Mufasa and Norberta

I'm so glad to hear Norberta is doing better now. It's an awful feeling when they get really sick and things don't look good despite your best efforts.

No problem Makayla, love the pics and so glad it was the lack of liquid calcium that was affecting Norberta. Glad I was right about no yellow fungus, too, and that she's now doing well. Great news

I always love seeing pictures of your girls. Cierra is still brumating, since end July; Nathaniel since mid July; Castiel since end August. And Imp keeps trying to brumate, so he likes to dig up the newspaper, sit on top of it and have his head close to the door so he can see what's coming. I won't let him do that, he either sleeps or he's up and basks, so that's what he's doing today. I'm going to put some food in his tank and see if he'll eat.

Just walked Bella, Eric is so busy going to Tara's every night for supper and taking the kids for a long walk to get them to sleep better and that's working, then he comes here and goes to bed. I'm glad I was able to give him a place to stay but I'll be glad when he has his own place.

Thank you CooperDragon! It really was, she was black all over and wouldn't move, so just seeing her walk weeks after the second vet visit was amazing.
Deb yes, your help was so great through all of that! I have so many pics of them, I just need to upload some of them! Your crew is so funny, poor Imp wanting to sleep, haha! Is Eric's knee feeling better now?
Mufasa is back asleep today, silly girl. She was up for two days so that was nice to see her for a bit.

That's what Imp is doing, he's been up 3 days now, not brumating, but he slept for a week. Not sure if he'll do it again, either way, will make sure he's fed well today.

Is Imp still trying to sleep?

Well Mufasa is still down, I woke her up to her great displeasure to put a warmer blanket in her hide and the stink eye she gave me was hilarious!! :lol: She has to get up for real tomorrow.

Norberta has had an okay week, yesterday she couldn't move three legs but she doesn't look like she is in pain. I've ordered more liquid calcium (we're low) so that should be on its way and this will stop soon. She wouldn't eat her roaches yesterday so we'll try again today.

I went to a reptile show Saturday and ALMOST came home with new babies, LOL!! All the baby beardies were adorable and I fell in love with a ball python and a blue tongued skink. Sadly I was only there for feeders.

Just let Mufasa sleep, unless you want to give her a bath. She might sleep for awhile yet. Hard to say at her age, like Imp. He's been up for a week since the last sleep. He's not moving around much and I caught him in his hide with his eyes open, and that's not allowed in my house, so I got him up and he's been getting up every since. Today, though, he went to sleep in his hide, so I'll see how it goes. I fed him today, so if he does sleep, not for longer than 4 or so days.

I'm sure Norberta will feel better once she gets her liquid calcium again. She gets it daily, right?

Everything is fine here, got the MRI Monday night, see doc on Nov 7 and probably start back to work before end November, depending on what's wrong.

Eric has met a woman friend, so he's feeling better, even though he's now realizing how nuts his ex really is. But he has to deal with her because of the kids. Even though she wanted Eric out, she's finding it very difficult to deal with the kids. I feel for her, but she is the mom and has to deal with them. It's not a good situation and I'm glad they're here on the weekends.

I'm letting her sleep until Wednesday, that's when I weigh all the reptiles and try and give baths, but Mufasa the stinker just went right back to bed, XD!
Yes, Norberta gets 0.05 every day, so I'm not sure why she has swollen back up. I'm wondering if she needs more daily, she's hit 150g so maybe she needs to bump up the amount?
Hope it's nothing bad and you can get back to work soon!
Good for Eric, hopefully things will get back to a more normal routine for you guys soon.

Give her .2 ml, just a bit extra. What kind of liquid calcium are you using? The best for her might be the Calciblast that Tracie sells on her site www.bug-de-lite.com. It's a great calcium mix and might be just what she needs. You can talk to Tracie about it. Her user name here is Drache613 or you can email her at [email protected]. She's as good as a vet in my opinion and has helped me alot over the last 10 years. She'll answer your questions within a day or two.

That's the problem with brumation, they will want to sleep continuously. So when you get her up on Wednesday to weigh her and bathe her, make sure she basks so she dries well, then if she goes back to sleep let her. Don't feed her at all as long as she's sleeping, as she won't digest her food. That's why, with Imp, I might let him sleep for a few days but then he's up and not eating for a few days in case he goes back to sleep. I hate brumation, it's hard to know what to do. I have to get the 3 sleepers up (Cierra, Castiel and Nathaniel) for baths soon. Next week after the kids have gone home after the weekend.

I am using the calcium from the first vet (he gave me a decent amount so I hadn't finished it) and I literally just ordered and got some liquid calcium from Tracie! I'll have to try and message her, thank you!

Yup, that's what I'm doing, no food since she insists on sleeping. It is so hard, this being our first brumation it's slightly insane LOL!!

How is Gabriel doing?

