Junie - Before & After

I found some of the first pics I took of Junie and matched them with the most recent pics I took of him. 

                   June 2015 

                   August 2016

                     June 2015

                    August 2016

I hadn't realized how much more "manly" he's gotten. He was pretty much a juvenile male when I got him. Now he's a man iguana with attitude and power. 

In June of 2015, Junie was left behind after a murder-suicide. He was given to a "rescue" (insert eye rolling) who kept him in a plastic crate for 2 weeks. When my friend rescued him from the "rescuer," she was told that Junie was angry because he had watched his whole family die. 

Um.... No. It's because you're a moron who shoved him in a plastic crate. 

I didn't want Junie, but I knew he'd die if he stayed in the crate with the other "rescuer."

Chameleon Love

Um.... So my two rescue chameleons don't actually love me at all. Especially Lotus. 

Here is her "I will kill you in your sleep for this" look today because I had to give her an antibiotic shot and I tube-fed her some Critical Care so she has extra calories. 

But I *do* absolutely love chameleon tails. See how cute? 

Lotus and Akime are both eating great and doing well. They have a vet appointment in two weeks for stitches and bandage removal. 

Until then, I spend lots of time keeping their foggers & drippers going and filling them with tasty worms & crickets. 

And Lotus continues to plan my death. Akime doesn't mind me if I don't touch her, but I suspect that Lotus can be very persuasive. 

And yes, I'm keeping her far away from Junie. Those two would take over my house if I let them. ;) 

Adding in More Personalized Items on Etsy

The personalized blankies have sold SO well in the past year that I'm expanding the selection in my shop to include a bath towel and a Christmas blankie. I'll keep adding more things on too.

The towel set is HERE. 

Comes with a free rubber duck! 

The Christmas set is HERE.

Blankie & ornament

Coming soon is a set of white glitter wings with a name embroidered in the middle as a memorial for beardies who have passed away. Nice enough to be hung on the wall or as a Christmas ornament.

The Best Dog Chews

A friend of mine, who used to manage a pet store, once told me about Himalayan dog chews. I bought a single chew for $8 and hoped it was worth that much money. 

It totally was. My dogs love chewing on it. It lasts forever. It doesn't stink. Worth every penny. They are made of yak's milk. No chance of splintering or breaking. 

I bought these yesterday- 

The package has three smaller size chews and it was on sale for $11. 

Sometimes I'll spend a dollar and buy a small Greenie bone, but my dogs have those eaten in less than an hour. Each of these yak chews lasts for at least a week and my dogs take turns chewing on it everyday. 

Drake, rescue 152

Drake is just over a year and has had eye infections for a long time. Lately, he's stopped eating and moving around. That's why his owners chose to surrender him to me. 

I let him take it easy today. He ate some baby food squash and he had a nice long drink. 

Tonight he's having some couch time with me. 

Tomorrow I'll see if he'll eat some roaches on his own. 

Midnight at the Vet

At some point in the last few weeks, Midnight broke one of his toes and it started to swell. This morning I took him to the vet. 

He let me put on his harness without any problems. Then he road on my shoulder as I drove. I took this pic as I was stopped at a red light. 

He sat patiently while we waited for the vet. 

Dr Folland agreed the easiest thing to do was to snip off the toe. So we did. 

I didn't take a single pic of his toe before or of the procedure or even after!! I only took pics of him snuggling with me. ;) 

During the procedure, he didn't fight or fuss. He stayed perfectly still. It was amazing! Midnight was back to being a sweetheart. I loved it. 

We are back home now and he's sunning himself in the window. What a good boy! 

Noises Upstairs

I had just gotten home and was putting groceries away when I heard a lot of thumping upstairs. Things kept crashing to the floor. 

My first thought- "ugh. Junie!" 

I walked upstairs to see what our resident demon was doing. 

I found him on top of my son's stereo, looking down at the things on the ground. The song words on the radio? "It's too late to apologize." 

Ha! I told Junie that it was too late to apologize. 

He didn't seem to care. 

At all. 

I moved him back to his "spot." 

Then he tried to tail whip my camera (which he hates more than anything). 

Welcome to my Crazy Life in the Zoo! 

Another Beardie

Quick note with no pics-- 

I picked up a new Beardie tonight. Overall, he looks good. I was expecting worse since he's just over one and has never had a UVB bulb. I was surprised that he has very firm bones. He's had a double eye infection and won't eat. 

