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Gecko number 2 has been under the weather lately. We had a debilitating storm a couple months back that left us without power for a couple days. The warm area in the gecko palace got down to below 55 degrees F for a fairly extensive period when it should stay just below 100 degrees F. Our younger gecko dealt fine with it and snapped right back after a really slow day or two.

Our older one, the one that's been with us the shorter time, wasn't so lucky. Her feet started swelling up so we got her in to the vet. Bacterial infection. We started injections every two days for it. It started getting better. She started growing again, had a shed, then her feet started swelling again.

Back to the doc she went. Turns out we'd knocked back the original bacteria, but she'd picked up another one during her shed. So, a new drug, this one oral, every day dosing. She started healing, started growing again, had a shed, and appeared to be OK. Until a couple days ago. Feet started swelling yet again. Now her chest is starting to swell up along the sides. She's going back to the doc yet again.

The worst part of this is we have no idea how old she actually is. We got her from my brother-in-law, who had gotten her from a friend who had gotten her from a friend. Essentially, we're so far removed from point of origin that we don't know much about her history other than brother-in-law went through a neglectful period before we got ahold of her and we received her in pretty rough shape. Parasites, infections, you name it. We'd nursed her back to health and she's had several years of stomping the shit out of crickets and worms since until this came up.

The past week or so Gecko #1 has been standing protectively over Gecko #2 in one of their shared hides in the back of their palace anytime she's not hunting. She won't let anybody near her but me. If the wife reaches too close she gets bit. That's not normally Gecko #1's personality at all. She's friendly with everybody but the cats most of the time.

In amongst all the other life drama right now (mom in mental ward/shock treatments, her husband going into depression right when she needs him most, whole family going batshit over this mess, things going completely mental at work, a dog recovering from a torn ACL repair surgery, several other unmentionables) this is getting to me a bit. I hate it when the animals aren't healthy and we can't seem to do the right thing to help them out in a timely fashion.

It may seem silly to those of you that don't have any connection to our cold blooded bretheren, but she's a part of the family.

And it's easier to focus on this than the shit I literally CAN'T do anything about at the moment.

Fuck dude. Sounds like stress city. With all the other shit just happening around and then a sick pet, that would get me headed toward a bottle super fast. Much mojo sent man.

mojo dude.


makes me miss my iguanas

Awww, mojo sent dude, that sucks. Hopefully she can get healthy so Gecko #1 goes back to normal as well. Its awesome that Gecko #1 is protecting the weaker one...just not so good its against you all.

I hate it when animals are suffering.

Mucho mojo sent from the Ovid household!

I know how stressful these things are. A few months ago we almost lost one of our chinchillas to diabetes and it was very traumatic. She's doing fine now but it took a LOT of visits to the doctor, different meds etc and it stressed the hell out of the whole family.
Mojo sent man, hopefully she will pull through.

Thanks guys. She's not looking good this morning. All puffed up around her armpit area and feet and legs looking unusably swollen.

Billy, I've seen a lot of smaller furry critters suffer from diabetes over the last decade or so, none of my own but several friends. Seems like that one is a BITCH to try and beat once they get it.

Oh noes.

mojo sent

My old bass player had a Chameleon that he adored. It was so cool. One time we saw a cockroach and this thing slapped its tongue out like three feet away and snagged it. Twas pretty sweet. One day the Chameleon was chillin' on his chest while he was watching TV... He fell asleep, and rolled over and killed it. Dude was devastated. I don't think he's owned another since. Sniper was his name. He was a good dude.

Telephant wrote:My old bass player had a Chameleon that he adored. It was so cool. One time we saw a cockroach and this thing slapped its tongue out like three feet away and snagged it. Twas pretty sweet. One day the Chameleon was chillin' on his chest while he was watching TV... He fell asleep, and rolled over and killed it. Dude was devastated. I don't think he's owned another since. Sniper was his name. He was a good dude.

Oh man, that would be a sucky way to end a pet.

Well, Gecko #2 went to the doc. Essentially, what's happening is she's not healing very quickly, so the build up of puss in her limbs is calcifying, causing her to go into a slight calcium deficit, causing her lymph nodes (chest/armpit area) to work overtime, making them stressed and swollen. And the best part of all is the calcification means it will take even longer for her to heal. Poor girl, she looks a mess already and the doc's saying same drug, same dose, only instead of the original three weeks we're now looking at something like two more months.

But according to him, what we're seeing, while not normal for this type of infection, is something that can happen and it's not life threatening yet. She's miserable, but keeping her warm, moist hide warm and moist and keeping her drugged is the best we can do for her until her body starts to recupe.

