at me for having to shower after caring for him. See him grinning? He was proud of himself! ;)

Ah, such is the life of the rescue. Thank goodness for the Sanitary cycle on my washing machine and Chlorox wipes.

A Selfie with Kreature

 Such a handsome boy!

An Update on Norman

Norman finally came out of his box today. He didn't really eat his scrambled eggs, but he did poop for me.

Until his hands & tail heal up, he'll be stuck in a 40 gallon tank with towels as a substrate. That way I can see if he's bleeding and there's nothing hard to tear at the stitches.

He huffed & puffed at me a little bit, but then stuck his tongue out at me to smell me. He kept shaking his one hand behind him. I'm guessing it's because it hurts so bad. Time to give him more pain meds. He was super nice with his old owner and even liked the owner's kids. I'm hoping that he'll go back to being nice and cuddly once his pain levels decrease.

A Kreature in my Clothes

I have a bag of clothes in my closet that I plan to give to my local thrift store. For some reason, Kreature has decided these are HIS clothes and this is HIS new napping spot. He grabbed a brown skirt with a silky lining down from my closet shelf and he wraps himself in that too some days.

He's got a thing for silky soft women's clothes. I've even moved them both out of the way, and he finds a way to pull them down. Once, he had the Target bag on his back and he was carrying it around like a tortoise shell.

When I can't find the lizard (which is surprisingly easy even though he's a big guy!), I usually check under the clothes in my closet. He's never happy when I wake him up by moving the bag aside.

Here's a video of him in my clothes bag: 

Norman Post-Surgery

My vets ended up having to fully anesthetize Norman to be able to work him. Even after having him out for an hour and with several people working on him, they were not able to pick off all the dead skin and old shed off his hands & feet! Ultimately, he lost about 3 to 4 inches of his tail and 2 toes. There are a couple toes that may still fall off on their own or start to die, but they felt there was still a chance for them to recover. I'll still be soaking him and working on his toes when I can. 

For some reason, my camera did not want to focus for my pictures and the close ups of his hands and feet ended up blurry. :( 

His tail should regrow but it will always look a bit odd on the end.

So here starts the beginning of his recovery. He'll be in a sick tank until the sores on the bottoms of his feet & hands heal. He's also on pain meds to help him be less ouchy and grumpy.

The vet bill just for today came to just over $425. I think I may do a quick fundraiser to earn some extra cash for him. I have tanks I'm trying to sell, but am not having success so far. I'll keep you posted.

You can always donate to Norman's care through PayPal:

paypal.me/SarahsBeardieRescue

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.