The House of Cats & Dragons

So far its a short list... just off the top of my head... I've been meaning to get it journal-ed for some time now. But I will add to it as days go and as things WILL be accomplished:

*Swim with Great White Sharks off the Barrier Reef in Austrailia.

*Get arrested with Starhawk while protesting... anything (I just think it would so freaking awesome!)

*Go to Burning Man.

*Visit Ireland and all the sacred sites.

*Travel to Stonehenge during the Summer Solstice.

*Meet Patricia Telesco .

*Publish at least one of my books, even if no one ever reads them.

*Be "owned" by a Tonkinese (or two or three)

*Make it back to Dragonfest at least one more time

*See a volcano erupting live and in person

*See Flamingos and Penguins in the wild (okay, not necessarily at the same time, but you know what I mean)

*Poi. I am patiently waiting and practicing daily. Soon, I hope, I will be spinning fire.
. http://dragonsflame71.livejournal.com/66414.html


*Take a cruise... somewhere, anywhere, perferably tropical, but Alaska would be cool too.

**Last update-October 26, 2007**

This is for mermaidstitcher Not long ago I rescued a leopard gecko, Hermes, with MBD. I am proud to report that not only is he growing (shedding every 2 weeks!!) but his tail is a fatty thing. His legs are stronger & fatter, as in he can manage himself quite well, but his little feet are still twisted backwards. It doesn't seem that it has hampered him a bit. He has adjusted. He can even catch his own crickets, altho he prefers for me to hand feed lol Ares has been the best companion for him. I can't wait for Hermes to get to his full size. I truly believe he will.

That would be Hermes in the front & Ares in the back

Stalking a cricket

Catching the cricket!

On blood, sweat, & tears. In four days & five trucks, we restocked an entire store. Dog & cat- food, treats, toys, etc. omg! Go to your local large pet store & just take a moment to look at just how many brands & flavors of animal food is available. Seriously. No, really. Go look. Do you have any idea how many dog treats are on the market?!
Four days & we stocked every shelf. Aquatics, small animal, & bird was done in one day. Planograms & endcaps. Drive aisle products. An entire store in four very long days.
Thursday we got in reptiles. ALL the reptiles. Friday we got all the small & furries along with 1500 fish. My boss & I got them all set up & out.
I am exhausted. But the store is beautiful. Everything is brand new. It looks amazing. I can't believe we pulled it off. I am surrounded by 30 co-workers who really love their jobs.
We open on Monday. I can't wait. As tragic as the fire was, I gotta see the silver lining. We literally got a brand new store. Top to bottom & front to back.
Remind me of how blessed I feel after we open! Our customers have missed us & even the local competition is ready for us to open. We instill loyalty in our customer base & they have let the "other" pet store know how much they suck & how much better we are. Its going to be wild & crazy when we open the doors on Monday. But I love, love, LOVE my job. I'm ready. After I sleep & rest the next two days

A quick update on the state of our zoo!

Hermes, the sick gecko, is so far down the road to recovery that I declare him well. He is eating mealworms on his own & takes crickets if I hold them (he is not able to catch them). He is shedding at a rate of twice a week, which is just amazing & outstanding. His little legs are getting fat & so is the tail. He also has a neq companion, Ares. Ares went on clearance at our store for $22.99 (down from 89.99!) & I couldn't resist. He is a full grown gecko too. It shouldn't be long until Hermes is at the same size.

Rats are doing wonderfully & Jack is finally coming around to being petted. Charlie will be heading to the dentist next week to have his teeth clipped again.
We are currently fostering a kitten for Mel & her roommate until hes off the bottle & litter trained. They have named him Spock

This is Hermes. He is a Leopard Gecko, approximately 1 year old. He was surrendered to me today. The owners didn't understand what was wrong with him, he hadn't eaten since Christmas (Christmas!!!!!), & they had no idea what to do. They also didn't want him anymore.

