Update on Noel (sorry it's overdue!)

First, let me apologize for the gap in posting. My family and I went on a quick vacation this week and the new iOS update on my phone will not work with my Blogger app. So no posting. :(

I left all my critters in the care of one of the techs who works at my vet's office. He did a great job taking care of my little zoo and especially caring for Noel. Everyday he let me know what Noel was doing and what his energy level was, etc., and everyday I told him what he should do next.

On Wednesday, Noel ate a couple pellets by himself. On Thursday, he had a lot more energy when he got his syringe feeding (which we bumped up to 2 cc's) and ate more pellets. On Friday, he ate a single super worm! This afternoon when I got home, I got him to eat 4 roaches. He, obviously, does not like worms but does like roaches.

Eating still exhausts him and he ends up napping after he eats. But he is so much more alert and aware than he was a week ago. He doesn't have a lot of muscle tone in his arms and legs and doesn't use them much. His eyes are still half closed most of the time-- I did get a nasty glob of junk out of one of them. He's definitely better now than he was a week ago! I think by next week he'll be ready for a check up at the vet.

Noel's Christmas Gift for You!

Noel has a Christmas gift for everyone who has believed in his success:

he was drinking on his own just now!

He had moved off his hammock for the first time today (it is exhausting for him to move because he is SO weak and has such poor muscle tone). I moved him over to his clean water bowl and flicked my fingers around in the water to make it move (*that* is the key to getting a beardie to drink out of a water dish-- the water MUST be moving. That's why most of them drink in the bath).

All beardies close their eyes and flatten out when they are drinking, and it warmed my heart to see him doing it for himself. I was going to give him Pedialyte tonight, but now I won't.

When he was done, I put him back on his hammock so he could rest. 

I tried to take a video, but it didn't quite work. He is so SLOW at moving that 15 seconds go by between eye blinks. He does follow me more though when I walk into the room. 

Noel's Christmas Breakfast

Noel got a merry Christmas breakfast of 1.5 cc's of a nutritional slurry (baby food squash, Pedialyte, and Critical Care).

He was much more peppy as I fed him. He's tracking me more with his eyes and moving his head more.

Eating wore him out though.

Merry Christmas!

Sending love & prayers for a peaceful & happy Christmas day.

-from my zoo to yours!

with all my love,
Sarah

Noel's Stinkeye

This afternoon, I gave Noel his second saline shot. Oh boy! He fought me! I was so excited to see that. I didn't even get it all in because he was not having it. His eyes were open for the first time today when I got him out.

Here he is after I put him back, giving me the big old stink eye. Plus he was interested in watching my dog Belle who was walking around the front of his tank.

He's still pretty sedate and sleeps most of the time. But he's showing good signs of progress. It is just slow and steady.

Update on Noel

He's just sorta hanging on today. No real change. No real movement. No eyes open. Just sleeping.

I gave him a teaspoon of Pedialyte this morning via a syringe. I figured he could use some calories. In an hour, he'll get his second saline shot.

We just watch and wait and see how he does. Sometimes I've noticed that once a beardie is out of a bad situation where he's struggling to survive, their will to live evaporates. Hopefully that's not what is going on here. He fought and fought to stay alive in a cold & stinky place. Now he is warm and clean. I hope he can keep fighting.

Noel's Progress So Far

Noel pooped! That's good. There were distinct urates in his first poop; the second one was gross and mostly undigested crickets. You can see his first little poop and then how he held his head up. 

When I came back to check on him, he had pooped out the undigested part.

He was able to move off the hammock and away from the heat which is also a great sign!

I felt bad he was laying on the ground so I gave him a little bed.

Definitely some good signs from him today. Depending on how alert he is tomorrow, I might offer him a Pedialyte bath again. I don't want to stress him too much. It appears his kidneys are still working, but the stress might kill him.

More updates tomorrow! Thanks to all for your prayers and well wishes.

Noel, rescue 164

I named this baby "Noel" which means "birth" in Latin because I hope this is the season for his re-birth.

 My rescue buddy, Heidi, dropped everything to go get him and bring him to me. She sent me pics of him along the way so I could see how skinny he was. She told me how angry she was to pick up him up (the dad didn't want to) because he was ice cold.

He did move around and open his eyes some while they were driving. That was a good sign that he was active once he warmed up.

The first thing I did was weigh him so I knew how many cc's of sterile saline to inject in him. 62 grams! SO tiny.

