Voodoo
User Extraordinaire
Before I get started, I mostly posted this just to vent my anger and sadness.....
Last summer, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted her bearded dragons. She had bought them for her son (who promised to take care of them), but her son lost interest. I told her I'd be glad to take them. We made arrangements, but she stood me up.
This went on all summer. She would tell me when to come get the dragons, I would show up, she wouldn't be there.
Then, on Wednesday of last week, she sends me an e-mail at my work e-mail address and asks if I still want the dragon (singular). I asked what happened to the other dragon. She said she had moved into a new house and had given the dragons to her brother. She then went into this long story about how he hadn;t taken care of them and one of the dragons had died.
Then, she's like, I've got the survivor in my car with me right now. So, I took a break, went down and got the dragon (with a 40 gallon tank) out of her car.
I said, "wait, let me get him out.." When I picked the dragon up, I immediately knew his situation was grim.
He couldn't open his eyes, and he was as thin as a sheet of paper! I told her it was terrible that she let him get in such a condition, and that she would bring him and his cage to me in such a shape. The tank looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, so it was full of dragon poo and dead crickets.
She keeps blaming it on her brother, but I told her they were her dragons and still her responsibility. Because of my soft heart for reptiles, I agreed to try to nurse him back to health, which I knew was going to be a tough battle.
Anyway, I took him home, put him in a separate container while I thoroughly cleaned his tank. Had my roomie go to the pet shop, grocery store, and home improvement store with my credit card to buy a UVB light kit, heat light, thermometer, new tank decorations and hiding spots, some dragon food pellets, green veggies and fruit, crickets, and play sand.
Once we got him all set up, I called my local vet to see what I could do. My vet couldn't see the dragon right away as he had to go out of town for a few days (he's the only vet in town that knows anything about reptiles). He told me that I could get some special eye drops for reptiles at a pet shop downtown and he would see us when he got back.
I got the drops and began medicating the poor dragon's eyes. He was finally in a nice. clean, warm home, had all the food he needed and someone who would finally care about him.
Day before yesterday, I finally got him to eat on his own, and he finally decided to have a drink of water when I misted him. Then, he just barely opened his right eye, looked right at me, and closed his eye again. I thought to myself, "Yes! He's getting better!"
Then, when I woke up yesterday morning, I went to check up on him and give him his eye medicine....but he had passed away...and on the same day the vet returned from his trip.
Needless to say, I'm really sad about the poor little dragon, and majorly peeved at my "friend."
Now that I've got such a lovely set-up for a bearded dragon, I guess my only option is to begin my search for a new one.
Last summer, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted her bearded dragons. She had bought them for her son (who promised to take care of them), but her son lost interest. I told her I'd be glad to take them. We made arrangements, but she stood me up.
This went on all summer. She would tell me when to come get the dragons, I would show up, she wouldn't be there.
Then, on Wednesday of last week, she sends me an e-mail at my work e-mail address and asks if I still want the dragon (singular). I asked what happened to the other dragon. She said she had moved into a new house and had given the dragons to her brother. She then went into this long story about how he hadn;t taken care of them and one of the dragons had died.
Then, she's like, I've got the survivor in my car with me right now. So, I took a break, went down and got the dragon (with a 40 gallon tank) out of her car.
I said, "wait, let me get him out.." When I picked the dragon up, I immediately knew his situation was grim.
He couldn't open his eyes, and he was as thin as a sheet of paper! I told her it was terrible that she let him get in such a condition, and that she would bring him and his cage to me in such a shape. The tank looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months, so it was full of dragon poo and dead crickets.
She keeps blaming it on her brother, but I told her they were her dragons and still her responsibility. Because of my soft heart for reptiles, I agreed to try to nurse him back to health, which I knew was going to be a tough battle.
Anyway, I took him home, put him in a separate container while I thoroughly cleaned his tank. Had my roomie go to the pet shop, grocery store, and home improvement store with my credit card to buy a UVB light kit, heat light, thermometer, new tank decorations and hiding spots, some dragon food pellets, green veggies and fruit, crickets, and play sand.
Once we got him all set up, I called my local vet to see what I could do. My vet couldn't see the dragon right away as he had to go out of town for a few days (he's the only vet in town that knows anything about reptiles). He told me that I could get some special eye drops for reptiles at a pet shop downtown and he would see us when he got back.
I got the drops and began medicating the poor dragon's eyes. He was finally in a nice. clean, warm home, had all the food he needed and someone who would finally care about him.
Day before yesterday, I finally got him to eat on his own, and he finally decided to have a drink of water when I misted him. Then, he just barely opened his right eye, looked right at me, and closed his eye again. I thought to myself, "Yes! He's getting better!"
Then, when I woke up yesterday morning, I went to check up on him and give him his eye medicine....but he had passed away...and on the same day the vet returned from his trip.
Needless to say, I'm really sad about the poor little dragon, and majorly peeved at my "friend."
Now that I've got such a lovely set-up for a bearded dragon, I guess my only option is to begin my search for a new one.
