Nubs eating Roaches

Nubs Walking-- 2 videos

Nubs Eating Greens

Big Step for Forward for Nubs

Nubs ate 6 little dubia roaches today! It's his first "protein" for over a week. I only let him eat a few tiny ones so we could see how his digestive system responds to them. If he is still doing well tomorrow, we'll give him 6 more. The quicker he is eating on his own, the quicker he can be off the force feeding and the quicker he'll put on weight.

Weight = Health = Going back Home!!

Up & About

It was so nice to walk into my room and see that Nubs has enough strength to walk around his tank.

It wears him out a lot and he ends up resting after he moves around. But after a few days of having to poke him to make sure he is still alive, it's nice to see him mobile. It's going to take him time to build his muscle strength back up; his muscles had totally wasted away to nothing. So now that I'm pretty confident he's tolerating his food, I'll start working to fatten him up & strengthen him. Plus, today he's going to get some sunshine time.

Nubs does NOT like being force fed! At all!

 This morning Nubs made his way down to the other side of the tank. I think he was telling me he was hungry.

So I forcefed him 2 mL of Critical Care in a syringe. He did NOT like it. He puffed out his little beard at me to show how unhappy he was.

It was SO cute! And not at all fierce. I tried to get a good pic of his puffed out beard, but it didn't show up well. I tried a different angle.

But he had started calming down so it wasn't as ferocious looking. He is too adorable to be intimidating. I gave him so chopped up greens to see if he'll eat on his own yet. I'll give him another two force feedings today so he gets up to 5 mL of food total.

Nubs gets Food today

Three days ago, I didn't think we'd make it to today. But we did! This morning I gave Nubs 1 mL of LaFeber's Critical Care Omnivore formula-- a vet only liquid diet for the most severely malnourished and sick animals that vets treat. I gave him some of this on Saturday but he was so malnourished that the nutrients shocked his system and his kidneys immediately started to fail. So we backed way, way off and did the saline injections for three days. 

He's supposed to have 5 mL (or 1 teaspoon) of Critical Care every day, but that seems like it would flood his system again. This morning around 9 am I gave him 1 mL. He seemed to handle it fine.

This afternoon, I took him outside to give him another 1 mL while getting some sunshine. But, sadly, at the last minute, a cloud covered the sun so we didn't stay out there for very long.

He does NOT like to be force fed and does a really good job of cracking my syringes by biting them so hard. He bit my thumb on Saturday and it just barely started to heal. Ouch! That's one of the worst beardie bites I've ever gotten.

The biggest change I've noticed in Nubs is he's far more alert than normal. His eyes track me as I walk into my room. He doesn't move his head a lot, but he does follow things. For 4 days, he was in a near-death stupor and had no response to anything. So this is good, good news.

Here's a short video of him looking around him outside. He doesn't move much or fast, but he MOVES! and that, my friends, is a MIRACLE!! 

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.

Medical Supplies & Shots

Once upon a time (um, like last week), I only had one crate of reptile medical supplies. But then Mr Nubs came a long and I had to expand to two. 

Here's my two crates of supplies. One has needles, two sizes of syringes, a bag of sterile saline, and a bag for used needles. The other has antibiotic cream, antibiotic drops, Fluker's Repti-boost, calcium syrup, injectable calcium, and other random supplies. 

When things are calm, the crates go in a drawer. When there are sick or injured beardies in the house, I have them out and spread all over my kitchen and/or bathroom counters. 

With three beardies getting shots, I thought I'd show you a little about how I do it. Nubs got his last saline shot (hopefully) today. Nigel & Spike are getting antibiotic shots every 72 hours for at least another week.

The antibiotics have to stay frozen while I'm not using them. So I'm slowly learning how to set them out ahead of time to thaw them because holding them in my hand or putting them under my arm is NOT fun.

I take a sterile needle and draw out the right amount from each vial. Because Spike is slightly heavier than Nigel, he gets a bigger dose.

Then I flick the syringe with my nail so I push the bubbles to the top. I put the cap back on and repeat the same thing for the other shot. Once I get both shots "loaded" I put the antibiotic vials back in the freezer.

Today I had to give the shots by myself so there was no way I could wrestle an adult beardie and take give a shot while taking a picture. Nigel is the worst-- he HATES shots. Spike doesn't seem to mind the shots as badly as he minds me flushing his infected beard out twice a day. He hardly even flinches.

I've lost count of all the shots I've given. I usually keep syringes on hand so I can give calcium injections to severely sick beardies/reptiles. Every so often I slip while putting the lids back on and poke myself with a needle. Ouch!

Nigel has two more shots and then he is done. Spike will be on antibiotics for at least another month since his infection is not clearing up very fast. So shots will be part of the plan for awhile.

For Nubs' saline shots, I used a bigger syringe to draw saline out of an IV bag. Because the syringe is big and the needle is small, it takes awhile to fill it and empty it. I didn't take pics of that though.

Mr Nubs did NOT like his saline injection this morning! HOORAY!

Mr Nubs did NOT like the saline shot today. He squirmed! And thrashed a bit! Yeah! I had to repoke him because he moved away from me and the needle pulled out. First time he's even had any response to being stuck with a needle. 

Look! His eyes are open!

Last day of saline. Tomorrow is Critical Care formula again. Seeing as how last time I force fed him, he cracked my syringe, I don't expect that to be much easier.

I've never been so happy & relieved to see a beardie fight against a needle! Doing a happy dance here. My hope is growing, and I'm thinking he just might make it. 

PHEW!