Genetics are interesting. I've seen reptiles with decent UVB and calcium get Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD).  And I've seen reptiles without either who were fine. If the genetics are good and the mother has sufficient calcium, a reptile stands a better chance at not developing MBD. 

Pics tomorrow after he wakes up. 

Midnight's Bedtime Stash

I've spent all week convincing Midnight he did NOT need to sleep like this: 

Today he decided to rearrange his window area so he's more comfortable at night. 

He pushed all of his bedding down onto the window ledge and smooshed it into the shape of a body lounger chair. 

He's quite comfy there now with his head slightly raised. 

Spoiled Iggy. 

Bath Night

Midnight's first bath here. He's not thrilled. 

Hermy- 

Otis-- 

Georgie & Baby Foot-- 

I don't have time to bathe the beardies, but at least the torts are soaked. 

Pet Stamps

Two Gold Stars for the US Post Office for creating pet stamps with reptiles!! I bought two books yesterday. 

An iguana, a gecko, a tortoise, and a snake! 

Swimming Session

It's finally sunny enough outside that I'm able to let Humpty Dumpty have his swimming time in the sun. 

It's been overcast and cooler (84 high) since Dr Folland recommended it to me. 

Yippee for sunshine! 

*Humpty Dumpty got run over by a car and has a cracked bottom shell. He's been in a "dry dock tank" while we let his shell heal. He is a water turtle, but the shell won't heal if he's in the water. 

Yep, this is Me!!

Humpty Dumpty

I had to discuss Humpty Dumpty with Dr Folland today. The poor turtle's eyes keep getting stuck shut. 

So now I get to put the antibiotic drops in his eyes twice a day. And starting tomorrow, Humpty will be in outside in a little plastic wading pool I got. He needs more sunshine therapy to heal. 

Midnight

Our "Honeymoon" period ended. Midnight has grown comfortable here and shows me an AT-TI-TUDE! 

Mostly I laugh at him and pet his head to make him close his eyes in bliss. 

And a little while later, he will bob his head at me and try to be dominant. Silly boy! I don't submit to iguanas! 

At night, he thinks he should sleep like Spider-Man. 

I let him cool down and then I put him back under his heat lamp. 

Flame at the Vet

Flame is the only reptile of the 11 Fire Victims that I'm choosing to keep. He did test positive for adenovirus and, in the last three months, he's had problems with head tremors.

I talked to my vet about it last  month and he recommended we test Flame's calcium levels to rule out tremors caused by calcium deficiency. Since I was taking the two chams in today, I brought Flame along for the ride.

While he was at the vet, I was able to take a video of his head tremors. This is moderate for him-- so sometimes it's less noticeable and sometimes it's worse.

The calcium levels are right on track and so the vet tested the phosphorus levels (which can indicate kidney disease which also causes tremors). The phosphorus levels were right on track too. That leaves us with our original guess-- that he has a neurological issue due to inbreeding.

It is VERY common for "Fancy" bearded dragons to end up with genetic problems because of too much inbreeding. When you want a specific trait (like a leatherback or translucence or red coloring), you must use a specific set of genes to get it. There's not as much variation in the gene pool for these traits. With "Normal" colors, there are hundreds of thousands of beardies to chose from and there are far fewer problems that manifest. Silkies (what you get sometimes when you breed two leatherbacks) are, in my opinion, the most genetically messed up beardies. They have the most problems and difficulties.

So Flame is not fixable and, based on my previous experience with translucents with tremors, is not likely to have a long life. He will be loved and cared for while he is here. I won't adopt him out because of how valuable he would be as a breeder. It would be absolutely WRONG to breed him since he's already genetically messed up. To make sure that never happens to him, he's staying with me. Plus, I finally got him to let me pet his head without him biting me. I can't pet anywhere else, but I can give him loves on his head.

Checklist for Head Tremors-- 
1- rule out Metabolic Bone Disease caused by calcium deficiency (blood test)
2- rule out phosphorous deficiency caused by kidney disease (blood test)
3- conduct an overall blood panel test to make sure there are not other underlying issues
4- look at genetics

Benign head tremors are really only a problem when they are unable to control their heads enough to eat. If this happens, the beardie will have to be assisted with its food (like crickets on tongs) or tube fed.