Essentially, it sucks for now, but it'll get better later.

Sniper is an awesome name for a chameleon. What a way to go though.

Well, NFA, hopefully she pulls through!

ovid9 wrote:I hate it when animals are suffering.

This x 100. Mojo sent.

Thanks guys. She does seem a little better over the weekend. She was out hunting last night and actually doing alright with it. She's still pretty swollen, but she's at least mobile again.

Update:
She's still not doing so hot. She's had another shed, went into another remission, and essentially is back to being imobile. The vet's setting us up with a nutritional mix to hand feed her because she hasn't been hunting on her own for a few days.

Also, while medicating her a couple days back she bit me hard enough on a finger to actually pull off a chunk of skin. How that happens with no teeth is beyond me, but it happened. It was alright for a couple days but a skin flap broke loose last night and I can't currently hold a pick to play guitar. More .

Hoping she pulls through this yet, but man does she seem weak outside of her jaws.

Damn dude, renewed mojo sent to the gecko crew!

Must be tough to hand feed those little guys. Mojo sent!

According to the vet, after the first feeding she should eat this stuff really easily on her own if she smells it.

We had to hand feed Gecko #1 for almost four months when we first got her due to malnutrition. It's not fun, but it's doable. Babyfood filled syringes EVERYWHERE.

Not looking good guys. She's incredibly weak now. So weak she has trouble swallowing when I feed her the fairly liquidy food. She has just enough strength to pull herself off the warm areas of the floor, which she needs to stay on to digest her food. I think she's given up, and while we keep trying to help her in every way we know how, I don't think it's working. The vet continues to say it's just a matter of time. Sadly, I don't think she has much time left. We don't know how old she is so it's possible her age has caught up with her while she was attempting to fight this off. At this point, other than dragging her to the doc again, we're not sure there's anything else we can do. Watching her shrivel up and be miserable is getting to be painful for the whole house. Even the dogs and cats seem wrapped up in the drama surrounding the gecko enclosure right now.

Gecko #1 has taken to leaving her alone rather than protecting her. We don't think that's a good sign either.

Appreciate the well wishes you guys have sent.

Awww, man, I was hoping she was going to pull through.

Well, here's hoping for the best still!

Bella Kobes-Lee
Unknown to 6-25-2013
R.I.P.

Found her corpse when I got home tonight. She had still been able to move her head this morning when I went to work. Still processing this. The family is a little tore up at the moment. Puppy 2 gave her corpse a kiss when I gave the dogs and cats their moment to smell the corpse and find closure. The cats sniffed and moved on. Puppy 1 just kept looking at me like . Can't blame her. I'd look at me that way too right now. We don't know what else we could do for her, but she's gone now. At least the suffering is over.

Thanks again for the well wishes guys. It was appreciated. And now those well wishes are passed to whatever spirit a gecko may take past this mortal realm.

Awww dammit.

Well, at least the poor lil thing isn't suffering anymore.

Mojo sent man.

Sorry to hear that man. Losing a pet is always awful

Thank you, guys.

House was really weird this morning. Gecko #1 kept prowling around the enclosure looking around, and would sometimes stop and lay in the spots Gecko #2 had always claimed as her favorites. Pups were dumpy as hell. Cats just sorta left everybody alone, even during the time they usually swarm us on the couch for their morning attention.

The wife is already asking if we should look into finding another friend for Gecko #1. I'm trying really hard to convince her that even little critters like that need some mourning time. The whole house is sorta in transition and everything needs time to settle.

Bella has been sent to the crematorium and will be returned to us in a picture box urn, to be placed at rest with her kitty sisters that have already left us. Wife and I have a plan for all our pets and us to be placed together once we are gone, and even she wanted to be sure even the smallest of us stays with us. The vetrinary assistants were extremely kind and helpful, though the one who had held her a few times was somewhat upset that she was gone.

Our niece had been Bella's keeper for a few years with the help of her father until they realized they were a bit out of their element and things started to slide with her health that they didn't know how to deal with. We had nursed her back from that and she had been with us since 2010 and quite healthy up until the ice storm this spring that left us without power. The enclosure's hot side god extremely cold and she became infected with bacteria. The rest of the saga is contained in this thread.

Our niece is young enough that this is still a big deal to her. She's promised us a special display that she will make to be placed with Bella's urn once it is returned to us. It seems to be hitting her pretty hard at the moment. We're going to have her over once the urn comes back and let her help us set up the display in the spot we've chosen for Bella's resting spot until we all move together.

Weird how such a small creature had such an impact on us. Gonna take a while for us all to heal.

awww man very sad, R.I.P.

Man, sorry to hear that brother