Eating! When Food is a Good Sign

Lotus chowed down on 6 large superworms today! 

Humpty Dumpty got in his water bowl and ate 8 pellets. 

Woo hoo! Glad both of them are eating again. 

Thirsty!

I put a steady stream of water in her cage and Lotus is guzzling it. Such a great sign!!! 

Lotus this Morning

She's up getting a drink. Walking pretty stiffly. She seriously lost half her body weight when they removed the mass of eggs and ovum. 

I'll give her some Critical Care today since she hasn't eaten for awhile. She'll also start pain meds and antibiotics. 

Drinking and moving are both really good signs. :) 

Poor Lotus

I picked up Lotus today. Poor baby. Her eyes are sunk in because she's stressed and in pain. 

Her belly looks ouchy! 

She's on her favorite rope perch. 

I'll start her pain meds and antibiotics in the morning and give her the night to relax. 

Lotus Surgery Update

My vet ended up doing surgery and found to a lot of undeveloped eggs that had gotten stuck in her ovaries-- they hadn't even dropped down to her oviducts. There's no way she ever could have laid them. If we had left them, they would have killed her. 

Several of them had started to decompose and so she'll be on an antibiotic for 3 weeks. I'll force feed her a couple times to build her strength back up. She weighs half of what she did before. 

There's no way to know why the eggs got stuck, but she's been spayed so she'll never have eggs again. Her first eggs were her last eggs. 

I'll go pick her up in an hour. 

Akime & Lotus back at the Vet

I took both chameleons back to the vet this morning for check ups.

Akime's arm has been wrapped for a week and looks great. Dr Folland put a specialized wrap on it that will help it stay moisturized and will heal quicker. She'll go back in for a checkup and wrap replacement (if necessary) in two to three weeks.

Lotus has not laid her eggs yet. That's not necessarily the problem though. The issue is that she isn't eating, won't dig, and is becoming more lethargic in her cage-- all signs of distress. Being egg-bound (where the eggs can't be laid) can kill a female chameleon within hours and I've been trying my best to avoid that.

We started off the visit by a physical exam (yes, the vet felt the eggs) and then an ultrasound (yes, the eggs are in there) and then an oxytocin shot to try to spur egg laying. I left her at the vet in a brooder because if the shot induced egg laying, it would have happened within a couple hours. Sadly today is the only day my favorite vet has to do surgery and so we decided to try the oxytocin and then do surgery if that didn't work.

Yeah- a $40 shot or a $500 surgery.

I hadn't heard anything yet, so I just called. No eggs.

Ugh.

I'll keep you posted.

Turtle Timer

(Note: Humpty Dumpty was found wandering a neighborhood two months ago and had obviously been run over by a car. He has three major cracks on the bottom of his shell and the only way to get those to heal is to keep him "Dry Docked" for 3+ months. So while he is an aquatic turtle, he's in a sick tank and has to be dry. He just finished a round of antibiotics too)

I try to put Humpty Dumpty in the bath everyday.

It never works. 

So I try every other day. 

Which sorta works. 

Except I forget about him. 

A lot. 

Whoops! 

Today I set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes and let him soak. I threw in a couple pellets even though he never eats them. 

The timer went off and I turned it off. Then I forgot about Humpty Dumpty. 

About an hour later, I remembered him! 

Blast!! 

The water was only a degree or two too cold and he had eaten! And pooped! 

So I added more warm water to get it to 85 degrees and threw in a few more pellets. 

When I checked on him again, the pellets were gone. Again!! 

Woo hoo! This is the very first time I've seen him eat! 

I must not be leaving him in the water for long enough. I'll rethink my soaking now. 

Humpty Dumpty's Day Adventure

I decided this little cracked turtle needs some variety in his life. So he's spending the day outside in a cage. 

I'm sure he hates the cage, but I can't risk him escaping. I soaked him in the tub for a good 20 minutes and then took him outside. 

He doesn't move around much in his cage. I think he's bored and feeling trapped. Hopefully this helps. 

And that's my dog, Teddy, photobombing. ;) 

A Crazy Reptile Lady

Adapted from a dog rescue meme. 

The Beardie in the pic is Andy who was starved to death because his owners decided they were tired of him. 

Odd Ball Sleeping

Tonight I found Midnight sleeping with his head hanging over the edge of his water bowl. 

Then I found Akime holding on with one foot and one hand. I took a pic and then moved her. Boy! She was ticked off at me! 

Reptiles sleep weirdly sometimes.