The second thing I did was offer him a drink in a warm bath. I held his head up because he didn't seem to want to. I dripped water on his nose and tickled his lips to get him to drink. It didn't work. Every so often-- especially when I touched his feet-- he would launch himself out of the bath. When he had his mouth open, I quickly dripped water into it. But it still didn't inspire him to drink on his own. 

I pulled some dead lettuce out of the corner of his mouth. It still had some amount of spit on it which is a good sign that he's not totally dehydrated.

I gave him a saline injection into both of his upper shoulders. It made him look like he had shoulder pads! It's almost impossible to take a pic of that. 

A saline injection between his muscles and skin will help rehydrate the cells of his body more quickly. I will give him one every 24 hours for the next 3 days before I offer him food. The primary focus for critically ill reptiles is always hydration. Once they are hydrated, their bodies can better tolerate food. Giving food (especially protein) to a critically ill bearded dragon is a sure way to kill them quickly.

Poor little Noel didn't even flinch when I put the needle into his back a couple times. :( His movements were all reactionary and largely involuntary. He was obviously in severe stress mode and not able to handle the changes.

While I was waiting for him to arrive, I set up Drake's old tank (completely sanitized, of course) for him. I put Noel onto a newly washed & warm hammock under a light.

Now we leave him alone and wait to see how much fight he has in him still. I will limit my interaction with him so he's less stressed. I will check on him frequently to make sure he's not dead. I call these "death checks" and I do them a lot with critically ill beardies (especially in the middle of the night). Tomorrow around 1 pm, I'll give him another saline injection and see how he does. Two doses of saline will help me know if his kidneys are still functioning or if they've shut down. If the malnutrition and dehydration have shut down his kidneys, then it is only a matter of time before he dies. There is no way to bring back dead kidneys. :(

He has a chance of survival if he can survive the stress of being moved today and if his body starts to process the fluid. But there's no way to know what chances of survival he has. It's just a wait and see thing. There's no other option.

This is the hard part of rescue. Waiting and wondering if you've done enough or if you're efforts qualify as "Too Little, Too Late."

I'll keep you posted.

Which one is Worse?

It's hard to say what is WORSE-- when a text inquiry asking for more or better pics of a bearded dragon goes unanswered or they respond and you are *horrified!!*

Ugh.

I talked about this ad last night:

I finally got a response this morning and I almost came unglued. I spent 40 minutes on the phone coordinating a ride from the city with the beardie to my house (about a 80 minute drive one way). I finally got someone lined up. He's on his way to me now.

Sometimes I just have no words.... well, no words I will say out loud because I promised my kids I would stop using bad language which is a bad habit I got into when I started rescuing... so I just pray. Honestly. I just pray that if there is ANY chance at all that the beardie has a chance of surviving that I'll know what to do and that I can get him in time.

I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't pray. I'd be a mess.

I will keep you updated on him. He looks really really really bad. Often they look better in pics than they do in real life. I suppose they could look worse in a picture too and be better when I get them, but that rarely happens.

Curse You, Online Classifieds!!

Confessional Post: 
Online Classifieds get me into a LOT of trouble. 

Because I can't NOT look at them. Because I find sickly critters to save on them. Because sometimes the ads make me want to beat my head against the wall or say bad words. It's an addiction to me currently. I even deleted the app on my phone that takes me right to local classifieds, but that had no effect because I just open up that webpage in my Safari browser on my iPhone. 

Let me give you some examples from the past week of the struggle with online ads. 

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This pic attached to a Craig's List ad I found last week. 

Yeah, I know. HORRID! No reply to any form of communication I made. The ad was only a week and a half old. NO RESPONSE! It killed me. The pic still kills me. I bet you the beardie died before he could sell it. Then I have to tell myself that I cannot save them all.

P.S. There is NO other way to contact this person. I promise. So please don't. Please just trust me.

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Because I live in Utah, there's actually a different online classified page that's bigger than Craig's List. Crazy, huh? It's with a radio & TV station called KSL. So KSL Classifieds page is where I do most of my surfing-- read: suffering. 

www.ksl.com if you're curious but beware.

Like this interesting ad: "Buy Broken Tank and Get Dragon Free!"

Yes, I have a cracked tank that doesn't hold water, BUT wait! There's more-- you get a free foot long bearded dragon (not pictured). I'm waiting for pics of the beardie on this ad. No UVB, only a single bulb black light (60 to 75 watts max) hanging above one end. Not good. 

