Come on down to Devlyn Town everyone, let's go!

Welcome to Devlyn Town everyone! We're a welcoming place.

Devlyn joined our household on February 9th, 2019 at 6 months old. I don't know her birthday, and she wouldn't tell me, so my best guess is August 1st, 2018.

Devlyn was bought from a pet shop that went out of business. Came from an unnamed wholesale vender. The original owner did a lot to take care of Devlyn. A baby dragon who had parasites and a respiratory infection from the pet store. There were some hiccups with coil UVB bulbs but that was corrected after a vet visit in October 2018 to UVB fluorescent tubing and proper heat control and a bigger enclosure. The original owner sold Devlyn to me because Devlyn is a very picky eater (aka non-eater)(and as of 2/09/2020 Devlyn still can be a picky eater, she needs a lot of care to eat well) and the lady's life was very busy with other pets, kids, and a failed marriage. Devlyn went from whatever shadey pet place she was born, to a cheap pet store, to a loving first owner who only gave her up so Devlyn could get more attention and care and the cost of her ongoing care. My husband and I have given her a good home now! This is Devlyn town, she is the mayor, we do her bidding.

See pic above for her enclosure she has had since late 2018. About 45" by 17" by 19.2". New bulbs added after the move FYI. Devlyn likes color so I am currently going insane by creating more furniture, buying decorations and making decorative elements for her. Stay tuned for more episodes of Devlyn town!
ENCLOSURE UPDATE 2/09/2020

Update 1/10/2021
Awoken from brumation#2. 119 days.

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

So cute!

 

[DorgEndo]

As prices went up and up this year Devlyn's pet insurance has been more valuable than ever. Using Nationwide pet insurance. No regrets for the insurance.

Now some fun Develyn pics. We got her a new carry bag. We visited Snake Discovery and she walked in Rex's footprints. Her house still has an unfinished floor but overall looking good.

 

[xp29]

That is some big shoes errr paw prints to fill. Snake Discovery is on my bucket list.

 

[DorgEndo]

That is some big shoes errr paw prints to fill. Snake Discovery is on my bucket list.

They opened their store very close to me. Between Snake Discovery and Twin Cities Reptiles there are two great stores for herps in my area. Twin Cities.

On Sunday I decided to adopt on their rescue beardies. His condition isn't that good, but he gets by and he could have potential to improve. Hard to tell since he seems slightly underfed still. May be lacking in vitamins but no signs of MBD fortunately. He has partial paralysis of the hind limbs.

I posted a welcome thread for Quetzalcoatl. He is close to in age to Devlyn. I will esitmate 3/01/2018 just to give him a date.

 

[xp29]

I love when good people adopt special needs beardies (or beardies that have just been neglected for that matter). These little guys are the absolute best and deserve to have great lives. I think anyone that does so is a hero!

 

[xp29]

I found that thread. Again you rock !!!!

 

[DorgEndo]

Thanks! Quetzal has made progress getting stuck shed off. Baths with Zilla Shed Ease added. Painting the tough stuck parts with 100% food grade aloe vera gel nightly. He i tolerating this pretty well. He hates the robo vacuum in the home, poor guy puffed up big and black bearded a might beard at the vacuum. Quetzal is eating, pooped, and drank water!

 

[xp29]

It's hysterical the things they will single out to not like. My first beardie never met a ceiling fan she liked, and now i have one that hates the a/c vents lol.
It sounds like Qeutzal is going to do good, i love happy endings

 

[DorgEndo]

It's hysterical the things they will single out to not like. My first beardie never met a ceiling fan she liked, and now i have one that hates the a/c vents lol.
It sounds like Qeutzal is going to do good, i love happy endings

It's no ending yet. We're still figuring things out. He's such a sweet beardie. Really good with handling. Quetzal has been showing more happy colors, less black beard unless he sees something to head bob at. In water he can move around much better than out of water. Preliminary thinking he may benefit from red light therapy with his bath therapy. He can move his limbs. He shows that he has sensation. He tries to use his weak feet properly. He maybe not got a chance to recover. If he can improve a bit he might be able to stand and walk a little. I'm cautiously optimistic. While also making him a beardie wheelchair so he can move distance easier.

Look out! I have plastic, a heat gun, and glue. I'm very dangerous, lol

 

[DorgEndo]

In bummer news turns out Devlyn is a bit sick


She has had loose or runny stools the past few weeks. I kept an eye on her. Got a fecal sample on July 29th, but the sample was negative for parasites


Devlyn kept having loose stools so I took her back in. Signs of inflammation and chronic infection in her blood work. We started a second stool sample today. I also am having a culture done to check for a bacterial infection in addition to a parasite check.

HCT (hematocrit) was 42, high. Normal is 23-39%. Not drastically high, but she doesn't drink water hardly ever so loose stools might be making her dehydrated.

Absolute heterophils and absolute azurophilic monocytes were very high, off the charts. Which is similar to when she had past parasite infections.

I am confused at her thrombocyte estimate as Increased. Her value was always Adequate so I don't know what Increased means. The description reads the same so I'll have to ask the vet.

What is good, I think, are her Ca ratios.

11.1 : 4.3 = 2 : 0.77477477477477 or (2:0.77)
11.1 : 4.3 = 1.5 : 0.58108108108108 or (1.5:0.58)

She consistently in all her blood work has the calcium slightly "too high" to the ideal value of 2:1 for growing or 1.5:1 for adult maintenance.

So, I'm not concerned her phosphorus is "low". This is in line with her normal. She has also had too high calcium in the past. 11.1 mg/dL is nicely in the middle.

ITEM	Devlyn's value	Normal value	Unit
WBC estimate	13.7	2.8-14.6	1000/uL
HCT	42	23-39	%
RBC morphology	Normal	Normal	na
Blood parasites	None seen	None seen	na
Heterophils	61	na	%
Absolute heterophils	8357	1146-6238	/µL
Toxic changes	None seen	None seen	na
Bands	0	na	%
Absolute bands	0	na	/µL
Lymphocytes	15	na	%
Absolute lymphocytes	2055	363-8172	/µL
Monocytes	1	na	%
Absolute monocytes	137	10-1078	/µL
Eosinophils	0	na	%
Absolute eosinophils	0	3-364	/µL
Basophils	5	na	%
Absolute basophils	685	13-820	/µL
Azurophilic monocytes	18	na	%
Absolute azurophilic monocytes	2466	5-1540	/µL
Thrombocyte estimate	Increased	?	Platelet count reflects the minimum number due to platelet clumping
Total protein	4.7	3.3-7.3	g/dL
Albumin	2.7	1.5-3.7	g/dL
Globulin	2	1.3-3.9	g/dL
SGOT(AST)	34	3-75	IU/L
BUN	2	1-4	mg/dL
Phosphorus	4.3	2.3-9.4	mg/dL
Glucose	167	129-293	mg/dL
Calcium	11.1	6.8-22.7	mg/dL
Sodium	154	143-173	mEq/L
Potassium	4.5	2.6-6.1	mEq/L
Chloride	115	103-145	mEq/L
CPK	795	17-3421	IU/L
Uric acid	3.8	1.2-8.4	mg/dL

Sample conditions: Hemolysis 2+ No significant interference

 

[xp29]

Hopefully its nothing to bad, I'm rooting for her.
If she won't drink you can use an eye dropper to drip water on her nose. If that don't work you can add a little none citrus fruit punch to give it flavor. You can also gently pull down the bottom lip and drop a little outside her gums to get her started lapping it.

 

[DorgEndo]

Getting some water between the lips is the only reliable way to have her drink water. I think it is only 3 times she had ever drank water that I have seen. Basically once per year. I give her roaches an orange to eat before I give them to her for hydration. She also gets hornworms sometimes.

I suspect she is sick from mealworms. A few months ago she got a few mealworms as a test. Well, unless I breed them (and I don't want too honestly) she will never get them again. I tried a different local pet store, not a box store chain, so they fail the test. Devlyn's vet she is basically immunocompromised because she can be infected easily. She cannot tolerate what are considered commensal organisms like Entamoeba cysts. Devlyn needs to be 100% free of internal creepy crawlies

 

[xp29]

Hornworms are great for hydration but be careful they get addicted to them and refuse anything else. Buy a couple every little bit will help with hydration.

 

[DorgEndo]

...

I should have written her Ca : P ratio as

11.1 : 4.3 = 2.58 : 1
(that looks better)

 

[DorgEndo]

My honey brought Devlyn to the vet while I worked. Too bad I couldn't go with.

So Devlyn is acting a lot better and we're making sure she is recovered from her infection. She looked not pleased at her vet visit from the pics...

She is DONE with it!

Wanted to document her vet bills for this illness are $815.15 this far now. I met her insurance deductible earlier this year so I've paid $81.51 out of pocket receiving $733.64 reimbursement. She has a better insurance plan than what is available now, but I still recommend insurance. I want Devlyn to grow old and be a grouchy beardie lady with me

She ate a single bite of butternut squash today! She only started eating that a few weeks ago and only if I had feed it to her. I had asked the vet (sent question on paper) about adding supplements to her food and he recommended feeding anything I want for her to the dubia roaches like she doesn't get many insects per week so I didn't find the answer helpful

Mostly she doesn't eat her multivitamin powder as much as she should. Tried different brands and none of them have been great - I tried them - they taste weird! I don't blame her