I'm very sad to report that five-month old Dovah passed away yesterday.
I'll always remember our last moments together. I fed him in a sunlit room on the bed, with him on the heating pad on my lap. It was very peaceful. He kept turning to face me, and would stare straight at my face for some time. Then when I went to put him back in the viv, he did that thing where he doesn't want to be put down, and he climbed onto the top of my hand so I physically couldn't put him on his log without taking him out and re-positioning him. He just clung onto my hand with all his limbs. It's almost like he didn't want me to leave.
So I laughed, and took him out and rested my arm on the lid and actually talked to him. Yes, I talked to a lizard. I told him that despite all the pain and effort he puts me through on a daily basis, I'm glad to have him in my life. That he makes me happy, he makes me smile every day, and that he gives me something to focus on besides my own crap at work and elsewhere. Then I put him back on his log. I checked again before I went back to work and he was alive on his hammock. And that was the last time I saw him alive.
Looking back, it was about as much closure as anyone could ask for with a bearded dragon. I don't think he understood, but it meant a lot to me. It actually almost makes it harder, though, to have felt that connection and then lost him so soon.
It's amazing how connected we both felt to him in such a short period of time. In less than three months - and even being sick and needing to be syringe fed for most of that time - he showed us his personality and quirks that made him unique. The way he'd hide in my fiancee's hair. The way he'd fall asleep on our chests. How he hated baths, but would tolerate them if you held his hand. How he'd explore the bed and our limbs like a desert landscape. How he'd climb on top of our hands when we tried to put him back in the viv. And the way he'd leap like a maniac trying to make jumps he had no chance to make - all of these things showed us the quirky little guy he was, and make us miss him all the more.
Farewell, our little guy. You will always be our first bearded dragon, and foremost in our hearts.
Thank you to all of you who offered advice and tried to help. Your support and guidance meant a lot to me and my fiancee in difficult, uncertain times.
I'll always remember our last moments together. I fed him in a sunlit room on the bed, with him on the heating pad on my lap. It was very peaceful. He kept turning to face me, and would stare straight at my face for some time. Then when I went to put him back in the viv, he did that thing where he doesn't want to be put down, and he climbed onto the top of my hand so I physically couldn't put him on his log without taking him out and re-positioning him. He just clung onto my hand with all his limbs. It's almost like he didn't want me to leave.
So I laughed, and took him out and rested my arm on the lid and actually talked to him. Yes, I talked to a lizard. I told him that despite all the pain and effort he puts me through on a daily basis, I'm glad to have him in my life. That he makes me happy, he makes me smile every day, and that he gives me something to focus on besides my own crap at work and elsewhere. Then I put him back on his log. I checked again before I went back to work and he was alive on his hammock. And that was the last time I saw him alive.
Looking back, it was about as much closure as anyone could ask for with a bearded dragon. I don't think he understood, but it meant a lot to me. It actually almost makes it harder, though, to have felt that connection and then lost him so soon.
It's amazing how connected we both felt to him in such a short period of time. In less than three months - and even being sick and needing to be syringe fed for most of that time - he showed us his personality and quirks that made him unique. The way he'd hide in my fiancee's hair. The way he'd fall asleep on our chests. How he hated baths, but would tolerate them if you held his hand. How he'd explore the bed and our limbs like a desert landscape. How he'd climb on top of our hands when we tried to put him back in the viv. And the way he'd leap like a maniac trying to make jumps he had no chance to make - all of these things showed us the quirky little guy he was, and make us miss him all the more.
Farewell, our little guy. You will always be our first bearded dragon, and foremost in our hearts.
Thank you to all of you who offered advice and tried to help. Your support and guidance meant a lot to me and my fiancee in difficult, uncertain times.