Lotus & Akime *back* to the Vet

Akime pulled the wrapping off her arm and Lotus has been hiding at the bottom of her cage (always a bad sign) so they went back to the vet today.

Akime got a new wrapping, and she pretty much hates it. But it's the only way to help her arm heal.

Lotus had a small growth in her mouth that the vet removed only to discover a pocket of pus building under her gums. So he scraped all of it out and found another infected spot on the other side of her mouth. Oy vay! This girl can't seem to get a break.

Now in addition to her antibiotic shots every 3 days, I will be force feeding her Critical Care twice a day and putting an antibiotic drop in her mouth twice a day. Poor girl. She already hates everyone and this won't help. Luckily, when she starts to lunge for me, I can put drops or stick a tube down her throat. Makes it easier for me!

Overall, her surgery incision looks great and her colors are good. The vet just suspects she's not eating because her mouth hurts.

Where do I see myself in a Year?

Ha ha ha! This will be me with Junie and/or Midnight! 

Akime Update

Akime is doing great. Her arm is healing. She eats like a pig! Somehow she managed to pull her wrapping off last night and I need to rewrap it today. 

She still can be fairly clumsy as she moves around, but her tongue aim is straight on. Last night, she snatched a cricket off my thumb without any hesitation. 

Lotus this Morning

I found a sick Lotus on the bottom of her cage this morning very dehydrated. I tried getting her to drink some sugar water from a syringe but she wouldn't have it. She spit most of it back out. She *hates* when I touch her! 

I got her fogger going and let her dripper run fully too. She did drink a little off the leaves, but not enough. 

I finally chose to give her a saline injection to help rehydrate her. A cc of warm saline on each side above her arms. She had little "shoulder pads" for a little bit. I hesitated to do it for fear the stress of holding her while injecting her would kill her. So far, she seems to be okay. 

She certainly is a difficult chameleon! I have part of her cage covered to hold in the humidity better and I'll keep checking on her today. She's supposed to get her second antibiotic shot today, but I may wait until tomorrow to limit her stress. 

Lotus Update

Lotus is doing okay after her surgery. She's been eating and drinking on her own. She's on antibiotics. She still hates me and everything about me. ;) I can handle it. I have tried to limit my interactions with her so she has less stress. 

Her surgery ultimately cost me $670. The thought of spending that much on her to have her just die on me is a painful thought. I did what I had to do to save her life at the time without paying attention to the cost. My rescue credit card is back over $2,000, but it's only money-- right? ;) 

Midnight Snuggles

Midnight has been testing the wings of his independence for the past 2 weeks. And I'm afraid to say that he's been a brat! 

My teen son made him mad and Midnight chomped him. :( 

I had to take away some of his independence and make him spend more time in his cage. He hates it! 

Unfortunately, he rubbed the scabs and newly formed skin off his mouth. 

He spent the last two days in his age while my family and I went on an End of Summer trip to the lake. He was much nicer when I returned. 

It's SO hard! I hate locking him up, but I can't have a tyrannical iguana roaming around and biting & whipping. I'm hoping that he'll settle in and be less defensive. If he stays grumpy, I'm going to have to rehome him and/or keep him locked up all the time. 

At least tonight, he let me love him when I put him to bed. 

5 Shifts

We do sometimes go out of town. Yes, it's extremely stressful and anxiety producing. 

Luckily, I now have a pet sitter who also works at a vet's office. He's super qualified. 

It takes 5 shifts to replace me everyday. :) 

See? 

This was a checklist I made in June and quickly updated for this weekend so I could do this-- 

I paid $20/day for 2 days. Totally worth it to get a mini break before my kids start back in school next week. 

One More Food Success

Lucy, my female ball python who was found starving in a box, finally ate last night!! After THREE or more months! 

Ball pythons are well known for being fussy eaters. Lucy used to eat weekly and never turned away any food. I suspect she's finally at a healthy weight and feels secure with her food so she can ignore rats when she's not hungry. 

Bath Time Supplies

New Etsy items-

Personalized towel with a washcloth and rubber duck. CLICK HERE TO SEE! 

Davy! Davy Crockett

A special order from my Etsy shop. CLICK HERE TO SEE IT! 

Milo was less than thrilled, but adorable!