We are sad to report the demise of our beloved little lizard.
Harry passed away peacefully in his sleep following a week's battle with impaction caused by eating the sand in the bottom of his cage. Apparently, baby lizards cannot digest the sand and become impacted and die. I desperately wish that the countless books and webpages I read which said that sand was the best substrate for beardies had included that little phrase, "except those less than 10 inches long". Also, the mealworms we fed him the first two days we had him compounded the problem. Apparently mealworms have a harder shell than crickets and baby beardies cannot digest it properly either. All of the pet stores in the area were out of crickets the week Harry arrived. I asked the pet store employee what to feed him. He asked me how big he was, then told me small mealworms would be fine. He was mistaken. So was the other pet store employee who told me that sand was a good substrate for baby beardies as long as you used the calcium based (more expensive) sand. Lesson learned: ask someone who specializes in reptiles, not Joe Blow pet store employee who pretends to know what they are talking about. So now we have blown over $100, a week of nursing a sick lizard, and have nothing but an empty tank to show for it. (Well, there are still a couple of stray crickets hiding here and there). There is just no way we can afford another $60 lizard right now, so we will just have to be patient and wait to replace Harry.
In other news, our dear neighbors, the Blansits, moved out this week. Ty is planning to finish his undergrad degree this semester and hopes to enter seminary in the fall. They did not know how long it would take to sell the house and needed to lower their overhead, so went ahead and put it on the market this past fall. They closed on the sale Friday and moved to a duplex a few miles away. They are still close by, but it will just not be the same. Our boys have spent countless hours at their house, and their boys have spent countless hours in ours. It's almost hard to imagine not having BJ in our yard every afternoon. It's going to be a difficult adjustment for us all, and we will miss having them across the street.
The good news is. . .2006 is bound to get better. . .right?
Posted by willa at Enero 7, 2006 01:23 PM | TrackBackI am sorry to hear about Harry. I was looking forward to living vicariously though you and your amateur herpatology adventures. Pam won't allow a reptile in the house, and I can't get a motorcycle to make up for it, either. Of course, you still have the snake, right?
Posted by: Scott at Enero 8, 2006 12:11 AMHow's Joseph taking it?
Posted by: lynnp at Enero 8, 2006 01:43 PMOh no! I am so sorry to hear about Harry's passing. For a fur-less animal, he was so cute. My condolences.
Posted by: Mandy at Enero 8, 2006 02:36 PMJoseph is taking it better than I am. I was really surprised, actually, at how well he took it initially. Then I realized that he did not understand that his being dead meant we could no longer keep Harry. He was actually quite content to play with his little dead body. "Now I don't have to worry about hurting him, at least." But when I told him that Harry would have to be buried or thrown away or something, he started to cry and said, "But I want to see him in my room when I wake up in the mornings." He did convince me to put Harry in the freezer until Cocoa could come over, since he never got to see him before he died. We thought Cocoa could attend the funeral.
Posted by: willa at Enero 8, 2006 07:49 PMA couple of things that remain from Harry: 1) A good (but somewhat expensive) education on the care for tiny bearded lizards. Maybe someone else will run across your blog and avoid a similar mistake. 2) The wonderful photo of Joseph below.
Posted by: gcw at Enero 10, 2006 08:31 AMYes, Dad, I will admit that I was just thinking last night that as nervous as it makes me to think about shelling out another $60 for a lizard, I feel much better prepared to care for it than I did before. Through my many desperate readings and researching on how I might save Harry, I learned a lot about the hydration of juve beardies, their diet, etc. And even Joseph commented, "I can't wait until we get a new lizard. And this time we won't put any sand at all in the tank, right?" I just wish our education had been cheaper. Makes me appreciate all the more all the ichthyological knowlege I've gained flushing countless 25 cent goldfish down the commode. . .:)
oh dear, that is sad. Although your comment about Joseph being happy to play with the lizard while dead did make me laugh. his statement was quite true. I think I personally would have better luck with animals if they were dead... because anything living under my hand doesnt stay that way for very long. Well I would love to send you sixty dollars for a new lizard for Joseph. Just let me know if that is ok. Perhaps I could count it as tithe;)
Posted by: Joanna at Enero 11, 2006 01:45 PMJoanna, I've never been one to turn down a free lizard. :) Harry Joanna Ibach 2. . .has a nice ring, huh? Come to think of it, Joanna was the name of the lizard in the Disney movie Rescuers, Down Under.
We took some pics for you at choir this week. I'll post them later. . .keep you anticipating all day! Just to whet your appetite: think Joanna move. . .and Steven Scott!!! *insert evil laugh here*
Posted by: willa at Enero 13, 2006 10:47 AMBTW, I had shared the "Harry saga" with a girl I volunteer with at CCS every week, whose kids also have pet lizards (geckos). She said that when they went to Pet Warehouse this week to buy crickets, she noticed that they had a couple of baby Beardies for sale and the bottom of the cage. . .SAND.
Posted by: willa at Enero 13, 2006 10:54 AMWell I think I will take a little trip to the post office tonight then. Please dont feel like you have to name the lizard after me. I mean, Harry is a way better name than Joanna. I should change my name to harry. haha. When that rescuers down under movie came out I got made fun of cause that nasty lizard was named joanna. I heard about it for years. Only creepy things and people are named Joanna in movies. It is a shame. Anyways, looking foreward to the pics! where are they?
Posted by: Joanna at Enero 16, 2006 05:16 PMJoanna, you are such a dear. I suppose this might make you like Harry 2's godfather, er, godmother. Ooh, ooh, Joanna! You're the Bearded Dragon Fairy Godmother!!
BTW. . .there are still plenty of spaces available on the Acapulco team this year (hint, hint)!
Posted by: willa at Enero 17, 2006 11:07 AMOne other funny comment. . .This morning a package arrived for Stephen (some computer equipment) via FedEx. When I opened the door, the FedEx guy says, "Is this another lizard?" Seeing that the box was about 3x the size of the one Harry arrived in, it was kind of funny to think about. It also cracked me up that the FedEx guy remembers stuff like that.
Posted by: willa at Enero 17, 2006 11:19 AM