Schmendrick’s Ordeal
Since Erin and her lizard (Schmendrick) moved in a few weeks ago, life has been difficult for my new reptilian roommate.
Sometimes the shock of being moved into a new location will cause a gecko to stop eating for a while, or it can even aggravate existing medical conditions. In Schmendrick's case, he developed a severe leg infection. At first he stopped eating, and then after a while he became listless and sick.
I won't recount the entire story here, but suffice it to say that he was in a very bad way for a while there. Ultimately, the vet determine that the best way to save him was to amputate the infected leg. This was a sad outcome for poor Schmendrick, but it was not nearly as sad as dying from a spreading systemic infection, so we agreed to the procedure.
He had a rough day or two afterward, but we've since been able to coax him into eating again, and his spirits seem considerably improved (insofar as one can claim to be able to tell the difference between a sad lizard and a cheerful one.) He certainly moves around a lot more than before, which is surprising considering that he's had to re-learn how to walk on three legs and a tail!
I'm impressed with the little guy's will to survive, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of him. If you're interested, they are here.
January 25th, 2009 - 10:44
That’s really too bad that the little guy lost part of his leg, but asylu said, it’s better than the alternative. He certainly is cute, even with fewer limbs than normal.
Hopefully everything else in the moving process went more smoothly.
January 26th, 2009 - 20:38
So far his recovery has been speedy and uneventful, which is nice, considering he had such a miserable time when he was sick.
He *is* a pretty cute little guy, isn’t he? He’s got a surprising amount of personality, too (for a reptile), but I still think he’s coasting on his good looks more now that he doesn’t have all his limbs.
And yes, other than a traumatized lizard and some intensely cold weather, the move went pretty well. One of my sisters-in-law came to help, which was really nice, but we still could have used your tetris-like stacking skillz to help fit everything into that cargo van!
February 1st, 2009 - 11:01
I think that Schmendrick certainly has a way of getting into people’s hearts
He’s a pretty amicable lizard… that’s for sure. And he seems to be doing so much better since his surgery… I think he did have an infection festering in his leg. He’s lucky it didn’t go systemic before we took him to the vet. He’s one lucky lizard!!