The last week-point-five has been thoroughly exhausting. Pulled three whole-ass all-nighters last week, between finals and that MS first draft / fixing Linux's being wholly bricked by both updating Linux Mint and the Firefox / Thunderbird insta-brick trifecta; while I've been able to catch up on sleep since then, Monday's "early" wake-up to take the beardie to the vet, and yesterday's early wake-up to meet with my advisors to discuss further progress over the weekend, haven't been great. At least I was able to get a nap in both afternoons.
I did mention in my previous wall-o'-text post that I'd taken Colombina and LeChuck to the vet last Tuesday, the former for her second dose of Ivermectin, the latter for his first; I'd also mentioned that I'd brought a stool sample for the beardie--now officially named Coquelicot, at least in their paperwork, I'm still a bit on the fence--and it came back as positive for both coccidia and hookworms still. Hence, her appointment was Monday, early afternoon. This was primarily an exam, since she hadn't been seen since September, but also so we could get a weight on her so she could be given the proper doses of both medications; then, naturally, she had to be administered the Ivermectin BY the vet, which, again, we'll be repeating in two weeks--this time ACTUALLY two weeks, as she'll be going in at the same time as LeChuck, so they can both get their second doses of the same medication.
Her meds for the coccidia are different from what we'd used before; it's apparently stronger, so much so that, even though her weight has quadrupled since September--itself an AMAZING feat, bringing her actually in-line with where she ought to be for her age, as compared to having been lagging behind the curve previously--the dosage is actually less. Further, the previous medication had to be administered over fourteen days, whereas this stuff only has to be given for five. (The vet did administer the first of these. And while he and the vet tech both commented on her being obviously quick to anger and ready to bite, I actually had to inform them that this was her having SIGNIFICANTLY calmed down from before! She's SO much better-behaved now, which I guess goes to show just how much of a fighter she really is.)
Problem is, it also tastes far worse, I guess. The previous stuff, she wasn't exactly ecstatic to be taking it, but by the end she WAS at least anticipating it, readily taking it down when I'd squirt it into her admittedly-threat-posture open mouth; this stuff, I have to WORK to get it in her. It's not helped by the fact that she's gained a LOT of trust for me over the last few months; before, she'd throw open her mouth to threaten me for simply putting my hands in the tank, but now when I approach, she's half-expecting me to bring her a treat. (Significantly less-so today, I'll tell you that much!) So now I have to hold her with one hand--which she already doesn't like, she's still pretty prickly about being TOUCHED, much less being held--and force her mouth open with the thumbnail on the other, letting her chew on that thumb momentarily as I wedge the syringe in there to dump the meds. And let me tell ya, she's got QUITE a bite on her now, nearly able to chomp right through my thumbnail with her teeth. REALLY hoping this round of meds takes care of her, because I am NOT looking forward to having to bandage up my thumbnail every time I have to dose her with this stuff. Might have to invest in a speculum. Which, actually, might not be a bad idea in general, since LeChuck will also get a devastating bite on him eventually, probably enough to actually TAKE the damn thumb. It's a frighteningly-common injury for green iguana keepers. But, yesterday's precedent and today's continuation has basically burned the bridge on much of that trust; while she still won't throw her mouth open in threat--doesn't even puff up her beard--she put up MUCH more of a fight to get away today, and really made me work to get her mouth open. I know we'll get it back, and I know this time will be a lot faster than before simply because that ground work HAS been done (and she'll be feeling better, ostensibly), but I do still feel bad about it.
One GOOD thing, and it is very much a good thing, is, she pooped early this afternoon, and this poop looked SO much better than even her poop Monday. (Which, admittedly, I can't remember if it happened before or after the vet visit. PROBABLY after, but I genuinely don't remember.) It was still quite watery, but it was pretty evident this was because I'd fed her some butternut squash yesterday in my attempt to make her feel better after that med dose; she'd refused to take any from my hand--which, not surprising, but I had to try--but she also wouldn't rush over to eat it from her bowl even, a BIG surprise from her. But, she must have gone over to get some between the time I left and when the lights went out, likely closer to the latter, since there were pieces of still-identifiable squash in her stool, meaning it had had enough time to move through her system but hadn't properly been digested. In spite of this wetness however--and the aforementioned chunks of undigested squash--the rest of her stool was actually properly formed, as opposed to the generally-formless blobs she'd been producing. Alas, she'd pooped in her bug feeder bowl, thankfully after I'd fed her the usual "morning" bugs but still, I obviously had to clean and disinfect it pretty quickly. (But it did make this diagnosis a lot easier than if she'd pooped on her log, the standard location for poops since she tends to stay up there for basking, both because its surface makes such diagnoses, and because it'd likely roll off, meaning the paper towels would've sopped up the wetness.) So at the very least, she's probably feeling a lot better!
