pridecity
Patients took over asylum
I bee-bopped over to Petsmart to window shop and happened to be at the right place at the right time. A customer who was a sight came in and I happened to be near enough to hear the conversation. Apparently she bought this water dragon a couple weeks ago from some person and the "thing" is sick. She described to the pet care person at Petsmart how she had the cage, which was way wrong as far as I've researched. This little baby water dragon is skinny and has an eye infection.
The short of the story is that she wanted Petsmart to "fix it" and when the associate said to take it to Scales N Tails or a vet, she got all huffy. She said that Petsmart could take "it", but they declined as they usually do. She said that she would just throw it away or set it free. Of course, I had to step in at this point.
So, now I have a free sick water dragon. I'm going to have to keep it in a little 10 gallon for the moment out in the living room away from everyone else. It's got to be no more than two years old (about 5-6 inches from nose to vent). I don't know if it's a "he" but that's what it is going to be referred to for now. When Ms. Thing handed him over to me, I had to double check to see if she didn't hand me a Popsicle. Poor thing was half frozen.
And of course, I had walked to Petsmart in 4 degree weather. I promptly left so I could get this little guy home. Luckily, I happened to have hand warmers in my boots for the walk. I took one out and put the little guy in my glove in my pocket against the warmer. Fastest mile walk I've ever taken.
Anywho, he is now laying on my very warm laptop after some torture. I gave him a look to see what made him seem sick. His eyes were shut closed. I did a little research and followed advise to try rinsing with water. One eye opened up and he became active. Try as I might, I couldn't get the other one open. After drying him off and warming him back up, I decided to try Turtle Eye Drops. I got the eye open enough to see goop. So, that equals infection and inflammation in my book. Gladly, I've had experience in bad animal eyes (guinea pig with ruptured eye that had to be cleaned out 3-4 times a day). I very gently started to clean out the eye, looking for possible irritant like substrate. I was hoping for something easy. No such luck.
I'm providing pictures. They're not great, but hopefully gives you an idea. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at. I assume this eye will be useless. Who knows how long it was like this. It appears sunken to me. He did fight three times when I was cleaning it, but no biting. I'm leaving him be until tomorrow.
Before:
After:
The short of the story is that she wanted Petsmart to "fix it" and when the associate said to take it to Scales N Tails or a vet, she got all huffy. She said that Petsmart could take "it", but they declined as they usually do. She said that she would just throw it away or set it free. Of course, I had to step in at this point.
So, now I have a free sick water dragon. I'm going to have to keep it in a little 10 gallon for the moment out in the living room away from everyone else. It's got to be no more than two years old (about 5-6 inches from nose to vent). I don't know if it's a "he" but that's what it is going to be referred to for now. When Ms. Thing handed him over to me, I had to double check to see if she didn't hand me a Popsicle. Poor thing was half frozen.
And of course, I had walked to Petsmart in 4 degree weather. I promptly left so I could get this little guy home. Luckily, I happened to have hand warmers in my boots for the walk. I took one out and put the little guy in my glove in my pocket against the warmer. Fastest mile walk I've ever taken.
Anywho, he is now laying on my very warm laptop after some torture. I gave him a look to see what made him seem sick. His eyes were shut closed. I did a little research and followed advise to try rinsing with water. One eye opened up and he became active. Try as I might, I couldn't get the other one open. After drying him off and warming him back up, I decided to try Turtle Eye Drops. I got the eye open enough to see goop. So, that equals infection and inflammation in my book. Gladly, I've had experience in bad animal eyes (guinea pig with ruptured eye that had to be cleaned out 3-4 times a day). I very gently started to clean out the eye, looking for possible irritant like substrate. I was hoping for something easy. No such luck.
I'm providing pictures. They're not great, but hopefully gives you an idea. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at. I assume this eye will be useless. Who knows how long it was like this. It appears sunken to me. He did fight three times when I was cleaning it, but no biting. I'm leaving him be until tomorrow.
Before:
After:
