More about Me

Instead of a post about my critters, I've been wanting to do a post about me and what my life is like outside of rescue. These are in no particular order. 

I started off 5 years ago helping a bird rescue, but the feathers were too much for my husband's allergies and I quit. I do have a record of the birds on my wall. I have a feather from almost every bird I fostered. 

I love reading and I love books! My bookshelves are overflowing and I have boxes of books too that are in storage. Can you have too many books? No. 

I love baking bread! I make really really really good bread. I also make freezer jam every summer with local berries or apricots. 

I learned how to make pies (finally) and make my own apple pie filling from the apples from my tree.

Family get-together and holidays mean I'll make bread & pie now. 

Oh and I make good chocolate chip cookies too. 

I LOVE Dr Pepper & Pepsi. I try to break up with them but can't do it long term. ;) I usually trade off between one or the other. Currently, I'm drinking Pepsi. 

I've been married for almost 18 years now. Nate & I have lived in Utah, New Mexico, and Florida. We both got our bachelors degrees a year after we got married and then he went on to get his Master's degree and then his PhD in Education. 

Yes, he is SUPER patient with my critters and is a very very good guy. Plus, he is an excellent judge of character and has an amazing wife! ;) 

I'm a Mormon and have been my whole life. Growing up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has taught me compassion and the need to love others. My religion is the foundation of what I do and who I am. 

I love my shoes! Because I have "difficult" feet, I have to wear good shoes. Thankfully there are good shoes that are fun and colorful! These are Alegria. 

This is me in front of the Napolean Dynamite house. It was flippin' sweet to visit and one of my favorite movies! 

I love blue skies & sunflowers & taking pictures of nature. 

I LOVE the beach!! I spent my teenage years in the Los Angeles area and fell in love with the beach. I drive to Southern California at least once a year for beach therapy. M.U.S.T. have Beach time!! 

I like watching The Biggest Loser, reading Regency novels (think Jane Austen), and thinking of funny things to post on Facebook. Like this:

Oh and 10 years ago I wrote and published a book. But that's a post for another day. I'm in the process of converting it into an eBook and then I'll post links to it. 

There's a little bit about me. :) for now. 

Fecal Samples

About a year into rescuing, I got a microscope and supplies to do fecal float tests. I know-- weird, but very cool. 

Now I'm able to do quick fecal tests on my rescues who appear to have parasite overloads. Lots of experience and a sensitive nose has been the best guide for parasites though. Parasitic poop stinks! And it's runny & sticky. 

Normal poop is solid and has a distinct white urate (looks like chalk). Half of the poop below is good & solid. The other half is unformed and blob-like (due to feeding this guy baby food). 

When I get a new beardie I usually wait a week or two to conduct a fecal test. Most poop issues correct themselves with good diet, proper temperatures, and clean enclosures. I can a beardie with a parasitic overload on day 1 that has a clean fecal sample two weeks later. 

My vet doesn't treat parasites if the beardie is asymptotic since the majority  of beardies have a small amount parasites without an issue. 

Symptoms include- diarrhea, strong & foul odor, weight loss, lack of appetite, lethargy, etc. If there are coccidia & pinworm eggs, a week of dewormer is given. 

My big boy Max always has a few pinworm eggs. It doesn't bother him so I don't worry about it. 

Here's a screenshot of some digested food from Spike the 3rd's fecal sample. I found no eggs at all which leaves me wondering why he keeps bleeding when he poops. Time to chat with my vet. 

Beautiful -- Active-- Boy

Simba woke up this morning more alert and active than I've ever seen him. He's been following me with his eyes and moving around his tank. He had a normal poop with no blood and a nice drink. 

I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am!! 

Easy Peasy..... Or Not So Much

The last few rescues were supposed to be "easy." 

Uh huh. 

After 3+ years of rescue, I should know that anything that's "easy" is guaranteed to be not. Like this post-- I wrote it this morning and right before it posted, Blogger froze and I lost the entire thing. Ugh! Irony! This is my 2nd rewrite. 

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Spike the 3rd-- 

He was healthy and friendly, right? 

Nope. He hid under the paper towels for two days straight and he pooped, it had quite a bit of blood in it. Now I'm waiting for his next poop so I can do a fecal test. 

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Fatty Patty--

This girl was supposed to be at her new home already. She is a B.R.A.T.!! I can't even touch her. I'm so busy with my Etsy shop and the sicklies that I've just been letting her chill. 

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Lucky--

This little guy went from a friendly (?) little guy to a monster. And he's taken to hiding in his hide all the time. And he won't eat on his own. 

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Jessie-- 

This girl has discovered her independence and her love of food. She hates being held and is happiest being left alone. She has an adoption pending but the owner doesn't quite have enough money yet. 

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Smaug-- 

He was supposed to be wild and difficult. He was a spaz for two days and then calmed down. I discovered two infected cuts on the tip of his tail that have become necrotic (dying). He'll have to have about a half inch of his tail amputated on Monday. Maybe that will make him happier. 

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The rest--- 

Dragon-- His bones are still rubbery and he won't eat on his own and he hides all the time. :(  He's not doing well. 

Simba-- Poor guy is hanging in there. He has a vet check on Monday. We'll see if he's improved any. I don't want to prolong his suffering, but I don't want to give up on him. 

Peanut-- His adoption is all set up but it's  too cold to ship him out of state. 

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So I have 12 beardies. 6 are permanent; the others can't be adopted or shipped. 

Easy peasy? Not so much 

Beautiful Boy

John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" song plays in my mind when I look at this pic.

Simba is still hanging on. He's keeping his food down and pooping normally with very little blood. 

So at least for today, he looks good. 

Sweet Dory

Poor Dory had a hard time letting go today. The euthanasia injection took an hour to work. 

It's so hard when they aren't able to pass away peacefully and quickly. Most of the time it's because of the medicine not staying in the blood stream. If it leaks out of the blood vessel and is absorbed into the surrounding tissue, it takes longer for the medicine to be absorbed and stop the heart. 

The good news is that while I was waiting I got to watch a sugar glider surgery and x-rays on a duck. 

The Most Amazing Surprise

My friend Charli surprised me with this incredible watercolor painting of my sweet iguanas, Turbo & Sancho who were put down last September.

Isn't it amazing?!? 

I sell one of Charli's prints in my Etsy-- see it HERE. And she also does custom pet paintings-- click HERE. 

THANK YOU, Charli!!! I love it SO much!! 

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.