Thomasthebeardie
Member
Hi Everyone -
I haven't posted much on here but wanted to share a story I hope will make your day. Some things only beardie owners understand. This definitely fits this category. :lol:
So we own 2 beardies. One is Thomas. He is turning 8 in a few weeks and we got him as a hatchling, so he's pretty much our baby. He is owned by our 15 year old son, Danny. The other is Hayley. She is turning 7 in a few weeks and we also got her as a hatchling. She is owned by our 13 year old daughter, Meghan.
We have a wonderful vet nearby who specializes in exotic pets - we are so incredibly grateful for him! If any of you live in Connecticut, he's Dr. Paul Chace in Farmington. He is awesome.
Anyway, Thomas has been to see Dr. Chace twice before but it's been 5 years. We last took him because he was constipated. The other time it was for wierd behavior :lol: . He's been extremely healthy this entire time. We feed our beardies very well and take great care of them.
Hayley saw Dr. Chace a few months ago - my daughter thought she had metabolic bone disease. Turns out she didn't. She was fine. We DID find out, however, that she was not actually a she, but a HE. My daughter was a little upset as she's had her for almost 7 years now. She's completely in denial. Continues calling her a girl.
It got us thinking... maybe Thomas was actually female? Dr. Chace asked me to send a photo to his email. I did, and he confirmed that Thomas was female. I did NOT tell my son as he said it would rock his entire world to find out he was female after almost having him for 8 years. So I didn't say anything.
Well, a few weeks ago, Thomas' tail got suddenly dark at the end. We were extremely worried it was tail rot. We did the Betadine soaks and Neosporin. It didn't seem to clear up. On top of all of this we've been away a lot this summer and unable to bring Thomas in to be seen. I posted here and a few of you responded that you didn't think it was tail rot. We had no idea what it could be as he didn't appear to get injured in any way? He wasn't peeling. He seemed otherwise fine - eating well, energy, etc. I tried not to worry about it, but as loving beardie owners do, I lost sleep over it.
It had been two weeks as of yesterday. I'm getting ready to go away again tomorrow. We NEEDED to bring him in to see Dr. Chace.
I had two major fears:
1) That it was tail rot
2) That "he" was filled with eggs and that my son would find out he's really female :shock: My son was actually convinced that he was pregnant (just carrying infertile eggs as our beardies don't get together at all so he wouldn't have mated). He kept voicing this to me, not knowing that I was keeping a secret from him all this time. I felt like a horrible mother.
Obviously his health was most important. We made an appointment for today. I was prepared for Danny to know the truth about Thomas. I just cared about him (her?????) being ok.
Brought him in. Danny told the tech to check his sex because he thought he was female. The vet turned him over... pointed out his "boy parts." :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: OMG! He's actually a boy! Praise God!!!
Looked at his tail - said he thought it looked slightly injured but that it wasn't tail rot as it wasn't black all the way through and wasn't dried out. He took some dull scissors to "cut" the tail to see if Thomas reacted (to see if there were nerve endings) - Thomas jumped - confirmed the tail was living and not rotted. Praise God again!
I don't know how he could have injured it... but... I'll take it!
We leave the office. Stopped at Rita's Water Ice for a little celebratory treat. I sent my son in to get us some water ice and stayed with Thomas in the car. It was really sunny. I started examining his tail.. touched it a little... it began peeling! I think the dull scissor test actually got this going a bit! So I guess it got dark because it was about to peel.
We are so relieved!
Thank you to everyone who responded and helped me. I'm planning to come on here more often to pay it forward!
Here's a picture of our boy on his candy corn stuffy.
Little stinker!
Caren
I haven't posted much on here but wanted to share a story I hope will make your day. Some things only beardie owners understand. This definitely fits this category. :lol:
So we own 2 beardies. One is Thomas. He is turning 8 in a few weeks and we got him as a hatchling, so he's pretty much our baby. He is owned by our 15 year old son, Danny. The other is Hayley. She is turning 7 in a few weeks and we also got her as a hatchling. She is owned by our 13 year old daughter, Meghan.
We have a wonderful vet nearby who specializes in exotic pets - we are so incredibly grateful for him! If any of you live in Connecticut, he's Dr. Paul Chace in Farmington. He is awesome.
Anyway, Thomas has been to see Dr. Chace twice before but it's been 5 years. We last took him because he was constipated. The other time it was for wierd behavior :lol: . He's been extremely healthy this entire time. We feed our beardies very well and take great care of them.
Hayley saw Dr. Chace a few months ago - my daughter thought she had metabolic bone disease. Turns out she didn't. She was fine. We DID find out, however, that she was not actually a she, but a HE. My daughter was a little upset as she's had her for almost 7 years now. She's completely in denial. Continues calling her a girl.
It got us thinking... maybe Thomas was actually female? Dr. Chace asked me to send a photo to his email. I did, and he confirmed that Thomas was female. I did NOT tell my son as he said it would rock his entire world to find out he was female after almost having him for 8 years. So I didn't say anything.
Well, a few weeks ago, Thomas' tail got suddenly dark at the end. We were extremely worried it was tail rot. We did the Betadine soaks and Neosporin. It didn't seem to clear up. On top of all of this we've been away a lot this summer and unable to bring Thomas in to be seen. I posted here and a few of you responded that you didn't think it was tail rot. We had no idea what it could be as he didn't appear to get injured in any way? He wasn't peeling. He seemed otherwise fine - eating well, energy, etc. I tried not to worry about it, but as loving beardie owners do, I lost sleep over it.
It had been two weeks as of yesterday. I'm getting ready to go away again tomorrow. We NEEDED to bring him in to see Dr. Chace.
I had two major fears:
1) That it was tail rot
2) That "he" was filled with eggs and that my son would find out he's really female :shock: My son was actually convinced that he was pregnant (just carrying infertile eggs as our beardies don't get together at all so he wouldn't have mated). He kept voicing this to me, not knowing that I was keeping a secret from him all this time. I felt like a horrible mother.
Obviously his health was most important. We made an appointment for today. I was prepared for Danny to know the truth about Thomas. I just cared about him (her?????) being ok.
Brought him in. Danny told the tech to check his sex because he thought he was female. The vet turned him over... pointed out his "boy parts." :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: OMG! He's actually a boy! Praise God!!!
Looked at his tail - said he thought it looked slightly injured but that it wasn't tail rot as it wasn't black all the way through and wasn't dried out. He took some dull scissors to "cut" the tail to see if Thomas reacted (to see if there were nerve endings) - Thomas jumped - confirmed the tail was living and not rotted. Praise God again!
I don't know how he could have injured it... but... I'll take it!
We leave the office. Stopped at Rita's Water Ice for a little celebratory treat. I sent my son in to get us some water ice and stayed with Thomas in the car. It was really sunny. I started examining his tail.. touched it a little... it began peeling! I think the dull scissor test actually got this going a bit! So I guess it got dark because it was about to peel.
We are so relieved!
Thank you to everyone who responded and helped me. I'm planning to come on here more often to pay it forward!
Here's a picture of our boy on his candy corn stuffy.
Little stinker!
Caren
