Emergency Rescue- two bleeding Leopard Geckos

This afternoon, just as I was in the middle of making homemade bread, I got a message from my rescue sister, Marybeth: "Call me." Beth is like me-- she'd much rather text or IM me than actually get on the phone and talk. It must be an emergency.

It was.

Two bleeding Leopard geckos were dropped off at her work. They are a mated pair and had laid several clutches. The owner was shocked to discover both of them bleeding and attacking each other (forgive me while I roll my eyes. How can you breed lizards and not know that it is often violent and mean?!? And that you can't leave them together?!? Anyways....) The owner didn't know what to do with them, did not want to take to them to a vet, and left them at the pet store. The pet store employees took them to Beth who called me.

I got them home and realized that ALL of my 10 gallon tanks are in use! That's never actually happened to me before. I had to leave the geckos in their boxes and run to the pet store where I picked up two 10 gallon tanks and a hide. My husband was nice enough to clean them out for me while I doctored the geckos.

The male has the fewest cuts. He is missing a LOT of toe tips from bad sheds. I managed to work a couple more stuck shed pieces off and they came off with more pieces of dead toes. I'm going to have to work on him some more later. I started with him first and was anxious to get to the female.

The majority of his wounds are on his hands and feet. I treated them with a Betadyne solution and then coated them with a light coat of Silvadene antibiotic cream. He's got a little hard lump on his chin too that we'll have to decide how to treat.

The female is a MESS! She's in bad shape and bled the most. She has two nasty bite wounds to her head along with a severe head tilt.

I sent the pic to my vet and asked if it could be pain related or neurological. He isn't sure yet but gave me instructions on how to treat her for the next two days (including pain meds). You can tell the poor baby is in a LOT of pain. Anytime you get near her head, she starts thrashing and rolling her head.

Her back foot is in bad shape too. At first I used a Q-tip soaked with Betadyne to treat her wounds but eventually just put her in the bath to soak. I got all of her stuck shed off and she lost two toes. :(

The top of her tail looks like ground beef from all the bite marks. :( She may decide to drop it instead of trying to heal it. I tried to help clean it and treat it as best as I could.

Both geckos are now in a good set up with clean water and a hide. The male is eating already and the female had pain meds. I'm too tired to decide what to name them tonight. They *were* a mated pair. I'll wait until tomorrow to let them know that their relationship is over. I don't think either one will complain too much about it. :D

On one side of my kitchen, I had all my vet supplies set out:

On the other side, I had my bread baking:

That pretty much sums up my life! ;) Reptiles on one hand, motherhood & life on the other. I hadn't intended to pick up bleeding geckos today, but that's the thing about rescue-- it's never predictable.

Flame's Tremors

Last year, I posted a picture of Flame (the only bearded dragon fire victim from last April's fire) and how his head tremors and trembles. My vet and I are pretty sure it is a byproduct of sloppy breeding. He's got a lot of "Fancy" genes in him-- translucence and all those other fancy things I never learned-- and I think a lot of those specific genes were mixed by mating beardies who were related too closely to each other. That might not be exactly it, but it's our best guess at this point.

Today, sadly, I noticed the tremors are spreading. Flame's tail is now trembling too. :( And I think the other day I saw some leg tremors. I haven't even had him a year and already the shaking is spreading.

We figured that the neurological causes behind his tremors would most likely shorten his life. I just didn't expect them to spread as fast as they are. :( 

I touched his head to get him to look at my camera and he closed his eyes so I could pet him. Aw, sweet baby boy. I gave him a good head scratch before I took the pic. 

Another example of the bad outcomes of sloppy breeding. Specialty body & eye colors are very trendy and popular in most reptiles, but it significantly limits the gene pool they draw from. A smaller gene pool means that problems get amplified. My last translucent beardie had head tremors too. She only lived 3 years. If you want the healthiest possible beardie, pick a "mutt" beardie that has been been bred from a reputable breeder with a good gene pool. They might not be the brightest or prettiest, but they are more likely to live the longest. 

Kreature came out to Eat

I didn't expect him to come out anytime soon, but he did this afternoon and was obviously hungry! The quickest thing I could thaw was shrimp. He ate at least a dozen and then crawled back under his heat lamp to digest. 

A Great Trip to the Vet

I took 3 beardies to the vet today and wasn't sure if it would be a good visit or a bad visit.

HOORAY! It was a good one!

Pepper, a beardie I'm babysitting, had a bent toe removed. Munch needed a follow up and I wanted Dr Folland to check on Baby Raptor. Munch and Raptor had warmed cornbags in containers on the way. Pepper got to be in my shirt.

Munch looks good and is far less bloated that he was last night. For now, we will continue to give him his antibiotic shots every 72 hours and treat him with a dewormer. I'm going to start him on a diet. Poor Munch- no more insects, only greens.

