Before & After Savvy

My rescue sister rescued a juvenile Savannah monitor for me a couple weeks ago. Here's a "Before & After" picture of the Savvy. He's doing great & headed to a new home soon. Glad to have helped with this with one.

Top Pic: Most Recent
Bottom Pic: the One in the Online Ad I saw

Lil Spike, Rescue 200

This little buddy came to me in very, very bad shape yesterday. :( He's not eating, he's not moving, he's not healthy. He's been force fed for the last week without any improvement.

One look at Spike's picture told me the problem-- he has SEVERE Metabolic Bone Disease. I can feel at least one broken rib on him.

The biggest impact of MBD is brittle bones (which this guy has). A secondary, less known, symptom is poor gut motility. Without calcium, a reptile's digestive system stops working properly and they easily become impacted. Another MBD symptom is muscle loss which prevents the beardie from completely emptiness put their bellies. I can still feel sand in this baby's belly, even though he's been off sand for months. 

I gave him a saline injection to rehydrate his tissues and some calcium. He's already been in the sunshine today for an hour and is now I under a brand new UVB light. Now we just wait and see how he does. Direct sunlight is the BEST treatment for MBD (and it's FREE!!!) 

He looked pretty poor last night and I didn't know if he'd still be with me this morning. 

Hooray! He was! I gave him another saline injection, some calcium, and then I got him to lick some watered down baby food squash off a syringe too. All good signs! The experience exhausted him and I'll leave him alone for the rest of the day. 

Now we just keep doing Baby Steps forward to hope he can pull through. 

3 at the Vet

On Monday, I took two tortoises and a beardie to the vet. It's because I had paid off my rescue credit card on Saturday! Ha! A $0 balance must mean a vet visit! 

Lolly had her jaw bitten by grumpy Loner Leo who managed to sneak into her tortoise box. It ended up being okay and Dr Folland thinks her runny nose is because her eyes are so misshapen that they drain onto her face & nose. She was an easy visit-- except for her pooping all over. 

Gramps has been acting very lethargic and sickly lately. During his physical examination, Dr F found a mass in Gramps' belly that felt like a bubble or blister with a hard center. When he aspirated the lump with a needle, he immediately pulled out black fluid (bile) and then nothing else. Both bad signs. For some reason, Gramps' gall bladder is HUGE. It's encapsulated in a bile filled bubble. Sadly Gramps' mouth is a mess too-- he has very few teeth and mostly exposed jaw bone because his lower jaw is so messed up.

Gramps is old and in poor health. We are giving him a week of force feeding to see if his gallbladder will empty itself, and, if not, I believe we will choose to let him be done. :( He's not eating on his own and he's been super stressed and more sickly since his gallbladder was messed with. Also bad signs. In the past two days, he has hidden in his tank under his blankies or under the paper towels. His colors are poor and he seems in pain. Poor baby. I wish I could make up for his poor life, but 7+ years is a long time to be neglected.

Red is a 5 year old sulcata that weighs 3 pounds (and she lost weigh in the last month). Her buddy Bunsen (who just went to a new home in St George, Utah) is also 5 and weighs over 13 pounds. He eats & drinks & poops & motors around without stopping. Red, on the other hand, doesn't move. She's been like a pet rock. I gave her a month of good heat, lots of sunshine, the offer of food all the time, and there was no change. Her nose still drips and she still sleeps all the time. That's why I took her to the vet.

We didn't do anything with Red on Monday, but she's at the vet all day today. They will sedate her, draw blood, and take an x-ray. Hopefully the blood work & x-ray will show us what is wrong with her. I'm not overly hopeful since she's not grown at all since I got her two months ago (you can see their new growth easily on their bellies). I think whatever is wrong with her is serious and I'm anxious to hear if Dr Folland finds anything obvious.

Lil Man & Monica, Rescues 198 & 199

These two were brought to me by a friend who felt they were being neglected by a family member. They are underweight but otherwise healthy and very friendly.

Lil Man is the BIGGEST beardie I have ever had! He's 22 inches long! When I get weight put back on him, he will be HUGE! It's awesome! He loves to be held in soft blankies.

Monica has a lot of weight to regain. Poor thing is a stick. She loves to be held and carried around. She's adorable and very friendly. 

Bubba, Rescue 197

Bubba was an easy rescue! Healthy, happy, and fun. He is "Pocket Size" because he didn't grow up with a UVB light. Surprisingly though, he has no signs of Metabolic Bone Disease besides being small.

I love his "Puppy Dog" eyes. I adopted him out last night. Love those easy adoptions!

Fecal Testing

I've been checking a lot of poop lately and found a way to take a pic of the slide in my microscope.

The red is circled around pinworm eggs which tend to be green in color. The blue is circled around tiny, clear coccidia eggs.

Here again is another fecal test with a lot of green pinworm eggs (circled in green). Air bubbles are in yellow.

I bought all my fecal testing supplies online through BeautifulDragons.com  I bought my microscope on Amazon to save money. Each test (sample cup, Fecasol, glass slide, and glass cover) costs about $1 each and is well worth the money if you do a lot of rescues.

Rosie & 2 Cresties, Rescues 194, 195, 196

As a favor to help someone out, I took in Rosie and two juvenile crested geckos. I realized I didn't actually take a picture of the geckos though. :) They are all healthy & friendly(ish). Easy. 

Ladybug, Rescue 193

I took in another leopard gecko who was left behind by a young adult owner. She had shed stuck on her toes and face. Her water dish was black. She's obviously not used to being held, but she's been well fed.

Adoptable Beardies

I have a couple of beardies that are available for adoption. I will give higher priority to people who can pick them up here in Salt Lake City Utah, but I will consider shipping ($40 adoption fee plus you pick up actual overnight shipping costs to US only).

Chance, around 8 months old, most likely male 

Diego, 2 years old, male 

Noel, ~1 year, male 

Poncho, 3, male 

Quasi, 5 months, unsure of gender

The last Two Weeks in One Post

Derek had surgery to have her eggs removed a week ago today. She seems to be doing okay! 

The same day Derek went in for surgery, Justice tried to die on me. It was touch and go for a couple days, but now he is doing great. It's as though nothing ever happened.

I let Norman go to a new home where he can be an educational animal and live in a palace tank complete with a waterfall & wading pool. :)

The Savvy I rescued a couple weeks ago is doing fantastically in his foster home. He's waiting for his adoptive owner to finish building a big cage for him. The top pic is of him this week and the bottom pic is of him the day before I got him.

Poncho attended our local city parade with me and did great. He will make a great Emotional Support Animal, but will always need help eating because he can't catch his food well due to his enlarged corneas. My vet checked him out and declared him to be in good health. I'm now actively working on adopting him.

I got pics of the last two baby beardies I rescued in their new home. Tank & Raptor are owned by a 8 year old girl (and her mom) and are adored beyond belief. These are pics of them on their pet horses. I love it!

Updating

I've been posting info on my Instagram account and then forgetting to update my blog! So be sure to follow me on INSTAGRAM or on my Facebook page to get more up-to-date info.

I'm going to update my blog right now. :)