So, today I went to pick up what I thought was an elderly male red tegu. His owner was surrendering him due to not having a place for him. I was told the tegu was missing his claws on his front feet due to bad humidity when he was little. It was a reptile rescue that put me in contact with him, so my assumption was that this was a legit story.
I picked him up, the person was in a hurry to leave, and having just driven two hours to pick the tegu up, I took a quick look at the tegu, and thought that he was just really small...maybe a runt tegu or some such. I wanted to leave him alone til we got home with him. He was stressed and upset, hiding in the towel I had in the kennel with him, so I just wanted to give him some quiet time.
We made a stop at the pet store that knows tegus (I always bring my black and white there), and it was here that we discovered why the guy was in such a hurry to leave.
The 'elderly male tegu' is a severely neglected, severely malnourished barely 1 and a half or 2 years old female. She's calm as can be, gentle and quiet and oh so loving. She climbed to perch under my chin from the moment I held her.
We got her back nails trimmed...they were so long that they were actually nearly imbedded, and the nice folks at the store helped get a lot of the dead shed off of her. She was literally covered in shed.
The true extent of the horror of her condition became apparent when we got home and I got her in a warm bath. Her jaw is deformed from what looks like injury due to hitting against a cage. The people at the pet store checked her mouth, and she can eat, she's just got a bad underbite and irritation to her bottom lip.
She's in bad shape. I doubt she is going to survive. THat's not going to stop me from trying, but yeah, she's in bad shape. I'm going to try every food I can think of to get some weight on her, she's got a vet appt. being set up on monday.
I take it as a good sign that she's seeking out warmth, she mouthed some food, and once in a large enclosure, she burrowed right down and is now currently mostly buried in damp bedding.
If nothing else...she'll live a good life while I've got her. I'm going to do my best, but damned if I wasn't livid that she was in this shape! How do you let an animal as intelligent and wonderful as a tegu get like this?
I'm posting pictures I took of her, so you can see for yourself just what sort of condition she is in. [attachment=5158][attachment=5159][attachment=5160][attachment=5161][attachment=5162][attachment=5163]
I picked him up, the person was in a hurry to leave, and having just driven two hours to pick the tegu up, I took a quick look at the tegu, and thought that he was just really small...maybe a runt tegu or some such. I wanted to leave him alone til we got home with him. He was stressed and upset, hiding in the towel I had in the kennel with him, so I just wanted to give him some quiet time.
We made a stop at the pet store that knows tegus (I always bring my black and white there), and it was here that we discovered why the guy was in such a hurry to leave.
The 'elderly male tegu' is a severely neglected, severely malnourished barely 1 and a half or 2 years old female. She's calm as can be, gentle and quiet and oh so loving. She climbed to perch under my chin from the moment I held her.
We got her back nails trimmed...they were so long that they were actually nearly imbedded, and the nice folks at the store helped get a lot of the dead shed off of her. She was literally covered in shed.
The true extent of the horror of her condition became apparent when we got home and I got her in a warm bath. Her jaw is deformed from what looks like injury due to hitting against a cage. The people at the pet store checked her mouth, and she can eat, she's just got a bad underbite and irritation to her bottom lip.
She's in bad shape. I doubt she is going to survive. THat's not going to stop me from trying, but yeah, she's in bad shape. I'm going to try every food I can think of to get some weight on her, she's got a vet appt. being set up on monday.
I take it as a good sign that she's seeking out warmth, she mouthed some food, and once in a large enclosure, she burrowed right down and is now currently mostly buried in damp bedding.
If nothing else...she'll live a good life while I've got her. I'm going to do my best, but damned if I wasn't livid that she was in this shape! How do you let an animal as intelligent and wonderful as a tegu get like this?
I'm posting pictures I took of her, so you can see for yourself just what sort of condition she is in. [attachment=5158][attachment=5159][attachment=5160][attachment=5161][attachment=5162][attachment=5163]
