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UPI 08 April 08 Family pays thousands for lizard's care
Fountain Valley, Calif.: A California man says he and his wife spent $5,000 on medical bills for his beloved pet lizard that eventually died due to an enlarged heart.
Leonard Scheid of Fountain Valley said he and his wife Dorothy treated T-Rex, a Savannah Monitor they purchased in 2002, as a full-blown member of the family: the lizard was toilet trained, washed up in the bathroom tub and was even allowed to sleep in bed with its owners, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported Tuesday.
Scheid said the powerful bond he quickly formed with T-Rex left him with no concern about money when the lizard fell ill in 2003. The family racked up $5,000 in medical costs for three amputation surgeries when the lizard's tail became deformed, several X-rays, an EKG and ultrasound on his heart and other procedures.
"If they need the care, then it is our responsibility," Dorothy Scheid said of the family's pets.
T-Rex died last December and the Scheids have since adopted another Savannah Monitor, a female named Raptor.
"She is more like a pet," Leonard Scheid said. "He was more like a family member."
Family pays thousands for lizard's care

Wow monitors arent humans and cant survive in the same environment. Interesting who would have guessed
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1.1 jungle carpets
1.1 sumatran bloods
1.1 het albino rtb
0.2 green anoles
0.1 australian shepard mix
0.0.6 tiger barb fish
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

Monday, April 7, 2008

Pampered reptile rules the roost
Fountain Valley man sleeps with his lizard, potty trains his lizard, and racks up big health bills for his pet.
By ANNIE BURRIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Comments 25| Recommend 11

FOUNTAIN VALLEY – Leonard Scheid loved his lizard.

No, I mean really loved his lizard. There were no heights or depths that he would not traverse to ensure the health and happiness of his pet.

You won't believe how far Leonard Scheid would go for his lizard.

T-Rex, a three-foot, five-pound Savannah Monitor, would go to work with Leonard, sleep with Leonard and have the same friends as Leonard. And this is just the beginning.

Leonard has owned countless lizards and iguanas. As a child, he had one lizard so big that the police once drew their guns on it.

But he always wanted a Savannah Monitor because of its prehistoric looks. These African native lizards are also the most docile and people-oriented of their species, Leonard said.
Can lizards be people oriented?

“I believe that they actually show emotion,” Leonard said. “They become attached to people and can recognize people.”

In 2002, Leonard and his wife, Dorothy, went to Radical Reptiles in Stanton in search of just such a monitor. Leonard picked up a reptile about the same size as his thumb, and the lizard curled its body and tail around his hand — clinging to Leonard.

This was the one. It was destiny.

They named him T-Rex.

Leonard purchased the pet of his dreams for about $25 and took him home in a bag. T-Rex was now a member of the Scheid family.

Their two grandchildren and two daughters were fascinated by T-Rex. Leonard took the pet to work in a backpack. Dorothy let the reptile sleep in their bed.

“Initially I thought it was kind of weird but he just snuggled,” Dorothy said about having the lizard in bed. “He would always want to be touching you. He was just like a little baby.”
T-Rex became potty trained, took baths in the family tub, and ate eggs and worms. Even the friends who were apprehensive about the pet, would picked up T-Rex and cuddle with the lizard.

(Side note: During my interview with the Scheids they suggested I hold their second Savannah Monitor to fully understand the story. I cringed. They insisted. I needed to bond. I held the fleshy reptile, but there was no connection. They even had him kiss my hand with his snake-like tongue, which I think even had an adverse affect on the relationship. It just felt gross. I tried to block it out. Like when you eat something terrible so you just chew, swallow, and try to forget. Once I proved myself, they fed him crickets on the coffee table so he wouldn’t eat my tape recorder.)

The veterinarian said the type of bond between Leonard and T-Rex is completely normal.

“For somebody who has a busy life or raises eight children, they couldn’t even fathom it,” said Dr. Wayne Kopit.

It is a matter of perception, the vet said.

The Scheids and Kopit had seen each other quite a bit during T-Rex’s lifetime.

About a year after the lizard had settled into the family, Leonard realized that T-Rex’s long, evenly curved tail was becoming abnormally jagged. The crick began toward the end of the tail and was gradually moving up the lizard’s spine.

During the next two years, T-Rex underwent three major amputation surgeries, countless x-rays, an EKG and ultrasound on his heart, and an upper GI where the lizard swallowed dye so they could trace his digestive system.

In November, the Scheids discovered the T-Rex had an enlarged heart – a condition that would require a heart transplant in a human. The lizard was still alive in December with the help of some experimental medication.

The total bill: about $5,000.

“People and their pets are pretty interesting,” Kopit said. “They identify with their pets and consider them family members.”

The Scheids said Kopit is spot on.

“It was our decision that we would treat our pets like our family, so of course we will do what we can to make them comfortable, to make them happy and that is part of being a responsible owner, whether it be for a dog or a cat or a bird,” said Dorothy. “That is not to say we will throw money out the door. But if they need the care, then it is our responsibility.”

This includes taking care of their other reptile: the “man-hating” iguana named “Buster.”
This is the pet that treated the Scheid’s daughter, Stacie, as its mate. Stacie eventually had to return Buster to her parents because it wouldn’t stop chasing her husband around the house.

Leonard brought Buster downstairs during the interview cradling him in one hand. The massive beast’s tail curled up Leonard’s back.

Will he hurt you? You better believe it. Leonard has scars on his legs to prove it.

Buster – the Scheid’s believe – pretended to drown in the Scheid’s pool. Twice. Both times Loenard did CPR on the seemingly dead reptile. They figured out that the iguana just liked the mouth to mouth part of CPR when it opened one eye to look around.

T-Rex and Leonard were inseparable. But everything changed for their unconventional friendship on Dec. 6.

Leonard woke up at 10 p.m., disturbed, as if he could sense the lizard needed him.
He got out of bed and told his wife he needed to check on his favorite pet. He scooped up T-Rex, who was sleeping in a spare bedroom, and marched downstairs.

Owner and pet settled onto the coach in the family’s Fountain Valley home and Leonard felt better having the lizard next to him, cradled against his chest like a baby. Leonard watched T-Rex who looked only half awake and had grown weaker throughout the day.

He was hoping this is not good bye.

He suddenly felt the lizard shake. T-Rex was having a seizure.

He took his lizard upstairs where he and his wife watched their beloved pet. Minutes later, T-Rex died.

The scene that night is still too personal and painful to talk about, Leonard said.
“We were very attached to him,” Dorothy said.

Leonard took T-Rex to the veterinarian the next day and had an autopsy performed. T-Rex was cremated and now lives on the Scheid’s mantel in a plastic bag. The family is still waiting for the marble urn.

“T was just such a family pet,” said Leonard. “Sometimes you bond with certain animals and with him I did.”

The Scheids grieved for several weeks but soon found themselves back at Radical Reptiles to look for another Savannah Monitor.

They found a female – she was about the same size of Leonard’s thumb and the curled her body and tail around his hand.
They named her Raptor.

The new lizard looks like T-Rex and helps to ease the pain of T-Rex’s death, but Leonard said it will never be the same.

“She is more like a pet,” Leonard said. “He was more like a family member.”
Then he held up Raptor to his mouth.

“Give me a kiss,” he said.

The lizard licked his lips.

“Thank you,” he said

OC Register

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/leonard-rex-lizard-2013261-pet-family