HI EVERYONE!!!
i would like to personally THANK each and everyone of you for posting and helping me with all the nerves i had!!!
you are all amazing.
Sooooooooooo .... UPDATE!
I got him/her, i DID it!
in my opinion, little man is way too skinny to sex i think, when he gets some meat on his bones i should be able to tell, BUT, as far i can see, there are no buldges, so he might be a she. have to wait and see on that one!!!
He is SAFELY HOME.
I do believe the tank he was in is larger than a 20 long, it MAY be a regular 20, it is taller but yet seems longer than the 20 i have that i keep my superworms in. i cant figure out the "gallon" of it. Whatever it is, its working JUST fine right now. Im working with the temps, need to mount the UVB inside the tank, right now it is sitting directly on top of the mesh top. better than nothing, and im getting there ... im thinking about just cutting out a tube size hole in the screen where the ReptiSun is, or i will just mount it ASAP.
So he has two fluffy towels folded along the the width and length of the tank, covering the bottom, with two layers of paper towels covering them. I used BlueBelles old basking platform for him to elevate some for basking. so here is how it went ...
I went over there and my heart FELL to my feet. I had to hold back my tears and my anger. i was so angry inside.
he was FAR worse than the pictures. To be honest with you, and i know this sounds morbid, but picking him up was like picking up a dead lizard with a large head hanging down. there was NOTHING to him. nothing but a big head. his belly (well he has NO belly, his underside i should say) was caked in poop. his feet were caked in poop. his vent was caked in poop, and the bottom of his tail was caked in poop. even his chest. COVERED in poop.
I asked about the bulb they were using and they said they didnt have any bulbs, so i was right when i said in ALL his 4 years he has NEVER had a basking bulb OR a
UVB bulb. i dont know how he is alive. skin an bones.
I brought the tank home, scrubbed it down over and over and over.
his food dishes and other bowl (they had a water bowl) were covered in a thick slippery flim black slime on the bottoms and sides. so was the food bowl. thought i could salvage them but i ended up tossing them into a box and they will more than likely go out with the garbage.
he is not a great walker ... he front legs are inward and he hobbles and doesnt have alot of control or coordination, but he can get around to a degree, he can "walk" he just shaky and it doesnt look right by any means.
first thing i did was put him the sink in some warm water and began to very very gently scrub off all the poop with a toothbrush, it was EVERYWHERE and his vent was very sensitive when i went to scrub that off.
i changed the water about 6 times until it was mostly all gone, where i let him soak for a while, and poured some Pedialyte in his
bath. i put a washcloth on the bottom to give him some sense of grip. He was so confused and scared i think, but crawled up my hand and my arm where he just wanted to sit on me. he couldnt be MORE SWEET. i mean, i would think he would be very skiddish or pissed off, i would be if i were him, but he is just a SWEETHEART and i can tell he is WANTING to live. i just hope he does. i just think he is a little to weak right now to even show his feelings. he is so weak.
after i dried him off i put him in the tank and decided to offer him some of the smaller roaches and the small supers i had on hand ... he ate 5 roaches and 5 supers. to clarify, he has NEVER protein or live food in his life. i found out he was only living on regular lettuce an some carrot shavings once in a while, never any live prey.
Before i did the live prey, i had given him a dose of BeneBac which he licked up off nose, feed him a few syrines of squash baby food which he attacked the syringe trying to get more!!!
his jaw is VERY off track, and i dont see really any "teeth" ... i see basically gums that look very infected, with some yellow goo lining where his teeth should be. now, his teeth might be UNDER that goo, but i dont know ... i need to take a moist qtip and clean the inside of mouth where his teeth should be.
As of *this very moment* he is leaned up against the basking platform receiving heat he has never had before, and receiving UVB, again, which he has never ever had. his eyes are large, and the left one seems to go shut more often, like it is bothering him.
Hopefully he is able to digest the food he took in today. *hopefullyyyyyy* god i hope so. he pooped a big diarrhea poop on the way home on a towel, not formed in ANY way, runny and mucusy, just terrible.
i may be able to get a hold of some liquid calcium, i very much need to do that. the feeders he ate today had a mix of both herpevite vitamin powder and calcium powder on them. he had a hard time lowering his head to reach the buggies, but managed to do so,he was shaky, but he did it.
He is personally one of the worst i have seen, but i KNOW there are worse cases out there by far, but for me, i have never ever seen anything like this. im sure that many have you have seen worse, i have seen some PRETTY gut-wrenching rescues before, and to me, he is one of them. i dont know, its just so sad, so so so so sad.
I looked at BlueBelle today (who decided she wanted to stay in bed for most of the morining, and i smiled so big at her, because i love her so much and i got to thinking ... what if i HADNT gotten her, would she be in the same situation as "rexy" is? god i love her more now than ever. and my heart is melting over my new guy. i think im going to bump "rexy" to be his middle name, and give him a fresh new name to start his fresh new life
i will post the pictures from today when i can get them off my phone and onto photobucket. you can see more of what im working with in these pics. i know you all want pics and i have a TON from today. i am going to be weighing him soon, so i will let you know the details of his weight soon too.
well, i tell ya, im worn out!!! it was an exhausting day ... and i KNOW little man has to be worn out too. He already has tugged on my heart-strings ... he has a face that isnt perfect by any means, but i LOVE his face none-the-less ... the large bump and the off set jaw make me so sad, but looking into his eyes, i have this feeling he is going to be a fighter. hell, he has had to fight his whole life to stay alive. and his face and his spirit are making me fall in love and making me pull for him 10000000% ... i want him to thrive someday!!!!
i couldn't have done this without the encouragement of you all. there is MUCH more to come ... and pics will be up VERY VERY soon. much love to you all ... and keep checking back, because i will update his progress every single chance i get, which will be very often!!!!!
THANK YOU ALL for supporting me and little man right now, and for ALLLLL the tips and suggestions and i have used them all, you are the best. i am sure more rescue questions will come up ... like everyday, whew, i know i will be in for a ride!
~Emily. BlueBelle, and our new little dude
PS ... yes i think he MUST have parasites, i dont see how he wouldnt. luckily, my best friend is friends with one of the herp vet we have in town, and she is going to call her for me and explain my situation. hopefully i can get some sort of financial deal worked out with her. i just wasnt expecting all this to happen in my life ... but it did in a matter of two days!