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Then there was this sad picture of a young beardie who obviously has the beginnings of MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease or Rubbery Bones). Look at the rubber bend in his elbow. *Classic* MBD symptom. The ad says (and this is a direct quote): "I'm trying to sell him I cant take care of him we have no money." **okay, I did actually add a period to the sentence because I'm just not a monster and I couldn't help myself. 

I emailed the owner. I usually just pretend to be an interested buyer and don't come out and say "You're an idiot and your lizard is sick." I did try that once; it did not go well. I ask basic questions: how old, how long have you had it, what lights does it have, what set up comes with it, does it have a UVB light, etc. etc..

Here's a screenshot of the last part of the text conversation I had with the owner. I'm going to assume that he/she is under 15 and has poor social texting skills because that makes me think of fewer bad names to call him/her. 

The set up, in case you wondered, is CRAP. NO substrate, one red light bulb, a stick, and a UVB light that is way too high and probably very old. So this one is a "Buy Overpriced Beardie and Get Crap Tank Free."

P.S. I've thought of at least a dozen snotty replies to that last message to me, but I'm being mature and I'm not actually replying back. Good luck, Buddy, selling a sickly & overpriced beardie. 

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NOTE TO SELF: STAY OFF THE CLASSIFIEDS! 

at least for tonight. 

and maybe tomorrow too. 

and don't text back people and call them "Idiot!" even if you really want to. 

Plus, I think when I'm really tired I'm a lot more snarky and sarcastic-- as evidenced by this post. I have to try to find the humor in things sometimes otherwise I'd be like that little black gamer cat sticker that I use EVERYDAY on Facebook messenger that's beating his head against the table. Seriously. 

Rescuing reptiles is great; it's the owners I have a problem with. 

Smaug, rescue 115.2

Smaug came back last night. Which is good and bad. For local people, I give them a 3 month window to "foster" a beardie before they finalize adoption so they can be positive that they want to commit to a beardie. Smaug was a little bit too much responsibility for his family and they brought him back. But, since he's always been one of my favorites, I was happy to have him back. :)

I think he wants my Jelly Bellies 

Smaug is a BIG boy and can be very aggressive when he sees other beardies. But by himself, he is a sweetheart who loves to be held. I'll keep him away from other beardies and hope he stays mellow and calm. He'll eventually be adopted out again to a home with no other bearded dragons or lizards.

Today's Vet Visit

In a moment of delusion, I made vet appointments for my warm blooded and cold blooded at the same time. 

Bad, bad idea. 

First, I had to wrestle my dogs into jackets and harnesses. It's like painting the toenails on a hummingbird. Oy vay! 

Then I had to get Drake ready to go in a warm box. Then I had to get Sunny ready. And I had to load my purse, a present for my vet, an ice cream bucket with a snake, my cup of Dr Pepper, a tote with Drake, and two dogs into my van. 

All those things (minus the Dr P) had to get out of the van and into the vet's office 6 minutes later. Crazy!! 

Remind me not to do that again! 

The dogs were a spastic mess and wrapped themselves around my legs in the waiting room and whined and barked. 

The dogs both got their Bordatella booster shots. Teddy was only happy when someone was holding him. Luckily, he's such a cute dog that almost everyone in the vet's office held him. He was happy! 

Sunny, the baby ball python, had a little spot on her belly yesterday that burst like a blister and her skin was very fragile. And she hasn't popped since her surgery. 

Dr Folland got her poop without any problems. He's concerned about her fragile skin, but we can't do anything about it right now. 

I'll be watching her and keeping her in a soft environment until she has a good shed or two. Hopefully she'll grow out of it. But it's also possible the skin issue is a symptom of a more serious problem (like IBD which is a fatal disease). 

The last thing I did was hold Drake while he died. 

Crazy appointment!!! In the future, the dogs will go solo to appointments or I will drag one of my kids along to help me. 

Sweet Drake

I'd been dragging my feet about taking Drake to the vet to have him put down. I kept hoping he would rally and get better. 

But he didn't. 

Today I took him in and let Dr Folland euthanize him. Poor Drake was so weak and tired that he didn't even flinch as the vet struggled to find a blood vessel to inject the medicine into. His blood pressure was so low that it took six times before it worked. :( 

I held him while he died. Poor baby. Even Dr Folland apologized that all the meds and blood tests and eye drops and force feedings couldn't help Drake live. 