The picture doesn't do complete justice to exactly how damaged this little guy is. You can see his left back leg curled under & his tail is not the big fatty thing it should be. I didn't want to disturb him too much to get a really good pic. What you can't see is that each of his legs are bent wrong and backwards. His spine is curved and bumpy.
Hermes (my name for him) has MBD, Metabolic Bone Disease. It's the most common, and the easiest to avoid, disease in herps. It means he never got enough calcium in his diet. It means that instead of paying a little extra for pet store crickets (which are gut loaded with vitamins) or buying calcium powder to dust his crickets (very little expense there), his crickets were probably bought at WalMart or even a bait shop and just fed to him plain. Not enough heat in his environment can be a contributor too. No real sunlight or UVB light to enhance his bone structure. Without those vitamins, his bones have become brittle. He probably has tiny microfractures throughout his legs and joints. He is in constant pain, which is why he didn't eat for FOUR, FOUR!, months. He is tired. He IS hungry (cause he damn sure did take a cricket from my fingers and SLOWLY ate it. MBD effects the jawbones too). He is in a partial shed and its the skin around the bottom half of his legs and toes that are stuck. I'll have to give him a warm soak later. I so hate to even try to pick him up, but he needs to eat, finish shedding, and lick some calcium powder off my fingers.
I've got him set up in my reptile baby tank, heat lamp blazing, UVB bulb shining brightly down on him, and tiny dish of calcium powder. Did you know that herps crave and need calcium so much that they will lick the powder straight up? I am holding out all hope that he will make some sort of recovery. That his bones will start to mend. That his tail will get fat and thick. That he will live a long life. He will never be what he should. His legs will probably not straighten out and his spine may not either. But he can recover if I can get him to eat, keep him warm, and if all else fails, get vitamin and calcium injections from our local exotic pet vet.
Did you know that Gecko's have a 10-15 YEAR average life span? That they can grow up to 10 inches? That if their tail falls off, it will grow back? That they even love to eat brown recluse spiders?
Probably not. If you're not a herp fanatic or have even considered owning a reptile, why would you? My heart absolutely cracked open when I was presented this gecko. I knew immediantly what was wrong and then was shocked to hear he was already a year old and still so small. If any of my animals, furred or scaled, stop eating for a few days I start looking for answers and calling the vet. How anyone can be so irresponsible or not care more just astounds me and pisses me off! And instead of finding a solution and saving his life, he was simply given away, broken.
I hope I can start to fix him the best I can. Realistically, I'm reminding myself he may not make it. One cricket today, hopefully two tomorrow.
Be responsible. Research, research, research before investing in any pet, especially exotics (which includes Hamsters, Birds, Guinea Pigs, etc.). That $9.99 hamster or small lizard is actually closer to a $100 investment in the first year alone.
Off my soapbox. Time to bathe Hermes and try to get another cricket down him

So thegreenyear asked and I shall provide. But under a cut, not everyone probably wants to see LOL
Today I made it just shy of my full hours for the day. Finally had to give in and go home to rest. I'm off tomorrow and plan on resting more. But today was the least painful day so far, so that is something.

( Click for picsCollapse )

The first is from the next morning, just a little over 12 hours after the bite occured.


This is about two days later, which would have been Wednesday


Now for Friday. We finally noticed while it was spreading, the dark purpleing was starting to disappear


I believe this is from Sunday


And last nite:


So there it is! The wonderful progression of a black widow spider bite. I truly cannot express the pain that comes with it too. So intense. If I had any kind of heart problem or blood pressure issues, there would have been a chance it could have killed me. I just gotta take each day carefully for now.

I've now had Charlie & Remi for nearly 3 months. Who knew two little rats would occupy so much of my free time?! They need the time tho, & I'm happy to give it.

Remi is my sweet rat. He instantly bounds out of the cage & straight for my lap, bruxing his little heart out in excitement. He comes when called 75% of the time. He enjoys grooming my fingers & has almost gotten down the spin trick for treat. He is very outgoing & not a bit scared of strangers. He loves scratches on the head & down the back.

Charlie is the more timid one. He is also the perfect definition of a "pack rat"! If he can steal it, then it belongs to him. He has a nice pile of cat toys, treats, paper, & wood chew blocks. Receipt in your pocket? Gone! Remi leaves a treat behind? Gone! Cat toy for tug of war? Gone! He's not as fond of lovings but he still runs up to me when I sit down to get a few kisses before scampering off to find more stuff to steal. He does brux sometimes, but mainly for Ryan & not me.

Both boys have a love of special treats. Scrambled eggs, pasta, tomatos, grapes, & blueberries are highly valued. Charlie's favorite is sunflower seeds & Remi's is banana chips. P-nutter dog biscuits are the favorite chew treat. Freeze dried peas are the most hated. They grab them & throw them aside in disgust. We call it the "fuck that pea" move.

Right now they have a 3 story condo with a cute ferret cube (fleece lined & hanging from the top of the cage) for sleeping in. I've made a couple sleep sacks, but they prefer to chew holes in them instead of sleeping. When we're in the room, the cage is open for free play but so far they won't venture off the couch. The floor is LAVA! More due probably to the poor eyesight rats have. They're curious about Hendrix the Hamster. They can see her cage & hear her when she runs the wheel.

I cherish all the moments I have with them. All rats are born with cancer & will die from it. Average lifespan is 2-5 years. I've gotten a lot of tips on diet to help slow down the process. These are precious boys who show me love & devotion

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1. How many pets do you have and what are their names?
Current tally:
3 indoor kitties, Willow, Ghenghis Khan aka The Boy, & Mr. Mojo
1 outdoor, Serendipity
2 strays who show up on feeding time, Big E(vil) & Spooky
2 bearded dragons, Julius & Sheila
1 ball python, Neela

2. You are so thirsty you could die. What do you drink?
As good as water would be for me, Coca Cola, hands down!

3. Tell me a story from your childhood.
Just one?! Making mudpies with my sister. I nearly had her convinced to eat one, til Mom stepped in

4. What day of your life has been the happiest?
There are two contenders, the day Melanie was born & the day I married my soulmate, Ryan

5. You have just won one million dollars! After taxes, you get about $600K free and clear. What do you do with that money?
Go somewhere warm, tropical, full of beach & ocean & just relax for a week

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The Boy

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