I was most worried about Baby Raptor who is holding steady at 5 grams. :( Dr Folland did a thorough exam and was surprised at how feisty he was. He said "Let's not pull the plug just yet." I'm going to keep forcefeeding him and offering him food and then we will see if we can get a fecal test on him. It's possible that pinworms or coccidia are preventing him for absorbing nutrition.

Pepper (who didn't get any pics taken) got her crazy bent toe snipped off without any issues. She stayed calm and nice throughout the whole procedure.

The greatest part about all of it is the total-- less than $85. Gotta love those visits! My vets are awesome. :)

Being an Etsy Shop Owner

Honestly, there are some days when the worst thing about owning an Etsy shop is dealing with the customers. But, honestly, most days the best thing about the Etsy shop is the customers! ;) For every nasty email I get that the post office lost/ripped a package, I get fun emails from customers thanking me for what I do.

Those happy emails make my day!

At the end of December, I actually got a handwritten note in the mail. An actual note! Written by the young owner of Peaches( a new Instagram celebrity beardie), the note told me how much fun they were having with the costumes they had bought from me. It was ADORABLE!

What's the point of being an Etsy shop owner if you can't do Super Fun Surprise things sometimes?

The other day, I wrote back to Peaches and her owner and thanked them for thanking me. I also confided that I had it on good authority ;) that Instagram celebrity beardies are wearing new Spring fashions and I just had to help with that. I put together a fun package for them, sending three outfits that I knew they didn't have.

I used my favorite scented markers and colored the package front and back so it would be extra fun to get in the mail. I even wrote "SURPRISE" on the front of the envelope. I had SO much fun putting it together and addressing it specifically to "Peaches, of Instagram Fame" and her owner (leaving her name off on purpose).

Yeah, I sometimes get nasty emails from people how I ruined X,Y, & Z for them because I'm an Etsy shop owner and not a magician, but emails & letters from sweet people like Peaches' owner makes it all better.

Before & After of Phoenix, the worst of the Fire Victims from April 2016

Phoenix and 3 ball pythons were in a wooden box/cage that caught on fire. Phoenix pushed his way through the burning wood to escape, leaving him with half of his face burnt off and a large burn on his back. One of other ball pythons followed out of the burning box but died later that day. The two remaining ball pythons burned to death. 

Phoenix was the worst of all the burn victims. We were afraid that his eye was destroyed by the fire along with his lips and heat vents. He was severely emaciated and badly dehydrated. Dr Folland and I did not believe he would survive. We tube fed him multiple times to give him the nutrition to fight his burns. When he finally started to shed off the burnt skin, we were shocked to see movement in his eye! SHOCKED! His eye ball seriously was a shriveled up rock. He has most of the vision in his eye now. Half of his mouth still flares outward and he has areas of white, pignmentless skin, but he looks SO much better than we ever thought he would. 

You can see why we named him Phoenix. This poor blood python was sadly dying from poor care before the fire and literally crawled through the fire to a new life. 

A Caution about Superworms & Mealworms and a Discussion about Poop

Superworms and mealworms are an easy feeder to have on hand. They don't die as easily, they are fairly cheap, and most bearded dragons (and other insect eating reptiles) are happy to eat them.

There's a big problem-- their exoskeletons are very hard to digest. Mealworms are mostly a hard plastic-like exoskeleton with a bit of meat in the middle. Superworms are a more meatier version of mealworms. Think of their exoskeletons like the thick, inedible plastic covering on the end of a shrimp. You can technically eat it, but it doesn't taste good (sorta feels like eating fingernails).

Munch's insect diet-- and really his WHOLE diet-- in the past few months has been superworms. Bits and pieces of the exoskeletons have built up in his guts and are contributing to the bloating he now has.

Thankfully this morning he was able to poop but it was almost entirely parts & pieces of superworm shells. I'm going to post a picture and it's gross, but informative. I'll even make it smaller than normal. The pic doesn't do it justice, but as I looked through the poop, I counted at least 2 dozen "shell" pieces. What a relief for him to start moving that through his system.

Have you ever stuck a stick in a slightly flowing river or stream? It instantly starts to collect debris from the river-- a leaf, a stick, etc. If you leave even a thin stick in the stream long enough, eventually it will collect enough debris to form quite a sizeable dam, stopping the water flow in that area.

That's how I describe the "flow" of a beardie's intestines. A single piece of calcium sand, a bit of crushed walnut shell, or even a small piece of exoskeleton alone do not pose a problem to a healthy beardie's digestive system. But over time those small pieces will start to accumulate debris that can lead to a potentially fatal blockage/impaction.

Munch had a fecal test done last night at the vet and it showed a massive overgrowth of pinworms and pinworm eggs. Pinworm eggs are very sticky and attach themselves to everything (intestines, substrate, anything). If you have a small blockage and a couple of pinworms (which most beardies do), it won't be long before you have a larger blockage and an overload of pinworms. That's what happened to Munch. We are treating him for pinworms, but since his belly is not currently absorbing any fluids (not sure why), the dewormer med is largely ineffective.

