Spiracha, rescue number 43

My awesome friend Kristin took in Spiracha last year after I got a phone call from his previous owner. She has worked with him a LOT since then. He is now healthy, happy, mellow, and friendly. He is ready to be adopted out too. We thought he was a girl, but I'm pretty sure Spiracha is a smaller-size male. He can go pretty dark-- not as dark as Gem was, but still dark.

He can be adopted out by himself or with a tank set up.

Pocket Buddy, rescue number 42

Tonight I picked up a very small beardie named Buddy. He's supposed to be between 1 and 2 years old, but he is half the size he should be. I'm guessing that he had very poor nutrition as a baby and is (and will be) super stunted his whole life. I think he's a boy, but I'm not positive because he's so small. My little boy Toothless, who had severe MBD, is bigger than this guy. Buddy weighs 120 grams; Toothless weighs 145 grams.

Buddy isn't super friendly, but I think he'll adjust quickly to being handled. He won't be good for kids-- yet. I'll be working with him to get him friendlier and used to being held.

I did wrap him up in a blankie to bring him home and he loved that.

I put him in my empty 55 gallon tank and I don't think he knows what to do with all the room!

Sweet Sancho in the Sunshine

It's been sunny & warm here and Sancho has spent a LOT of time basking in our south-facing windows. He loves the sunshine.

Sancho is looking for a new forever home that can care for him even with his handicaps. Please email me if you are interested in adopting him.

Update on Ziggy

Ziggy got his stitches out today! His tail looks great and healed up very nicely.

His hand built up some scar tissue, but appears to be fine now. Dr Folland is happy with how he looks and doesn't expect to need to see him again. I always love getting a clean bill of health for my reptiles!

Ziggy's next goal is to shed and get off some of those old, ugly layers of shed. Dr Folland gave me some good tips on how to help him with that I'll try. I'm thinking Ziggy will be ready to rehomed in the next month or so. He *loves* to snuggle and be swaddled in his fishie blanket. He still will occasionally puff up when he sees my hand reaching for him, but he's never bit me and has never been mean.

How I set up UVB bulbs in my tanks

It seems I never have enough UVB bulbs to go with all the tanks in my house. For many months, I just used the bulbs and set ups that came to me with donated tanks. I finally feel like I have enough resources and enough knowledge to buy & use really good UVB bulbs. 

This is what I use. 

For my light fixtures, I buy the 18 inch under-cabinet fluorescent lights at Walmart for $9 each. I pop the plastic covers off and take out the regular fluorescent bulb. 

I buy ZooMed Reptisun 10.0 18 inch UVB bulbs from my awesome (sorta) local pet store RockStar Pets. You can also buy them on Amazon or any other pet supply store for $22 to $45. They are good for a year at the most. They fit right into the under-cabinet base. 

The back of the light base has holes where you can hang them on screws/nails, but I took these flower pot hooks and bent them into holders. These are only a buck at Walmart. 

Then I hang the lights (without the covers) off the back of the tanks so the beardies get max UVB exposure. 

I don't have lids on my beardie tanks so I can keep these hanging off the back without a problem. My rescue iguana Sancho keeps trying to escape so I had to put a lid on his tank, but I put the lid over the hooks. 

UVB works best if it is not filtered through a screen (either metal or mesh). There are coil UVB bulbs and I've used these before for my healthier beardies. For babies and sicklies, I use the long bulbs. There's a lot of research on the web about what type of UVB is best. If I had unlimited funds in rescue, I'd probably do mercury vapor bulbs (that give both heat & UVB) for my tanks. Since there's no such thing as "unlimited rescue funds," I have found this system to work well for me. I can get a brand new UVB light for under $40. 

Available for Adoption

Shadow, a two year old male. He's a sweetie but needs to be the only beardie in the house. :)

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 Spiracha, a young female, who is currently at my friend's house

Eventually, I'll be looking for a new home for Sancho. He's good to stay here with me until I find the right place, but if you are interested, let me know.

Sweet Sancho

This little guy still isn't eating a lot, but he does enjoy coming out and exploring my house. He used to tire out really quickly after walking around, but now he has more stamina. I can't wait for warm sunny days so I can take him outside for some direct UVB. 

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Sancho, rescue number 41

Sancho is a two-ish year old iguana who never had a UVB light in his cage. So his body robbed the calcium from his bones to keep functioning and his bones got curvier and curvier until his spine was shaped like an "S." 

Sancho has SEVERE metabolic bone disease and will never be normal. His handicaps were totally preventable if his owner had given him a UVB bulb. But he was too "busy" and never got around to it. Now Sancho struggles to get around and do basic things like eating and climbing. He'll have this handicap for the rest of his short life. 

Think UVB doesn't matter? Sancho says it does. A LOT! 

His crooked spine

He's a pretty little iguana

Most of his fingers are bent and curled, making it hard to climb

THIS is why Reptiles MUST HAVE UVB lights!!!

THIS is why reptiles MUST HAVE UVB!!!!!!!!!

This 1 year old iguana is on my way to my house. THIS is what happened when careless, clueless, irresponsible, or lazy reptile owners don't do their research with their reptiles.

THIS is Metabolic Bone Disease. THIS is a living hell for this iguana. I can get him healthy again, but he will never ever be normal.

Without a UVB light, this iggy's body couldn't process calcium. So his body started to rob his bones of calcium and his body became more and more bent & distorted. MBD is reversible but the effects are not.

This is an X-Ray of my little buddy Toothless' hips. He had MBD for a short amount of time before I got him and treated him. Even though he is healthy now, he will always have a severely bent spine. He will always drag one leg and eventually this will shorten his life. All because his first owners didn't have a good UVB light and give his growing body extra calcium.

Shadow & Spiracha-- two rescue beardies I am helping to place

These are two sweetheart beardies that I'm helping my friend find a home for.

Spiracha will be coming to stay at my house this weekend.

Spiracha, an 18 month old female

Shadow has been staying with us for a couple weeks and my daughter has fallen in love with him. He loves to snuggle at night. 

Shadow, a 2 year old male beardie

Dobby, rescue number 40

It's incredibly talented, I think, to walk into my local PetSmart for a bag of crickets and come out with a 3 month beardie who has an eye defect and needs drops in his eyes three times a day.

Yep, that's me.

And that's how I got Dobby yesterday.

Here's his swollen eye

He's a healthy, active baby who is 95% normal-- he just has a bum eyelid that keeps him from opening & closing it normally. I have a friend who has other babies who will take him for now. Beardies at this age do better with other beardies-- the competition for food and heat makes them more active. In a few months, he'll be separated out by himself and adopted out to, hopefully, a permanent home.

Update on Ziggy

On Sunday, Ziggy was pretty lethargic and didn't move much. He did enjoy sitting in the sun. I gave him a couple squirts of watered down Gatorade to help hydrated him Sunday night. 

Yesterday, Ziggy was much more lively and acted more normal. He ate good and was more alert. Every night after dinner, I wrap Ziggy in his blankie and put him in my shirt. That's how he loves to spend the evening. Actually, I think he'd be happy to stay there all the time.

He's not even the ferocious beardie that his neglectful owner made him out to be. He adores being snuggled and is happy when I have him in a "kangaroo pouch" in my shirt.



Ziggy before:

Ziggy now: