I'm a Mommy Again!! Everyone Meet Ember & Introducing Kai!!

About a month ago I went to check out a clutch of babies at my local reptile store. I wasn't ready, but wanted to look. They were gorgeous! Fast forward to today, I called them and was told they only had one left. Was it a sign? Was this the one meant to be mine? I decided to go after work to see if it was still there and sure enough it was! Needless to say, I'm a new mommy!

I asked to hold it and as the owner of the shop took it out I asked if he could tell if it was male or female. He checked and is pretty sure it's a female. So for now, she's a she. A few seconds after I got her she licked my sweater and I was sold. I just adore that behavior.

On the ride home, she pooped in the container we were sent home with so I had to pull over to change the paper towel. When I got her home I put her right in her viv and she started moving around almost instantly. She started on the cool side, but quickly made her way over to the basking side. She also ate 20 phoenix worms for me.

She's very alert and seems to be very curious. She's been watching me and the dogs like a hawk every time we walk by her. One of the workers at the store said he was very surprised she was there so long and that she's a little ham. I can't wait until she's all settled in.

As for names, I really like Ember and Cinder, but I haven't decided officially yet.

Here are some pics.

 

[Brezzy99]

She is beautiful! Her colors are amazing.

 

[JenFid]

Ugh she is so cute. Seeing her makes me want to get another baby, lol! I guess I'll have to satisfy myself by going through my old posts of when I first got Scully though!

Those nose plugs can be such a pain. I don't mess with my dragons shed but when I see those nose plugs are loose I usually nab them with some tweezers and pull them out. It's crazy how deep they go! I know the dragons love them when they're out, I rub the side of their face with my knuckle after and they rub back, getting rid of that itch, it's so adorable.

 

[DeweysMom]

It’s been a while since I’ve updated Ember’s thread. We’ve been dealing with some parasite issues unfortunately. She was doing great until she started to shed. She shed her arms, her legs, and her head and then she stopped eating. I thought maybe it was stress caused by her shed so I decided to give her some time. On the 3rd day I decided that was long enough and I brought her to the vet. I’m glad I did because I found out she had a moderate level of pinworms that needed to be treated. She just had her last dose yesterday so I’m hoping she’ll be back to normal soon. In the meantime she’s been getting fed baby food and soy yogurt via syringe.

She’s grown a bit, but I think this rough patch has slowed her down some. I’m sure she will catch up in time though.

Here are some new pics of her.

One of my favorites! Looks like she’s doing Yoga.


Easter Shots.








Enjoying some yogurt.


Enjoying some baby food.


Not so sure about her first trip outside in the sun.


Outside again a few days later. We’re having bad weather here so my chances to get her outside have been few and far between.


No flash photography.

 

[diamc]

Her colors are breathtaking. What a cutie pie she is! You sure take amazing pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us.

As I posted in your other thread, I'm glad to hear she received her last antibiotic treatments.

You can tell by looking in her eyes that she is a very happy & content beardie. You have done very well with her and hopefully she will start eating on her own soon.

 

[JenFid]

That's too bad about the pinworms hopefully the meds took care of it and she'll be back to her hungry self. She's quite the looker, loved the Easter photos!

 

[hoopyscoop]

Okay, I just started reading this thread, but I had to stop because I had to say she’s just so cute!!! And that this is my favorite pic of her, she has an adorable smile!

And oh no, pinworms I hope she does well with her treatment!

 

[Drache613]

Hello Mandy,

Those are really terrific pictures of Ember!
She sure is a beautiful girl & looks so happy & alert in those shots too.

Tracie

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks everyone for the nice words about Ember. She is such a sweetheart and I love her to pieces! Unfortunately, she's been the source of a lot of stress and worry for me, but I'm really trying to get her back to good health. I hope soon she'll make a breakthrough. I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I've been very busy lately.

To sum up what's been going on. Ember finished her meds, seemed to get a little bit better (never starting to eat on her own), but then slid back again. I'd go home at my lunch hour and she would either be sleeping under her fleece blanket or tucked away in the corner on her log. She's also been darker than normal which to me says her belly is still causing discomfort. She's still active, but nearly as active as she has been in the past. I've been syringe feeding her all along although I did stop for 2 days to see if she'd start eating on her own again which she never did. Still today she's not eating on her own.