Gabriel is still hanging in there, still eating and loves to bask under the ramp light. He's still my snuggle bug, gets up every morning. His belly is expanding still, he's gained over 40g with just tummy weight (blood does weigh alot, doesn't it). I can feel the aneurysm in his belly and it's still there, so hasn't popped. His right eye isn't doing well, almost through the antibacterial drops but doesn't make any difference, it's closed alot of the time and that side of his face doesn't look the same as the left side, which is normal. Not sure what's causing that but it doesn't seem to bother him. I get him out of his tank in the am so he can run around the living room a bit, otherwise he doesn't move very much. He's sharing the tank with Cierra (who's fast asleep and will be for a few months yet) for now as otherwise he'd be in my bedroom and he'd hate that. He likes to see what's going on. He especially likes to keep an eye on the grandkids on the weekend LOL. Every day is a blessing for me as I will be so sad when I lose him. I'm hoping that won't be for a very long time yet.

And brumation is very hard to understand. Did you read the article on here at the top of the page? It's a very informative article and I read it every year, even though this is my 7th year of beardies. I'm glad you're getting calcium through Tracie and yes, contact her, she's a great resource!

I'm off to walk Bella, then to the chiro as my back is out. Talk to you later!

Give Gabriel a snuggle for me!
I think I flipped through it, I need to read it all the way through still. XD
Now to get the calcium into Norberta.

I just peeked at calendar B and Norberta got a full page spread!!! Mufasa looks stunning as well, XD

So, update on both the girls.
Mufasa is STILL brumating! Crazy girl, I wake her up Wednesday's and she stays up for maybe two days if we're lucky before she goes back to sleep. So not much changing about her, isn't loosing much weight so that's great.
Norberta is doing okay, she is walking a little better and eating her roaches most of the time. I was able to contact Tracie and she has been amazing, she sent me some Allopurinol because she thinks it is gout, so I'm trying to find a vet who can do blood work to make sure for us. My sweet baby looks so sad, but I'm giving her snuggles, blankets, food and medicine so hopefully she knows she's loved. <3

Cierra and Nathaniel are still asleep, but Imp, Castiel (he woke up yesterday morning) and Gabriel are still up. So got Castiel snuggles for 1st time since Aug. This is his first brumation and he was knocked out for 2 1/2 mo. I didn't feel well yesterday, so except for the long snuggle, I didn't do anything dragon yesterday. So now need to get up (stop being lazy) and get on with baths and feedings. I wouldn't give her weekly baths anymore, put them to every 2 weeks instead. That's what I'm doing and they seem to enjoy that more.

I'm so glad you contacted Tracie, she's a wonderful woman. Her Napolean had gout and she kept him alive for 6 years. Gout affects the kidneys, and it's the kidney readings that determine if it is gout. It creates uric acid around the joints, that's the swelling. Did she say to get dark cherry extract, too? That's also supposed to give her a bit of a boost and work against the acid build up. It's always hard when one of your dragons is sick and there's not a huge amount you can do about it.

I'd best get going. Oh I'm waiting to hear back from work about doing a couple of short shifts to see if I can even do it. I find my back is really sore after just 15 min walk with Bella. The travel time to work is 45 min. Each way, so have to work on that. Plus it's our rainy season, so even though we had a dry day yesterday, today it's raining again.

Keep me updated on your girls, k? Gabriel, Castiel and Imp all say hi!

Talk to you soon. Are you still giving Norberta Serrepeptase? and also a probiotic. I've been getting Tracie's new liquid one called Reptophilus. I mainly give it to Imp but starting to give it to all of them, won't do them any harm after all. It's great stuff!

Yay Castiel! How old is he again, a little over a year right? Or almost two?
Are you feeling better today? I started feeling not so great yesterday too, it's not fun. I'll do that baths every other week then!
That is amazing! Yup, she gets black cherry juice, allopurinol and liquid calcium every day.
Crazy, hope your back feels better and you can start working again!
The boys all look so handsome! I love the pic of you and Castiel. Give Gabriel snuggles for me, he looks so tired.
I am not giving her either of those actually, I do have some of her Reptophilus though so I may start giving her both of those, she really hates taking meds though so I'll have to figure out how to get them all into her, LOL
Pics of the girls from recently!
Mufasa looking pretty, was not pleased to be woken up XD
Norberta relaxing on the floor of her tank, she has a ton of blankets now that she likes to sit on and then props her head on her rock.

Blankets are wonderful. I bought a set of fleece blankets, 5 sets back in 2011 and they still look as good as when I got them. They all have a blanket in their tank (except for Nathaniel, he's too much of a cowboy, he has a pillow instead).

So Castiel went back into his hide today and is sound asleep again, not sure how long this one will last. Gabriel does look tired but no pain. He can see Imp from his tank, so had a nice black beard on today :lol: Imp ate a bit more, we'll see if he's still up tomorrow.

I'm feeling much better. Painkillers helped stop the pain in my stomach and today I'm good and eating well again.

You tell Norberta to hang in there. If you don't think she needs the Serrepeptase, stick with the Reptophilus. She's taking meds so should be taking a probiotic, too.

Mufasa looking great, even if she is annoyed you woke her up :lol: