Jace, Zy, Sorin, Ava, Nissa, Koth, & Phoenix -->Vet Update

Hello,
My name is Liz and I have been a member of this website for a year now. I have had another blog about my reptilian babies (http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=185026), but am starting a new one. I want to start the new year with a clean slate - especially since it will also start with a new moon. I want to move on from the problems of the past and look forward to the new adventures that lie ahead.
A little about me: I'm twenty-two years old and am an author - (A Shadow's Lullaby by: E. Rexer). I go to Western New England as a Creative Writing major with a minor in Philosophy. I own six reptiles, three bearded dragons and three leopard geckos. I have been with my boyfriend, Paul, for four years. I currently work two jobs - Heritage Woods (assistant living) and Table and Vine (liquor store) though I did try to quit Heritage Woods and was guilt tripped into working there per diem (once a month). I will be putting in my two weeks notice with them in February. Unfortunately it is a sad job and emotionally I cannot handle it anymore. Table and Vine doesn't give me the hours I would like, but I worked out a deal with my grandfather that will help me out financially. Now enough about me.

 

[zandi202]

So I've been cleaning again all day. All the beardie's got a massive scrub down, decor and all. Jace smeared poop under his UVB which is at least 12" from the ground. Gross. And he smeared it elsewhere. Also, I've been noticing that on his cage only he gets this white, cloudy smear at the bottom of his cage - no idea what that is. I also gave Sorin Zy's bridge since she never used it and he loves it. He's enjoying it right now.

Unfortunately due to cash restraints I can't afford new eco earth for the leos and Phoenix, so their cage cleaning will have to wait a couple of weeks. Nothing life threatening, just inconvenient. I also need to get more calc and vit for the beardies soon and some repashy powder for the leos.

I've also been on a cleaning binge. I really wanted to move furniture around, but as of right now, it just isn't possible, unless I switch rooms around again and honestly, I don't know where I'd fit all the babies since they have their own room. That's the convenient part.

I've vacuumed the carpets, used the carpet cleaner on it, and vacuumed again once the carpet dried up and used the scented carpet powder...under my couch. Now I have to do the rest of the room which will take forever to dry. It needs to be done. Trying to get a nice, clean smell everywhere. I need to buy some Fabreze as well for my couch and foot rests.

I'm so excited about the armoire. I really am. Paul maybe not so much. :roll: :lol: We do have to put windows in for the leos so they can still get plenty of natural daylight. Will have to look into that. I have an idea on how to do it.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Will be looking forward to what you come up with for the armoire & good luck finding work during the summer, hopefully something shows up quickly for you. Enjoy your spring break!

 

[zandi202]

Thanks. I'm hoping. My problem is trying to find a place that needs morning people. I really would love a job at Barnes and Noble. My dream job.

I'm excited about the armoire as well. It will definitely be a space saver, that's for sure. And that is definitely something I need.

So I cleaned my room all today. Then when Paul's sister got home, we cleaned her bedroom and let me just say - gross. Started around 6:45 and finished at 10pm. So much work. And it wasn't even finished when I left. Paul got stuck at his job for an extra hour (until 11pm) leaving me to take care of all the reptiles while dead beat tired. We moved around some of her furniture and vacuumed and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Three trash bags not including donations and as I said before, we weren't even finished.I have work tomorrow at 2pm so it will be a recovery day and then I have to come home to take care of the reptiles all by myself that night and Sunday night. Then I have to do it Wednesday-next Sunday. Sorry for the oh woe is me, but I'm just exhausted.

On the bright side I've had the orchid for one month and it's still going strong. Koth is getting ready to shed any night now. Ava needs a sauna. Phoenix ate a worm and has a shot tomorrow. Ugh.

I think I'm going to try and catch up on others threads though sorry in advanced if I don't make it to yours. I'm ready to pass out.

 

[zandi202]

So originally my final course was going to be a philosophy one, but I realized my class needs to be a 300 level and it was really hard to find I class I'd enjoy and fit my time slot. But I finally did. I figured my last class should be fun so I decided to take Sociology: Zombies and Space Aliens. I'm pretty excited.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Now that sounds like an interesting course!

 

[zandi202]

Update: 1/3

Me:
Celebrating Saint Patrick's day tomorrow. Should be fun. We'll all get to enjoy some of the white chocolate pudding shots with Tribe liquor in them dyed green. Paul and his family will be eating corn beef and cabbage. I'm not a fan of that, so will be eating before the party.

I worked an extra half-hour today as there were supposed to be three people closing today at 6pm, but the guy never showed. Apparently he didn't realize he was working. So an extra half hour at time and a half wasn't so bad, wasn't fun either. But because of it, I got "World Class Performance" slip which gives me the chance to win a gift card at work. Not too bad.

So on some sadder news, my tax returns wasn't as much as expected so I will probably be holding off on getting a laptop for a while. It depends on how finances are when the tax returns come in. I just might hold off until next year. I'm going to wait until the money comes in as I worked a lot more this year than last year so I don't understand how I'd possibly get less back on taxes this year than last year. So it will have to be a play by ear thing.

My computer is running really slow today for some reason. I think it has something to do with my grandparents new computer.

Growth Charts:
Bearded dragons:

Leopard geckos:

 

[zandi202]

Update: 2/3

Jace:
He's doing well. He's been getting really beautiful happy colors as of lately which, of course, the camera fails to capture. He's been eating pretty well and all bowel movements are good. He made sure to leave me a thank you present the day after scrubbing all of their viv's down.

So handsome:

Zy:
She too is eating well and she loves to hunt. Will have to get a video for you. She reacts so fast, it's too much. You would think I was starving her. She too also thought it would be a great idea to leave me a thank you present for all my hard work on cleaning. She does HUGE poops once in a while instead of decent sized ones more regularly. I wish beardies were like leos and had a designated pooping spot instead of wherever they fancy.

I love this picture:

Sorin:
He's such a monster. He's closing in on 20". I can't believe it. My little baby all grown up. Or will be next month. God, he will be my last to turn one year old. how quickly the time flies. He's been good and a little more welcoming to cuddles than before. I think he uses me for the warmth, but I'll take what I can get.

 

[zandi202]

Update: 3/3

Ava:
As promised I got the video of her walking finally. I kept forgetting. It's been mad crazy around here. Hopefully things will start to settle down soon. She's doing well - taking her meds, eating. She ate two supers for me today so I'm pretty happy with that.

Video:

Nissa:
She's a sweetie pie. Such a good girl. She's fine with just chilling. All the leos are tense when being petted though. You can feel their muscles scrunch up. She's been loving on the acorn hide Holly made recently. It's been her favorite spot now that she's noticed it.

Love this one:

Koth:
He's been acting weird today. I had him in the box to be weighed, and after her was weighed, he spazzed out. He's never done that before. Then he absolutely refused to move after which worried me. I put him in his viv and he got up and walked into his moist hide. What a little bugger. Too smart for his own good.

My little ghost:

Phoenix:
Last, but not least, the little rescue. He's doing so well. He looks great and his colors are amazing. He still has his rotten tail, but hopefully it will come off before I buy him new substrate (so much shed pieces in there). I honestly don't want to run into a tail with no reptile attached. I never even saw the missing half of Nissa's tail. We had our first successful shot yesterday. My grandpa loves this little guy, it's too cute.

 

[zandi202]

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

 

[sweetiepie9]

All the pics are great, love the close ups, so clear. Jace, Zy and Sorin are all doing so well, glad they're all eating & it's normal for the pooping, it's as if they figure out, "Hey Mom just finished cleaning out the tanks, time to put our stamp on it" LOL. Sorin sure is growing, still, we'll see how he is at 2 yrs old, that's when they're full grown & add weight on.

I can't believe in the difference in Ava, whatever you're doing, it's working, she's walking so much better & looks great! Nissa is beautiful and her tail came in wonderfully well. If I didn't know better I'd say it was like that from the beginning!

Not sure what's with Koth, maybe he doesn't want to be up during the day anymore, or were those picture taken in the evening. Guess he's just tired.

Oh well, if you don't get enough for a laptop, at least you'll have a nest egg of $ for a change, put it towards the bedroom set so Paul can move in!

Glad your grandpa likes Phoenix, he sure doesn't look like the little guy you brought home. Doesn't look as if that tail of his is bothering him either. How are the shots going?

 

[zandi202]

Thanks, I like the close ups as well, especially on Jace's and Sorin's eyes. They are the cutest, sweetest, butt heads and I love them all dearly. Sorin is my monster, but I love him for it.

I'm glad you think Ava is doing well, as I was worried that Paul and I might be imaging it. It's hard to see the difference when you are with them every day. And yes, Nissa's tail did come out very well, and I kind of like the way it looks.

I had him out at night. I'm thinking maybe something startled him and he didn't feel safe out in the open on my couch or with me. Who knows, though?

Didn't get the money I was hopping for so Paul and I decided instead to cross the WiiU off of our big things to purchase. We're setting it up now and I'm so excited. I finally have the internet on something that plays Netflix. Internet at my house is really difficult to get devices to attach to so I'm so excited to no longer have to watch Netflix on my laptop as I like to use it while watching movies and shows. Not a total waste and it's something Paul and I can both enjoy. Of course now my friends want to be over 24/7 and Paul and I haven't even played anything on it yet. You can say I'm a little frustrated with my friends.

