I had a sobering reminder this evening just on how quickly things can go bad, and the importance of being prepared and knowledgeable on the creatures you are keeping.
Tonight everyone was getting their bath. I forget at times just how much smaller Moro is than Tombo, and I had placed Moro in an amount of water that should have only been used for Tombo, and not her.
Everything was fine, she drank a lot, and then did her normal splish-splashing about.
But everything went bad in the scope of a few seconds.
Moro had completely ducked her head under water, and did a furious thrashing about, all while her head was submerged. At first I figured the violent throw was to shake water out of her ear or something, so I wasn't alarmed by it. But then, she went under and did it again.
I immediately picked her up, and she shook her whole bodily very violently from side to side again, while in my hand. Now I knew something was wrong. And things went downhill VERY quickly.
After her final thrash, I could tell she was struggling to breath. Her mouth was open and her beard inflated. She was pushing hard trying to expel the water she had aspirated.
I held her body downwards to help drain any water that might be in there. She continued to struggle, and bubbles started to form around her mouth. All this has happened within 30 seconds of eachother or so.
Then she started to go limp...
Her head started to lower, her legs lost strength, and her eyes started to close. She went completely limp. No life at all, eyes shut, gone.
My heart sank as I was watching this unfold in my hands.
I angled her almost completely vertical, face down, and shaked her side to side, hoping I could dislodge any water in her lungs, and allow it to drain out so that she could start breathing again. Nothing happened. I tried again, nothing happened. I palpitated on her chest a few times, and her mouth opened wide, her body puffed up, and she started struggling again to breathe.
Her eyes opened up, her body stiffened back up under her control, and she started fighting to breathe once more. After a few minutes, she had closed her mouth, and was breathing very hard, but she was alive and could support her own weight. 5 minutes later, her breathing had softened up a bit, and she wasn't struggling as much. Once her breathing was back to something semi-normal, I put her back under her basking spot.
An hour or so later her color lightened back up, and her breathing calmed down.
And 3 hours later, as I am writing this, she is roaming around her tank just as she was before the incident.
Few important lessons here for everyone.
Accidents can happen, so you should be prepared with as much knowledge as you can before something happens. I have given dragons thousands of baths over the years, this is a first.
Only allow your dragon to bathe in an appropriate depth of water. This was my big mistake tonight. And a sobering reminder that no matter how long you've been doing something, how many times they've gone right, that an accident can still happen.
-Brandon
Tonight everyone was getting their bath. I forget at times just how much smaller Moro is than Tombo, and I had placed Moro in an amount of water that should have only been used for Tombo, and not her.
Everything was fine, she drank a lot, and then did her normal splish-splashing about.
But everything went bad in the scope of a few seconds.
Moro had completely ducked her head under water, and did a furious thrashing about, all while her head was submerged. At first I figured the violent throw was to shake water out of her ear or something, so I wasn't alarmed by it. But then, she went under and did it again.
I immediately picked her up, and she shook her whole bodily very violently from side to side again, while in my hand. Now I knew something was wrong. And things went downhill VERY quickly.
After her final thrash, I could tell she was struggling to breath. Her mouth was open and her beard inflated. She was pushing hard trying to expel the water she had aspirated.
I held her body downwards to help drain any water that might be in there. She continued to struggle, and bubbles started to form around her mouth. All this has happened within 30 seconds of eachother or so.
Then she started to go limp...
Her head started to lower, her legs lost strength, and her eyes started to close. She went completely limp. No life at all, eyes shut, gone.
My heart sank as I was watching this unfold in my hands.
I angled her almost completely vertical, face down, and shaked her side to side, hoping I could dislodge any water in her lungs, and allow it to drain out so that she could start breathing again. Nothing happened. I tried again, nothing happened. I palpitated on her chest a few times, and her mouth opened wide, her body puffed up, and she started struggling again to breathe.
Her eyes opened up, her body stiffened back up under her control, and she started fighting to breathe once more. After a few minutes, she had closed her mouth, and was breathing very hard, but she was alive and could support her own weight. 5 minutes later, her breathing had softened up a bit, and she wasn't struggling as much. Once her breathing was back to something semi-normal, I put her back under her basking spot.
An hour or so later her color lightened back up, and her breathing calmed down.
And 3 hours later, as I am writing this, she is roaming around her tank just as she was before the incident.
Few important lessons here for everyone.
Accidents can happen, so you should be prepared with as much knowledge as you can before something happens. I have given dragons thousands of baths over the years, this is a first.
Only allow your dragon to bathe in an appropriate depth of water. This was my big mistake tonight. And a sobering reminder that no matter how long you've been doing something, how many times they've gone right, that an accident can still happen.
-Brandon