I got really concerned so I took her in Tuesday for a recheck and to get another fecal done. The vet felt Ember's tummy and could feel that she had a full belly. She was concerned about her being constipated. We briefly discussed an enema, but the vet decided on her own to try subq fluids first to see if that would move things along since Ember's still so small. Ember weighed in at 72g which was up 11g from her intitial visit which is good considering she's not eating her normal foods. So, we had the subq fluids done and now we wait and see how she responds. She did poop yesterday, but it wasn't very much and it didn't look right. It looks like it was dry and hard/crumbly if that makes sense. So hopefully with the extra hydration it'll help move things along quicker. Her fecal came back negative so at least we know that parasites aren't the issue anymore.

For home treatments, this is what I'm doing. If you have any other suggestions, I'm open to them...

- Continue with syringe feeding baby food mixed with carnivore care, calcium, and water.
- Mix in a drop or two of olive oil into each feeding.
- Give baths frequently (which I've been doing) and give lots of belly massages.
- Take her outside as much as possible for real sun (which I've been doing).

I'm going to try to update this thread later with some new pics too.

 

[JenFid]

Poor Ember, I'm sorry to hear she's not doing well! It sounds like you're doing everything right though. I'm not sure what your tank setup is, but when Scully was really sick I had a basking light on both ends of her tank so that even if she wasn't on her basking platform she'd at least still be warm. A che would probably work too.

Scully was also very dehydrated so the vet had me syringe her water for awhile as well. If Ember seems like she is, ask your vet what she/he thinks about that, they should be able to tell you how many cc's to give her based on her weight.

I hope she's back to her normal self soon, looking forward to more pics!

 

[BrendaKay]

I've read on here quite a few times that canned pumpkin does the trick. Just plain, nothing added to it, no spices added pumpkin. And it's good for them to boot. Maybe try that and give it a day or so.

 

[DeweysMom]

JenFid - She has two heat bulbs. One on both sides. The cool side is usually in the mid 80s so at least she’s warm on that side. The basking spot(s) ranges from about 95-110 mattering on where she chooses to be. Here’s a pic of her set up. The Reptisun isn’t visible, but it is there. It’s only about a month and a half old. I just redid her viv to get rid of the fake rocks and to put bamboo root in. I’ll be picking up rocks tomorrow to boost her up closer to the UVB.



Brenda, thanks! I have plenty of canned pumpkin on hand at all times (my dog needs it) so I’ll keep that in mind.

~~

As promised, here are some new pics of my sweet girl.

These are from the last couple of weeks.









These are from yesterday.







Me and my girl.


Waiting patiently for dinner.


I had a hard time with the syringe as you can see. LOL


These are from today.

 

[diamc]

She is just SO adorable and quite the camera ham. You take awesome pictures.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Mandy,

She has definitely grown though since you have gotten her, even with having some parasite issues. Those are great pictures of Ember! :love5: She is beautiful.
Did she seem to enjoy being outside also?

I am sure that she is on the road to recovery now!

Tracie

 

[DeweysMom]

So I haven't updated in a while.. again.. I need to get better at this. I have good news and bad news to report. First the good news. Ember has taken a turn in the right direction finally! She's eating on her own once again. She's eating anywhere between 30-50+ phoenix worms a day along with some dubia at night (at her highest she ate 9 dubia). Yesterday when I got home and walked into my room I interupted her while she was eating some salad too. The only problem we're having now is getting her to poop regularly. I'm still giving her probiotics to help with that so I'm hoping that'll fix itself as well.

Now the bad news. After just going through this horrible parasite ordeal and getting back to normal my poor girl is now getting hit with a full body shed! I know in theory it's a good thing, but I really wish she had more time in between everything. Her whole back and tail are grey as is her nose and sides of her mouth. Her arms and legs are starting to turn and it looks like her beard and belly are turning as well. There's not much I can do at this point other than to bathe her regularly to try to speed things up.

I'll try to get some new pics up tonight too.

 

[DeweysMom]

She does this every morning, but I don’t always have time to try to catch it. Part of her morning routine.




She absolutely loves climbing up the dog’s crate. She hasn’t been very active for the past month dealing with parasites so it’s nice to see her “playing” again.




From a recent trip outside.






Going through a nasty shed! Ugh!






These are from last night. Enjoying some dubia.




Lastly, here is her finished viv. The first pic is how I originally set it up. I liked it, but was disappointed that the 3rd piece of bamboo root wasn’t in there so I put it in there. I got the rocks last weekend and finished it up. She’s now at least 2” closer to the UVB and has plenty of things to climb on. When she gets older I might scale some of it back some, but for now she seems happy as is. Do you think it’s too crowded?