Lucy & Buddy

These are my two ball pythons, both rescues. Both super nice & friendly. 

Super easy set up: an under tank heating pad on a thermostat for temps, a hide, a stick, and a bowl of water. I use paper towels for my substrate because it's easiest for me. 

Updates on All 6 Sicklies

Mooshy ate a worm yesterday on all his own! He is very sluggish and doesn't move much. He has put on weight thankfully. He loves to snuggle at night. 

Dory is doing great after her surgery. She's out of her sick tank and in a regular 40. I'll feed her later today and see how she does. 

Peanut is eating on his own! He is more active but still walks on his wrists. He's such a pretty beardie. 

LilBit has SO much personality! He's doing the best. He's energetic and active all day. He eats like a horse! 

Saphira aka "Bean" doesn't move much and doesn't like to eat on his own. He has a vet appointment next week. 

Delilah is doing great. She is learning how to snuggle and be held. It's obvious she wasn't held much before. I think she'll quickly become a sweet & friendly beardie. 

Dory's Surgery

In an attempt to figure out why Dory's eye is so swollen and painful, my vet did surgery on her today. 

It took awhile to get her fully sedated. 

Even after she was "out," she had a few moments where she struggled. At one point, the top of her tail was shaking like a rattlesnake tail. 

For whatever reason, Dory has a blood vessel pooling into the area around her eye. When Dr Folland knicked the swollen area, she started bleeding furiously. It took 20 minutes to permanently stop the blood. 

The cause of the swelling remained a mystery. There was no obvious cause of the swelling. 

There are two possibilities. One, she has an aneurysm behind her eye. Two, the vessel that directs the blood out of her eye is plugged. Neither are fixable because the area is so delicate that there's no way to further investigate without the risk of her bleeding out. 

Dory had a hard time waking up. 

 

It took 20 minutes for her to start breathing on her own. 

Poor girl will be on antibiotics for another week. She'll get pain meds for a week too. 

She's home now and resting comfortably. I think she's sleeping off the after effects of the anesthesia. 

She'll stay in the sick tank for a few days until she's up and moving on her own. I'll be force feeding her too. 

Poor Dory. She should be able to have a good life after this even with a big puffy eye. 

Delilah, rescue 102

Delilah was given away because the owners couldn't afford to take her to the vet to get her tail fixed. 

We were able to remove a lot of dead tissue ourselves, but the stump was too infected and uneven. 

At the vet, I got the rest of it off. 

Dr Folland scraped out the pus and trimmed away extra dead tissue before stitching it up. 

She was NOT happy!!! 

But her tail looks great and nothing else has to be done. 

She spent the day in a brooder while we waited for Dory. 

She's now at my house in a tank-- still trying to figure out how she got here. She's not super friendly but we'll get her there. 

Such a Brat!!

Junie, the naughty iguana who tried to start a fire in my craft room last week, is a brat!! 

But then he has his nice moments when I forget he's a brat. 

He loves his head and dew flap rubbed. I can imagine him purring. 

He gives me little "kisses" with his tongue as I'm petting him. He flicks his tongue out quickly to let me know he's happy. 

He burnt his nose a few months ago and it finally shed. Hopefully the white scar will fade over time. 

He's discovered two soft blankies at the top of a closet and so everyday he likes to climb up there to go to sleep. It's very cute! (For a brat!) 

More Saline Shots

Mooshy needed another saline shot yesterday because, once again, he was dehydrated. I decided to take pictures of how I do it. 

I have a bag of sterile saline from my vet. I heat it up to body temperature in my microwave. Then I fill up my syringe. 

I flick the syringe a lot to get the bubbles out and then I squeeze the plunger to get them out. 

Mooshy is hard to inject because he's so thin and dehydrated. 

When I'm done, it looks like he has shoulder pads. Slowly his body absorbs the saline and rehydrates him. 

See how sunk in his eyes are? That's how I know he's dehydrated. Poor guy. It's going to be awhile before he gets all better and stable. 

Amazing Difference

Normally when I take Mooshy out to snuggle at night, he stays in his blankie and sleeps. 

Tonight he felt strong enough for an adventure! Look at how good he looks now! 

After 10 minutes, he finally settled in to go to sleep here: 

I can't believe how much he's improving now. He has really perked up with me giving him baby food mixed with a little Critical Care. 

I hope that Mooshy becomes one of my best success stories. :) 

The Three MBD Amigos

Peanut who has the most rubbery bones and moves the least. He walks on his wrists and army crawls. 

Lil Bit who is the most active, eats the most, and has the most personality. He walks and moves totally normally. His bones are still soft. 

Saphira who is the oldest and the smallest. He has soft but not rubbery bones. 

Saphira, rescue 101

Another MBD baby came today. He'll fit right in with the other two. :) 

Saphira is supposedly 8 months old but he's tinier than LilBit who is 5 months old. 

He walks on his wrist and has a little hump on his back. 

His bones are soft but not rubbery. He'll get extra nutrition and love. That should help him heal. If I can, I hope to get all three of these babies a Calcitonin shot soon to help pull calcium back into their bones. 

Snuggle Time

Mooshy prefers to be on my shoulder to sleep. He's such a sweet boy.