Fly high, little Drake, now that your eyes are clear and bright. 

Smoke Inhalation Effects Continue

Scorch, the male Burmese python pulled out of a burning house in April, almost died tonight as he started coughing up thick mucus that had accumulated in his lungs. 

His fearless owner spent an hour sucking globs of mucus out of his trachea to keep him from suffocating and then giving him mouth to mouth resuscitation until he started breathing on his own. 

My heart stopped when I read about how close Scorch came to dying. I laid down on my bed and cried as I chatted with Scorch's owner over Messenger. 

My guess is that Scorch's lungs secreted a mucus layer around the ash particles in his lungs and they collected into globs. I also suspect this is why Kindle died a couple months ago.  

The effects of the smoke continue. :( I'll be heartbroken if Scorch dies. He is absolutely adored by his owner. 

The fire was a nightmare in so many ways. I'm so sad that it hasn't ended. 

Escaped Snake

My rescue sister was given this juvenile ball python this week. It had escaped two months ago and the owners found it the other night. They decided they didn't want to keep it anymore. 

Two months being loose was not kind to this poor snake. He immediately got a nice long bath. 

Look at the difference when he got out. 

Same snake. Promise! 

Even though he was very stressed at being moved and such, he still ate immediately. 

If you have a snake, make sure their enclosures are escape proof! Most lost snakes are found dead or in very bad shape. :( 

Today's Lesson on MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease)

Today's Lesson--

Here is a side by side comparison of two monitor lizard x-rays. The one of the left is the Nile monitor that the vet & I chose to euthanize yesterday; the one of the right is a random x-ray off the internet. Notice the difference in the bones?

Solid, dense, calcium-stable bones almost glow on x-rays. You can see their distinct edges and patterns. MBD bones are hollow, pitted, and almost invisible because of the lack of calcium.

There are parts of the Nile's x-ray where you cannot see his spine through because of the shadows of internal organs. But the sad thing is that the organs are *under* the spine. Under! And you still can't see it. You can also see multiple fractures and curves in the spine and legs that never would have healed.

Here's the hellish part about MBD-- a lizard's body MUST have calcium in its blood supply to survive. If there is not enough calcium being metabolized (coming into the body through the food and then converted into usable calcium through sunlight or adequately powerful UVB), the body will steal calcium from the bones. The bones start becoming weaker and weaker until they are rubbery like Jell-O. When they are that weakened, simple touching and holding will snap jaw bones; a small fall will shatter joints; a leg that is caught and then pulled loose will disintegrate.

A reptile must have enough digested calcium through high calcium foods (whole rat/mouse bodies, high calcium greens, or gut loaded & dusted insects). But all the calcium in the world will NOT prevent MBD if there is no way to absorb it. In the absence of direct sun, a UVB light is a necessity. It must be 18 inches or less above the area where the lizard is the most. It also needs to cover the majority of the area of the basking spot. The problem with coil UVB bulbs is that their radius is very small and often in a different place than where the lizard is. You can combine heat & UVB with a mercury vapor bulb or you can buy a long UVB tube to run the length of the tank.

MBD is a hellish way for a lizard to die. Some pet stores will call it "Cage paralysis" because a reptile loses the ability to control its limbs. It is painful because of frequent breaks and fractures.

PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH! Preventing MBD is FAR easier than trying to correct it. All the reptiles I have ever rescued with MBD who actually survived it had a significantly shorter lifespan.

Yosemite Sam, rescue 163

We picked up this juvenile Nile monitor last night and got him into the vet today. 

He's lost all use of his back legs and isn't pooping. Those were the complaints of his owner. 

When we got him, we were shocked at his spine. It's curvy! 

His jaw is like rubber. :( Metabolic Bone Disease. Crappy diet with no bones in it and no calcium added in and a crappy coil UVB light on one end of a tall & narrow tank. His body robbed the calcium out of his bones leaving them rubbery. 

100% preventable. It's a "Lazy Owner's Disease." Online research will show anyone that monitors need whole body foods -- whole rats or mice, chicken with bones, etc. Ground turkey is all organ meat and has no calcium unless you mix it in. And they need a UVB light to help them metabolize calcium. Coil UVBs work over small areas only, like a 10 gallon tank. Any other tank needs a tube UVB that is no more than 18 inches above where the reptile is. 

