Spike went missing late October. I spent hours and hours searching our house and outside. I gave up and thought she had been left outside in the confusion while I was installing tiles on the kitchen floor. I figured a raccoon had made a snack out of her. Recently my wife had a dream that Spike was alive and wanted to get in the house. Out of the blue today my wife came in from the yard with her; Spike was outside and walked up to her. We are really happy.
Spike weighs about 480 grams which is about what she weighed before disappearing. She is darker than usual, her walk is stiff and she doesn't want to eat (she refused a wax worm.) I'll give her a good soak and if in a few days she doesn't shake this off, I'll take her to to vet. We are all so glad she is home.
Congratulations on finding Spike ! I hope she is alright ! What a naughty child, roaming around outside all alone, scaring you and herself ! I hope you keep us posted on how she is !
Janie
:shock: OH MY GOD!!!! I had completely forgotten about her being missing outside!
I'll bet your wife was more shocked to see Spike walking up to her than she admitted. If that happened to me, I probably would've thought I was dreaming and Spike wasn't really standing there, and probably would've fainted too.
Too bad beardies can't talk, because I sure would love to know where she'd been for the past 5.5 months, what she'd been eating, who had been protecting her.
Thank you so much for all your well wishes. It's nice to hear how glad everyone is for Spike and us. This is Juanita "the wife" posting the reply. You nailed it - I was totally SHOCKED to see Spike again!! She emerged from my neighbor's flower garden, where I'm sure there was plenty of food, but she's SO LUCKY she didn't get troweled up or hoed! Or BLOWN by those noisy, terrifying leaf blowers! She's so fortunate that the weather here rarely hits freezing - we're in Silicon Valley; so it only froze for a few hours at a time, maybe 3 times this winter. I think our little critter barely survived. It's incredible she made it through the winter and came back to us when she saw me outside. Just amazing.
You have no idea how David has pined for her. We all missed her, the kids cried, I searched and called; but David was clearing the leaves litterally one handful at a time, and going through every inch of the yard with his fingers; he was lifting heavy furniture to search their hidey-holes with a flashlight. He searched for weeks, until the first freeze. We told the kids something less tramatic, but David really thought she'd met her end. I held out hope. I said we'd wait until mid-summer to see if she'd come back. Then a few nights ago, I dreamt she wanted to come home, and I knew. And then, there she was!
She has settled right back in to the old routine - she obviously remembers us. Every time I put her down yesterday, she'd turn and come back to me - WOW. She ate a few hours after we found her, then sat on my lap and bulged her eyes out. :lol: David gave her a nice bath. She used to complain about baths, this time she fell asleep on his hand. Awwww. Last night she was giving us those flirty eyes, winking and blinking. And she snuggled while we watched Letterman. This morning she pooped on the carpet. Ugh! David, YOUR LIZARD is Back to her old tricks!
But she's gaping a lot today. Could it be she's not used to the level of heat after so much time in the cold?? In nature, the weather changes slowly from cold to hot, maybe her body needs to make more "whatever" the way we need to? Anyway, I think she should go have a chat with the doc.