Topic Relevant to Cleveland, Ohio area

[hooklinebrittany]

A girl I know who taught me about Bearded Dragons and who had 6 of her own before last night, recently experienced 4 of her beardies die. Here I will copy and paste the note she posted on facebook:

"I am begging somebody to help us take care of our animals. We need new homes for our gecko and frogs. We will give you the tank and all the stuff they need but we can't handle this right now. We lost all hope with their lives and we are losing another. The vet thinks it is food poisoning so if you got any crickets or super worms from the reptile show i am begging you to throw it away. I had to give my baby's body to the vet for a necropsy in hope to save many others lives. They actually sent him over to the Cleveland zoo to their pathologist because it seems to be a very serious pandemic that seems to be popping up in small numbers locally. We are trying to stop this heartbreak from happening to anybody else ever again. I can't handle this anymore. Even if it is only temporary we need help with our animals.
I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Mariette at Stow-Kent animal hospital and we recommend her to anybody. She has helped us so much and has given us such a huge break financially and she genuinely cares about their lives and not the money. We will help you take care of them and answer any questions you have. R.I.P. Tang Tiki and Tiger. </3
If you ever need to get her attention or need any desperate help please call Dr. Mariette
330-673-0049
Some symptoms include-
1. Limp body
2. Vomiting
3. Sunken in eyes
4. Unresponsive
5. Depression
6. Acute death
7. Grey gums and mouth
8. Difficultly in having bowel movements
9. Gurgling
10. Mucus from the oral cavities and cloaca/vent
11. Head shaking back and forth
Sincerely,
Andrea and Dan."

"We lost 4 bearded dragons in 2 days because of super worms that were tainted because of food poisoning and the vet is concerned that the feeders around have been tainted because other vets are having the same problem but with different species. After they show any symptoms they seem to die within 2 hours."

"I don't know, i remember the vendor had a lot of ear piercings and had a pony tail so i will have to get his name next time. Dr. Mariette is helping us to stop this ever again. She is doing a lot of research for us and we are trying our hardest to figure this all out.
We also lost another last night. </3
And we just got the food from the reptile show :'("


So I'm guessing they bought crickets and superworms from the local reptile show that is up in Cleveland, Ohio during the middle of each month. Luckily I didn't because I haven't been there recently. But those of you who live in Cleveland with us should probably watch out for your beardies symptoms of things like this. Also, it's not only limited to beardies. So watch your reptiles in general if you can please. Also if anybody would like to take Andrea's reptiles in the Cleveland area please let me know and I will forward that information on to her. My baby Ivan is doing fine, this post isn't about him. But it is about the loss of three beautiful baby bearded dragons and one adult who I knew very well. All I can say is watch out for the food you buy from the Cleveland vendors from now on please.

 

[hooklinebrittany]

This girl really needs a home for her leopard gecko and her frogs, any takers in the area?

 

[NightmareDisco]

sent pm

 

[quigleysmom]

Oh God how awful. I hope the guy she bought the supers from did not do something to diliberately to poison someones beardie. I hope they find out what killed them soon and they find homes for her other pets.

 

[hooklinebrittany]

Thanks guys. I really hope the same thing as you quigley. This girl takes top notch care of her lizards like... you wouldn't believe. It's insane to hear about all six of them dying in a few days. And if someone did that on purpose I would personally like to poison their food to deliberately kill them very slowly and tortuously. This whole circumstance is just terrible.

 

[hooklinebrittany]

I'd also like to say that the frogs she has I think are tree frogs, and the gecko she has is a leopard gecko if any body else is interested.

 

[NightmareDisco]

as said, I will take the gecko. Just let me know when and where to pick everything up. I'll tell my friend about the frogs. They really need to find this vendor and charge him for this crime.

 

[NightmareDisco]

Disregard last message. Just got your pm. I talked to her. Thanks

 

[ziggy23]

That is so sad. I'm not in Ohio, but it's close enough for me to be concerned. Many vendors travel to nearby states for reptile shows.

At my state's reptile show website they keep a list of vendors that will be appearing. If someone could get a hold of the vendor list from that show then it could narrow down where she got the worms. I would also inform the show organizers. If it does turn out to be food poisoning they would want to know.

 

[discojan]

Any follow-up on the vendor? This is horrible news, and my heart goes out to this woman and the loss of her beloved pets. The Lexington Reptile Expo is coming up this weekend, and I'd like to give them an alert if there are poisoned worms to look out for.

My deepest condolences....

 

[hooklinebrittany]

Our soonest reptile show isn't until next month on the sixteenth I think. So I think the girl will find out more then. It is really sad, she wound up losing five bearded dragons. It's really horrible. Please do inform your vendors and the people who run the shows. All I know and I believe that all the girl knows is that it was a guy with a pony tail and ear piercings. That could be anybody though I guess. As soon as the next reptile show happens I will go and talk to the girl and the people there and let you guys know what I know. Just please be careful when buying food from vendors at shows. Both me and this girl are very fond of beardies and we wouldn't want anybody else to be affected and go through such a traumatic experience as this.

 

[ziggy23]

That is so sad she lost them all.

I think you or her should seriously contact the show organizers either through phone or email. they would have a listing of the vendors that attended. Just because they were there once, doesn't mean they'll be there again. Vendors travel, and some aren't major breeders.

Is this the show? http://shrz.webs.com/ If so, the telephone number is listed at the top. they do have a liability clause listed, but that doesn't mean that they won't care or do something about it. That just means they aren't financially responsible. They can give you a listing to help you narrow down the choices. And if the vendor is found to be selling dangerous food they can refuse to allow them to sell there anymore. And if it is a deliberate poisoning, that is a crime and they can help in the prosecution.

One of the main goals of these shows is to offer people a better alternative to pet stores, and the herp community is a small one. If word got out that there was bad products that could kill in hours, it would be very bad for business.

 

[hooklinebrittany]

Thank you for pointing that out, this is the right website. I didn't notice that there was a number there. I will call them or try to get in contact with them some how. I just called them twice and the phone lines were busy. I will ask the girl who this happened to to call that number also. If worse comes to worse and we can't get a hold of them then we will just have to wait until the next show. They don't have an email address and I guess we could send them mail but I don't know how soon it would get to them. I wish they had a list of vendors. :/

 

[bekjo]

This is devastating. Let me know if she is still needing homes. We are about 2 hrs away & definately could help.

 

[hooklinebrittany]

I found out the guy who sold the tainted worms to my friend, his name is David Gruning. I don't really know how to get a hold of him or if my friend has yet. I'm sure he didn't know that they would wind up killing my friends five beardies but I want to find a way to contact him to let him know what happened. If anybody knows, let me know.