Phoenix is a special boy. He's wormed his way into everyones' hearts. We did well with his shot on Saturday and he has another tomorrow. So wish us luck. His tail doesn't bother him at all, but I'm pretty sure he's lost all feeling down there, poor guy. I moved him into my bedroom where there is less commotion so that might help as well.

 

[zandi202]

So Paul and I really went into talking about building the stackable. He'll be doing a lot of electrical work on this thing. We want to do a lot of wiring to keep everything on the outside nice and neat so that it will be easier to move when the time comes. Zy's viv will have a dimmer switch and timer installed and then the leos will have have dimmer switches installed for their heating pad.

On a related side note, Paul is such a great guy. I fell into my depression slump yesterday and he made me get up and go out. It took a little bit, but once we were out my slump went away and we did have a great time. I really appreciate him and everything he has done for me and everything will do for me in the future. I wish I could show him how much I appreciate him.

Nissa's birthday will be Friday. Can you believe it? My little girl all grown up! They all need to stop.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm so glad Paul is there for you and that he understands you so well. On the other hand, you're also there for him and you understand him well, too, so it goes both ways, which is how great relationships work You guys work on your relationship more than any other couple I've met!!!

 

[zandi202]

I think what works so well for both me and Paul is that we have like 80% thing we like to do in common and then 20% whereas with most of my friends it's 50/50. I feel like 80% gives us so much more to talk about and be interested in, but that final 20% gives us our alone time - not that we have banked any hours in the alone time department. I'm a people person and need people in my life. I'd bring down my puzzle board or the book I was reading and would sit in my living room with my grandparents just to have people there.

The WiiU we bought has also helped - it gives us something to do together. It was a tax refund gift to both of us so we'd have something new to play with - something to help keep us (namely me) from getting board when every other option is a meh. I only like Nintendo video games whereas Paul likes them all, so the WiiU (Nintendo game system) really helps. I have tried other games and game systems he likes, but to no avail. I'm not the intense gamer he is. So in the end, the laptop would have been just for me, but the split pay on the WiiU gives something to both of us.

Thanks, Deb, for the praise, it really makes me feel like we're doing something right - like this isn't a waste of either or our time.

We failed at giving Phoenix his shot yesterday. It'd my fault. I have a huge fear of needles and I thought I could do it, but I can't. I don't even look and I try to distract myself by singing or humming, but the fear still seeps into Phoenix and that's that. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see what we can do - if there is something else we can do. His next shot is Friday.

The viv we're going to try and build out of the armoire will be a bit smaller than what Zy already has, but at her size, she should be all right, right? It's not huge differences, just ½" here and there at most.

I almost called out of work tonight. My "friend" came and visited me early this morning and kept me sick for the first 2+ hours before settling down. Now I have work 4-10. Also, apparently there is a bill that is going around partitioning for liquor stores to open up at 10am on Sundays so as much as my co-workers complain about that, I'm okay with it as it means an extra 1 ½ hours of pay at time and a half and it means I'll probably be scheduled more to keep the regulars from going into overtime.

Honestly, my big hope is that Paul gets a better job with normal hours. I can handle doing the morning stuff with the reptiles, but the 3-11's he's been picking up (the only short he CAN pick up) leave a lot on my plate as that six (seven at the moment) reptiles that need stuff done. The summer won't be so bad when the CHE's won't be needed anymore. Actually, it's getting warmer at nights so I can probably turn those off soon and put them away. That's save on time. Put the leos, especially Ava who needs her meds, need more attention than they've been getting. I feel like a bad mom when it comes to them. Oh, and never mind the fact that I work until 10 most nights as well so it's rush home, take care of reptiles, and maybe fit in a shower (I don't like showers in the morning).

Well, this is a bigger post than I imagined. All right, well, I'm going to check out some other threads real fast before work. See ya'll after or on my break.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Sorry about "your friend". I'm so glad I don't get those visits anymore :roll:

Hopefully you can pick up those extra hours on Sunday early, and hopefully Paul will find a better summer job. Is he finished his last semester yet?

Long posts are fine, you've seen some of mine :lol:

And not everyone is handy with needles, they used to bug me until I became diabetic, now I'm so used to shots for myself, needles don't bother me. I have to give Rubio and Didi their shots this am. They were both so good, but they don't have the same slippery type scales that Phoenix does. Maybe the vet can give you better ideas.