Morning Heat

I often find Heidi, Georgie, and Lil Foot under the red heat lamp in the morning before I turn on their Mercury Vapor bulb.

Fatty Patty, rescue 118

I should know better than to think any rescue or rehoming would be "easy." Ha! The easy ones end up being the hardest.

Fatty Patty (or Bratty Patty) was going to be an easy transfer from her owner who was surrendering her to me and then to her new owner. All within a few days. 

Ha! 

In this case, "Easy" means-- a delay because of a funeral, an unexpected change in pick up location that tacked on an extra hour, a broken tank, 5 stitches, a missed pick up, a grumpy beardie who hated my rescue buddy, another pick up, lots of hissing, and an escape in my van. The whole thing took a week and a half. 

Fatty Bratty Patty is not a nice girl and would not make a good pet for the family with young kiddos who wanted her. So she's here with me so I can act out "The Taming of the Shrew!" ;) 

Good thing she's pretty. But pretty will only get her so far around here. She'd better learn who's the momma around her (me not her). 

I suspect it will be the battle of the divas for awhile as she learns that I WILL hold her and she WILL behave. She didn't even want to snuggle! For rude. 

Yes, yes, a power struggle with a bearded dragon. The glory of rescue! 

Simba at the Vet, part 2

Simba's blood work came back and the results were very dismal. All signs point to some massive internal problem, severe anemia, and an extremely high glucose rate. Plus, his white cell blood count is very elevated and showing signs of toxic mutations (like Sami had). 

The prognosis for him is not good at all. 

I've already started him on antibiotics and will continue that. Dr Folland and I decided I'd continue to provide supportive care for the next week to see how he does. We'll reassess him on Monday. 

Simba is so weak that the blood draw exhausted him. He looks very very bad tonight. It hurts my heart. 

Phooey. Poor baby. My heart is heavy tonight. 

Poor Dory

Dory is my female beardie with the aneurysm in her eye. When the vet attempted surgery, she came close to bleeding to death on the operating table. My vet had to use a tiny metal clamp to close the hole in her vein to stop the bleeding. Because of that reaction, there's no surgical option for Dory. 

Unfortunately, her aneurysm is growing and you can no longer see her eye. She rubs her eye against her rock hide during the day and bulges her good eye out too. She's very lethargic and spends days at a time sleeping. 

I chatted with Dr Folland today and I think we've reached the point where it's time to put Dory down. Reptiles try hard to disguise their discomfort so the fact I'm seeing her run her face so often is an indication of how much she's suffering. That and her frequent black beard and struggle when I hold her. 

:( 

I know what I need to do, but I'm still struggling with the feeling that somehow I'm quitting on her. But I know if I leave her alone, she will most likely rupture her eye and bleed to death on me within minutes (a risk that increases as her aneurysm continues to grow). I expect within the next few days I will take her in and let her go. :( 

January is ending up being a hard month for losing rescues. 

Simba at the Vet, part 1

This little guy is making slow progress. He got 4 days of saline injections to rehydrate him along with an anti-coccidia med. I also started him on antibiotic shots and small amounts of baby good sweet potatoes. 

Today I'm taking him back to the vet so we can figure out what's going on. 

We just went to the vet to get his blood drawn so the results be ready for this afternoon's appointment. 

It was nice to see his beard black because he was mad and not because he's sickly. 

On the way home, I let him perch on my shoulder in the sun. He loved that. 

The vet & his staff all know that most of my beardies are carried in. They are usually wrapped in a blankie and tucked into my shirt. If they are really sick, I'll carry them in a box. Otherwise, my shirt is the perfect carrying case. :) 

Raging Hormones

Hormone season almost always follows Brumination season and most my boy beardies woke up with a vengeance!

Oh boy. 

There must be hormones in the air or something because they are all acting crazy. 

Here is Spike the 3rd mating with his blanket. He's been at it for quite some time. 

Here's Ziggy displaying his manly black beard while head bobbing. For who? I have no idea. He can't see another beardie. 

Peanut is trying to claw, scratch, and jump his way out of his tank. 

Tiger & Nubs are just as bad. Smaug goes crazy in his tank hourly. 

Hormones. 

Makes me miss the quiet days of Brumination. ;) 

But don't worry-- within a few weeks the hormones will slow down, they'll lose the instinct & urge to mate, and they'll go back to their general slug-like state. 

P.S. Iguana hormones are WAY WAY worse. Trust me. 

My New Favorite Critical Care Mix

I have all three types of  LeFeber's Critical Care powder from my vet***, but I've found its too rich for critically ill reptiles. The high nutritional content stresses their systems more than it provides nutrition. I've started using it when I need to fatten up underweight reptiles or those who are past the critical state. 

My food choice for critical reptiles is simply warmed up baby food. Sweet potatoes for very ill ones and chicken and vegetables for others. Simba got his very first bit of sweet potatoes yesterday. 

Using a syringe, I put some baby food in an ounce measuring glass and heat it up in the microwave for 5 seconds. I put a tiny amount (1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon) of Repashy Calcium Plus in the glass and use a toothpick to stir it in. Then I use syringes to suck up the right amount for each beardie. 

Every day, I feed this mix to my two babies (Dragon and Lucky) and then I sometimes give the leftovers to another beardie. Yesterday, Jessie ate her portion right off the spoon! 

I've had critically ill beardies that have done worse on Critical Care and then improved when I put them on baby food***. I think it's because Critical Care requires so much energy to digest and they don't have enough energy reserves for that. 

***NOTE***-- this is my personal belief and one of two recommendations from my vet that I've chosen to ignore. He highly recommends Critical Care after a reptile is sufficiently hydrated. 

The other recommendation I ignore? I let my tortoises cohabitate. Crazy, I know, but the little ones do better with friends. I realize it's a parasite spreading risk, but I monitor the situation carefully. 

So if you follow me on this, you will be outside a vet's care. After 3+ years and $15,00+ of "training," I feel qualified enough to make these decisions for the reptiles in my care. Follow at your own risk. :) 

Recent Adoptions & Available Adoptees

Adopted-- 

Mooshy, beardie 

Peanut (just waiting for warmer weather to ship him to his new home) 

Verde Hissy Pants, chameleon 

Spot, leopard gecko

Midori, chameleon 

Sparky, baby iguana 

Available-- 

Jessie, beardie

Spike the 3rd, beardie 

Lucky, baby beardie

Dory, special needs beardie (only to the right home) 

Rafe, 20-ish year old male Russian tortoise 

Spike the 3rd, rescue 117

Today I took in my 3rd beardie named Spike (which is not surprising since Spike is the number one most popular beardie name. Puff is 2nd; MuShu is 3rd).

Spike was surrendered to a pet store a couple weeks ago. He's healthy and mellow. He has all his fingers & toes & tail. 

Crazy, huh? There's nothing wrong with him! ;) 

He's in a brand new tank set up and will be available for adoption very soon. I want to see how he does with my kids. If he stays mellow, he'll be the perfect kid pet. 

Jessie, rescue 116

I had to buy this little girl when I saw her tank. See? 

It was even worse than the picture showed! 

I gave her a bath. 

And a nice big & clean tank. 

Jessie isn't used to being held, but will adjust quickly. 

Isn't she cute? 

Jessie will be available soon. I just need to make sure she doesn't need to be treated for fecal parasites.