Anyways, Yosemite Sam's spine appears to be fractured due to his soft bones. He's now paralyzed. There's no way to fix it. There's no way to straighten his spine. There's no way to help him live a good life. As his bones harden, he will live in constant pain. As they harden, his spine will stay curled and he'll be a constant fall risk.

When I get a copy of his x-ray, I'll post it here so you can see what MBD does to a reptile's body. 

We are choosing the hardest and kindest option-- to euthanize. And I don't feel like being kind about it with the owners who surrendered him to us. It was laziness that killed this poor baby. There's no excuse for this. Anybody has access to Google and can do basic research. Nobody has to rely solely on a pet store employee or reptile Expo seller. Everybody has the responsibility to DO THEIR RESEARCH!!!! 

If you can't spend 30 minutes researching and buy a $40 UVB lightbulb every year in addition to a $15 heat light, then please buy a TOY reptile. 

Drake & Hermy at the Vet

I took both of my sickies in their "As Is" state (which was SO hard). Drake's eyes were sealed shut and Hermy's nose was coated with snot. 

Neither one of them had a very good check up. :( We've exhausted almost every option with Drake and nothing is working. It took a lot of prying and swabbing to get Drake's eyes open. He hates it. The whole experience was super stressful for him and really wore him out. I brought him home and put him on his hammock. He hasn't moved on his own since yesterday morning. Today I had to really work to get his eyes open, and now, 6 hours later, they are stuck shut again. Plus he's gaping and gasping all the time. 

No drops, shots, cleanings, force feedings have improved him. His blood work is unremarkable and didn't show any obvious signs of illness. My vet and I are stumped. 

Poor Drake. As I've watched him today, I've thought about what Dr Folland told me yesterday. He said the best measurements for deciding if an animal has any "Quality of Life" is whether or not they can eat, move, and drink on their own. Drake can't do any of those. I think the kind thing to do now is to let him go. 

He hurts my heart. :( 

Hermy got another antibiotic shot and is getting antibiotic mouth drops to treat two mouth ulcers. I've forced her to stay near a heat lamp to keep her temps up higher. We'll recheck her in a week. 

Because she's a protected species, I have to seek permission to move or treat her. I sat in the vet's office and wrote an email to the Division of Wildlife Resources supervisor to ask permission to euthanize her. Her decline has been slow and steady over the last 3 years. I think it's time. She has a massive urate stone in her bladder, an egg shaped mass in her belly, an antibiotic resistant respiratory infection, and is at least 70 years old. 

I love my Hermy. She's my oldest living pet and the pet I've had the longest. I'll miss her. 

Sad day at the vet. 

Update on the latest Rescues

Sunny had surgery on Thursday and had a rough weekend. The 3rd day always seems to be the worst day. She's more active today. 

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Leo the Russian tortoise is doing GREAT!! He eats and drinks everyday and looks & acts so much better. He loved the raspberries I gave him today: 

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The unnamed chameleon is putting on weight and still hates my guts. She should be ready to be adopted out soon. 

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Drake is doing terribly. :( He's going to the vet again tomorrow. His eyes used to seal shut every few days, but now it's almost twice a day. He acts like he can't breathe either. I'm not sure what else we can do for him. He hates me cleaning his eyes and the stress of it makes him struggle to breathe. 

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Dash has been eating like a pig!! He will be able get back up to normal weight easily. He loved the raspberries today. I had to flick them with my finger to catch his interest. 

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Curly will be headed to his new foster home tomorrow. He is active and loves eating. I had him wrapped in a blankie the other night and he loved it! 

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3 of the 6 snakes are going home tomorrow. Phew! That will leave me with 3 snakes, 1 tegu, 1 chameleon, 6 tortoises, and 9 bearded dragons. Only 20 reptiles! That's sorta low for me. :) 

Lap Dogs

I sat down this morning and instantly had a companion. (Apparently I only sit down for the sake of others)

When Belle saw that Teddy was sitting on me, she wanted up. 

I scooted over so she could jump up. That's when Teddy decided that it was now play time. 

I pushed him off my lap so he could play on the floor. He didn't like that. 

For a moment, they both sat on my lap calmly. 

And then Teddy heard something and started getting jazzed up again. 

And we started the play time all over again. Right this moment, we are all calm and mellow. 

I expect that to last no more than 67 seconds. ;)