Spent Monday evening putting the new bioactive substrate in Colombina's enclosure... only to find out I had, in fact, not ordered enough, as I'd feared might've been the case. The good news is, the three big plants--the china doll plant, the money tree, and the Boston fern--DID get planted in mounds of that substrate, and honestly only one more bag should do it; that bag has been ordered, and shipped out this afternoon. Further good news is, it was shipped via USPS, meaning it MIGHT actually be delivered this week! While it shipped from Webster, TX--a suburb of Houston--and thus COULD be here tomorrow, honestly a more realistic projection would be Friday; however, even if it defies expectations, since it's not UPS or FedEx, it actually COULD be delivered Saturday. (And in spite of DeJoy's THOROUGH attempts to gut it, the USPS is still leaps and bounds more reliable, more respectable, and just generally better than UPS or FedEx. The ONLY downside is that they won't deliver directly here, which was always true.) I did also divide the Boston fern before planting it; while it wasn't the cleanest divide, I planted the bigger section of the two, and put the remainder back in the hanging pot, filling the leftover space with coconut coir I'd had left over from elsewhere; it's presently hanging from an extant hook in the living room until I can decide where to put it where it'll get good sun during the winter, won't be reachable by the cats, and also won't drip water on easily water-damaged items like books. I also used that same coconut coir to "plant" the bromeliads, in quotes because those are epiphytes, but at least now they stand a fighting chance of surviving; one might already be dead, but we gotta try! (I also topped those plantings with sphagnum moss, to secure the bromeliads themselves, retain more moisture, and because I'd bought the sphagnum moss FOR planting these.) Alas, the other plants had to remain in their pots for the time being, but they should be able to be planted once this last bag of soil gets here.
Then this morning, woke up early because of a sudden intense wave of nausea. Didn't throw up, but there was a bit there where I was afraid I'd have to make a mad dash to the bathroom. It's been off and on in waves all day; no idea what it is. No other symptoms, no fever. (Actually, my temperature's a little LOWER than usual; still well within healthy bounds though. I just always run a little hot.) But, didn't want to expose anyone else in case it's something problematic, so I called in for tonight.
This gave me the opportunity to do the other big substrate shake-up I'd wanted to do, this time to LeChuck's enclosure. He'd been on fir bark, which is okay but not great; it retains humidity but not as well as other options, and it CAN cause problems if eaten. (Green iguanas are known to be geophagous, which is to say they often try to eat their substrate. Fir bark is actually a rare item that they usually WON'T try to eat, I suspect because of its smell, but it does still happen. Substrate consumption is THE primary cause of impaction in captive reptiles, itself a common cause of death; most reptiles only end up eating it by accident, but iguanas do so deliberately.) So, I'd gotten a HUGE block of coconut husk chunks, legitimately 18 gallons of the stuff, which I'd wanted to swap out for the fir bark that had been in there. This was also something I'd wanted to do because of LeChuck's hookworm diagnosis, since I could guarantee those things were ALL OVER that fir bark. But also, coconut husk retains humidity EXTREMELY well, poses no problems if eaten--the chunks are too big for LeChuck to TRY to eat, but still, it's fully digestible, just high in fiber--and is more resistant to mold and decay than fir bark. (Fir bark IS also resistant to mold, but not as much; there was actually some mold and bacteria growth on this stuff already, thanks to the pool of standing water UNDERNEATH the fir bark thanks to the aforementioned inability to retain moisture.) The incredible volume I'd gotten of the stuff also meant I could lay down a thicker layer, both elevating his basking areas and allowing me to fully bury the containers for the plants I'd put in his enclosure (which, of course, cannot be planted directly, but this is the next best thing). He was unhappy during the process, but thankfully had already retreated to his hide for the evening; this made moving him and his hide around quite easy, as he CLINGS to that thing if you pick it up. Then after, he was clearly curious about the change, but not enough so to come out, I suspect because it was getting close to his bedtime by that point. (This did also give me the opportunity to lift and disinfect his big "pool", and disinfect the bottom of the tank as well.)
While he's still being pretty lethargic, LeChuck HAS improved pretty dramatically since that visit. Obviously we're not done, he has one more dose to go, but for example, Colombina made a COMPLETE turnaround after her first dose, becoming a ravenous eater and even putting on a double-digit number of grams in those two weeks (which was a big deal because she had only been 40-some-odd grams); as such, I'm hoping he'll show a similar turnaround here soon. But, as I said, he HAS improved; he's started coming out to bask in the early mornings, around 8:15am every morning, after which point he'll climb off his hide to eat around an hour or two later, once he's warmed up a bit. Fact is, his basking spot isn't getting hot enough, but I've got some stuff on its way that SHOULD help; being shipped UPS, it was originally SUPPOSED to be getting here Friday, but then they sat on it in North Carolina for a whole-ass day so now it's likely not gonna get here until next week. (UPS estimates Tuesday, even though they'd assured the seller it'd be here BY Monday. Because that's how shitty UPS is. And they're BETTER than FedEx.) That SHOULD help with his general lethargy, so fingers crossed, I'm expecting him to start REALLY improving by the end of next week.
Was originally planning to go down to Alamogordo again tomorrow to pick up some prescription refills, but given my current uncertainty with health, may push this to Friday; it's not DESPERATELY urgent, just something I'd hoped to do. (Need a couple ancillary items too, stuff I'd forgotten to put in my pickup order for Monday. But still, not terribly urgent.) I DO still need to run a couple errands around here though, the sooner the better... Maybe I'll still make that trip tomorrow after all. We'll see how I'm feeling. (The pukey feeling HAS been a lot milder for the last couple hours or so.)
And then I had to close Firefox and Thunderbird both because I was called upon for a mission-critical thing at work and needed my computer not to go down, and upon trying to restart them IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY MAKE THIS POST, Thunderbird just fucking crashed UPON STARTING! Congratulations, Mozilla! You've officially lowered the bar WELL beyond where I thought possible. At least they didn't fucking brick the whole goddamn computer this time! Wow, what a HIGH FUCKING BAR, what a THRESHOLD!