:(
I don't think I mentioned this, but a little over three weeks ago, I inherited three more beardies. My friend Kim, who gave me Leto and Ghanima, had given one of her other friends some of Leto and Ghanima's siblings also. To put it nicely, she didn't take care of them all that well, and poor Kim felt bad about giving them to her, so when her friend said she was considering getting rid of/selling the beardies, Kim jumped at the chance to get them back and take care of them properly. I knew of this possibility, and I said a long time ago I'd take some in if she didn't have enough room for them all.
Well, the time finally came. There were four beardies total: two sisters and a brother of Leto and Ghanima and an unrelated female. Kim kept one sister, and I said I'd take the others. The siblings became Usul and Chani, while the unrelated (and feisty) female became Wencisia. (All Dune characters, of course.)
Wencisia is fat and has an attitude: a perfect mate for Stilgar. Usul and Chani seemed to get along pretty well together. Usul bobs his head at every opportunity, sometimes so violently that his front feet come off the ground. It's quite funny. He also can't ever make up his mind--he bobs and runs to Chani, then bobs and runs to Wencisia, then bobs and runs back to Chani, etc. He's just a hilarious little guy. Chani is laid back, like Ghani, but without the god complex. All three have been in quarantine together since I got them. They keep pooping just before I leave for work, so I haven't been able to do enough health checks to warrant breaking quarantine.
This morning, I went to clean up their doo and give them their daily salad when I saw Usul propped up between the basking platform and the side of the cage, sideways, with his head lolled back and eyes sunken in. I thought for sure he was dead. Shocked, I gently pulled him out, whereupon he fidgeted and opened his eyes. He didn't move much, though. I quickly called the vet and got an almost immediate appointment. I had no idea what could be wrong; he'd been eating, pooping, and otherwise acting normal. Even last night, when I checked on them before going to bed, they were all passed out in a pile like usual.
It seems he had an aneurysm or something similar in his body cavity. The vet said he'd been seeing this type of thing crop up more and more lately; it's the result of a genetic flaw that's popped up due to all the inbreeding that has occurred with beardies over the years. All of the beardies in the U.S. are from the same two dozen beardies that were brought into the country before Australia banned their export. Kim and I had been discussing this recently, strangely enough....
Well, there wasn't anything that could be done for poor Usul, and he passed away only a couple hours after I took him in. While it's comforting to know that it's not my fault--and even if we'd caught it earlier, he most likely would've died anyway--it's always sad to lose one of my scaly kids...especially a beardie. What's even more sad is that I haven't taken any pictures of the new beardies, so I can't even show you what he looked like....
Chani and Wencisia got some extra cuddles today.
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Well, the time finally came. There were four beardies total: two sisters and a brother of Leto and Ghanima and an unrelated female. Kim kept one sister, and I said I'd take the others. The siblings became Usul and Chani, while the unrelated (and feisty) female became Wencisia. (All Dune characters, of course.)
Wencisia is fat and has an attitude: a perfect mate for Stilgar. Usul and Chani seemed to get along pretty well together. Usul bobs his head at every opportunity, sometimes so violently that his front feet come off the ground. It's quite funny. He also can't ever make up his mind--he bobs and runs to Chani, then bobs and runs to Wencisia, then bobs and runs back to Chani, etc. He's just a hilarious little guy. Chani is laid back, like Ghani, but without the god complex. All three have been in quarantine together since I got them. They keep pooping just before I leave for work, so I haven't been able to do enough health checks to warrant breaking quarantine.
This morning, I went to clean up their doo and give them their daily salad when I saw Usul propped up between the basking platform and the side of the cage, sideways, with his head lolled back and eyes sunken in. I thought for sure he was dead. Shocked, I gently pulled him out, whereupon he fidgeted and opened his eyes. He didn't move much, though. I quickly called the vet and got an almost immediate appointment. I had no idea what could be wrong; he'd been eating, pooping, and otherwise acting normal. Even last night, when I checked on them before going to bed, they were all passed out in a pile like usual.
It seems he had an aneurysm or something similar in his body cavity. The vet said he'd been seeing this type of thing crop up more and more lately; it's the result of a genetic flaw that's popped up due to all the inbreeding that has occurred with beardies over the years. All of the beardies in the U.S. are from the same two dozen beardies that were brought into the country before Australia banned their export. Kim and I had been discussing this recently, strangely enough....
Well, there wasn't anything that could be done for poor Usul, and he passed away only a couple hours after I took him in. While it's comforting to know that it's not my fault--and even if we'd caught it earlier, he most likely would've died anyway--it's always sad to lose one of my scaly kids...especially a beardie. What's even more sad is that I haven't taken any pictures of the new beardies, so I can't even show you what he looked like....
Chani and Wencisia got some extra cuddles today.
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