Hi everyone! I guess I do lurk, but I have not had time lately to read every day. I try to catch up once a week or so. The photos lately have been great! I love looking at them.
I've been busy with Fawn. A couple weeks ago I came home to find she had laid her clutch and then trampled over all the eggs. I thought she was ok, but later that day she started breathing heavily and gasping. I was terrified for her, remembering Eve's recent experience. After a couple of days her breathing got much better, but she looked wretched and appeared to be even smaller than Cadence (who is only about 8 months old). I started forcing fluids with a syringe and last Monday she surprised me by voluntarily gulping down almost 2 cc's. Since then she has made a real turn around and has been putting some weight back on. She chases down crickets but seems to have a bit of trouble swallowing them. And she is opening her mouth a lot, even sometimes when I think she is asleep. It looks like what the others do if they are surprised or scared and is definitely not the gasping that she was doing. I have wondered if she is in pain, but she is becoming more and more active and otherwise seems nearly back to normal. I don't think she would run around like that if she was hurting. She went through another shed this week, too, right on top of the bad shed she had during her pregnancy. This one went better, but was incomplete on her head, belly and legs. So we are back to the soaks and rubs with mineral oil. Just like a lizard day spa, I have been told! I had given her to my friend Ric, to keep Hermes company. She was just here to let Otis do the deed and lay her eggs. But I have been nursing her every day for weeks now, and can't imagine giving her up again. So I told Ric "You can't have her back; I am just too attached to her." Bottom line is, I now owe Ric a female collared! So I will be looking to buy one since I would rather not collect any more from the wild.
Otis, Saige and Cadence are all plump and healthy looking. I keep hoping Saige will get gravid, but no colors yet. And that is the lizard report from here! Thanks for all the pictures, even though they have made me want a new camera!
Here is a favorite photo of Fawn, Saige and Otis (taken in July 2004) Fawn has a lot of green instead of brown now.
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Valerie
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.--
God bless the USA
vrk.photosite.com