SO, can you safely feed superworms and mealworms to your dragons? Yes, but think of them as beardie cheeseburgers and offer them as a treat. Roaches & silkworms are two of my most favorite feeders. Hornworms and Phoenix worms are my second favorites. Wax worms are largely like small cheesecake pieces and are perfect for putting weight on emaciated beardies. Superworms are okay. Mealworms are NEVER okay for beardies under a year-- not worth the risk of exoskeleton impaction.

Variety is key when feeding a beardie. Swap out your insects and greens often so they don't get bored of one particular thing. Only feeding one or two items is more likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies. When I tell people that, I almost always am asked "But what if they don't eat?" Most pet beardies are WAY overfed. Unless your beardie is very young or recovering from trauma, they can stand a few days of hunger to help motivate them to try new foods.

If you have a beardie under a year or a sickly beardie, you'll need to supplement their diet with some baby food or Critical Care from your vet. Don't let them go more than a day without eating since their bodies can't handle it. Otherwise, practice a little "Tough Love" and let your beardies become hungry enough to start eating their greens & veggies & other insects.

Also, an adult beardie (over a year and a half) will be *healthier* if you only feed insects once a week! YES! You read that right! I do every 10 to 14 days in the winter when they are less active. In the Spring and Summer, I do every 7 to 10 days. I've found that feeding less protein has made my guys much much healthier. They may look at you longingly and beg for feeder insects, but stay strong, Friends! Your beardie will be healthier and live longer with less protein in their diet.

Any questions? Post your comment below.

Munch in the Morning

Mr Munch made it through the night. He had to keep his body propped up because the fluid in his body presses on his lungs when he lays down. I may run him back to the vet to see if we can remove some of the fluid in him.

It's always a relief to check on beardies in the middle of the night and find them breathing. It makes it much, much easier for me to go back to sleep. 

Sicky Boy Munch

I adopted out Munch awhile ago (vague timeline since I can't actually remember when! ;) ) and have been in touch with his owners since then. Today I met them at my vet with a very sick Munch.

This was him on Sunday:

This was him today: 

I had a blood draw done on Munch and a fecal test. He has a massive infestation of pinworms and an incredibly high white blood cell count that is turning toxic. He is throwing up fluids that he was given yesterday which tells me his stomach is not currently working properly. It's possible he has some sort of block or build up of pinworm eggs.

Munch is very sick. :(

I brought him home with me so I can do his supportive care and shots, etc.. He'll be in a sick tank for now. Hopefully the antibiotics and dewormer will start taking effect quickly and we can pull him back from the edge of death. I gave him his first dose of antibiotics before I put him in his soft, warm sick tank. If I can get him to keep fluids down tomorrow, I'll give him his first dose of dewormer.

And then we wait and see if his body has enough strength to keep fighting the infection.

Poor Munch. I hope he pulls through.

A Tale of Two Babies

A couple weeks ago, I took in Baby Raptor because he was losing weight and not eating on his own. I've been force feeding him almost everyday since then. Luckily, he learned to drink on his own and some days I can get him to eat a worm or two. Plus, most days, he loves to eat bits of greens. He was the first time pet of a cute family near me and was way more sickly than they could handle. 

A few days after taking Raptor, I took their second baby beardie, Delta, in because he had stopped eating and drinking too. Both babies came from the same pet store, both are definitely "Failing to Thrive." Delta will drink on his own, but has refused to eat bugs or greens for a week now.

Raptor has been with me for 3 weeks and is still stuck at 5 grams. He is THREE months old and weighs 5 grams! Delta weighs 11 grams and isn't putting on weight either. They get Carnivore Critical Care mixed with a vitamin supplement almost daily and they are not gaining weight. They poop normally and run as fast as they can away from me, but they are not gaining weight.

Poor Raptor sits in his tank like this almost all day. Eyes closed, head up. Thankfully, Delta is a little bit more active.

It's a waiting game. You keep doing what you are doing and wait for them to turn a corner and go up or down. They are either going to start thriving and growing or they will sicken and die. :( It's a crappy waiting game-- especially when you have a cute family waiting for their babies to come back home. Thankfully, 4 years of rescue has perfected my art of force feeding babies-- the right amount of mix put into a 1 cc/mL syringe with the tip of a Tom Cat catheter on the top to make a small enough tube to put in a tiny mouth.

I'm seeing and reading about a LOT of babies being sent to the national chain pet stores here in America that have this same problem-- Failure to Thrive. It must be a genetic component or something. My guess is sloppy husbandry and sloppy breeding practices are creating inferior, genetically messed up babies. :( Poor things.

For now I will keep on keeping on as I help these two. I'm still force feeding Kiwi, the chameleon, and there's not much difference between force feeding two or three or four.


On a brighter note, this fatty girl, Gen, who tipped the scales last week at 758 grams, was a "Failure to Thrive" baby who was force fed twice a day for THREE months! She was 15 grams forever! She finally got over it. :) There is hope for Delta & Raptor, but it's a long & hard process.