Fall is Finally Getting Here!

Well, the temps are FINALLY starting to drop a little bit (it is NOT cold by any means) and the leaves are starting to turn (still pretty green though). Now that the house is cooler all the time without the air conditioner going, the cats are more playful and also more likely to "snuggle" with you. I actually see the fish tank heaters turn on sometimes now (instead of me having to use ice and a fan!) and I actually have to use the under-tank heaters for the geckos all the time and use the heat lamp for my leopard gecko Seze! Fiona has enjoyed out of cage time even more now and gets out several times a day usually. Lewis and Clark (my two gerbils) are very frisky and playful too and love getting out daily in their "Run-About-Ball's". All my new fish are doing well (a few weeks ago I got 2 guppies and 3 black-skirt tetras, and then last Saturday I got a royal gramma)! Hopefully this weather will stay for a while because it is so pretty now!

Trip to Arkansas: Coming home with a new critter and nursing it back to health

On August 15th through the 18th I was in Arkansas and had a great time exploring a state that I had never seen before (the Ozarks are really beautiful!). On the 17th, I went to a Petco store and got a baby leopard gecko. The next day I had to travel back to MS and (of course) the gecko had to go also. She did really well with the trip and once I got home, I immediately got her setup in a nice terrarium with a heater, water dish, hideout, and food. She ate several crickets a day (she is only 4 inches long!) for about 4 or so days and then stopped eating completely. I tried mealworms and dead crickets (my other gecko will eat both of the latter plus live crickets too) with no luck. Finally I called a vet in town who referred me to another vet (exotic animal vet). I called the exotic animal vet and talked to her. She told me to bring the gecko in that day so I did. I was really afraid that she was going to find out that the gecko had Cryptosporidium (a deadly, non-curable disease that affects reptiles and many other animals) but she came back and told me that it just had a bacterial infection and POSSIBLY some internal parasites so she gave me some Baytril and Panacur to give the little girl for 7 days (for the Baytril) and 3 days (for the Panacur). She also gave me a can of Hills A/D Canine/Feline food to give her. I did this as well as I could (the gecko did NOT like it at ALL) and after about 4 days, she was eating again! After completing the medication she is still eating (2 crickets a night) and is gaining weight! The vet told me that the infection was likely due to Petco not keeping the cages sanitary. I won't be buying any more reptiles (or any other animal for that matter) from Petco, Petsmart or any other chain pet store. I have not named the new gecko but I am considering these names: Neyteri (Avatar), Seze (the name of Neyteri's Ikran in Avatar), Nala (The Lion King) and Sabor (the leopard in Tarzan and also means lioness or tiger in Mangani).