I posted a few days ago about my dragon, Zola, who likes to eat his substrate. I took him out of his cage today to put shelf liner in it in hopes of finding something that he wont chew on, I had him out running around on my floor, under my boyfriends supervision (useless creatures) and he ate a rubber band that was on the floor! My boyfriend let the rubber band get all the way into his mouth before telling me he had it. It was not a pleasant experience. I had to hold him down and hold his mouth open while my boyfriend used tweezers to remove the rubber band from the back of his throat. Of course he did not like this, he bit me hard! Instead of having to take him to the vet, i made my own trip to the doctor to get 2 lousy stitches! The nurse who was cleaning me up asked me to bring my lizard in for rabies testing! People around here dont have a clue...This is just a warning to everyone that being ultra clean around your pets could save you both a trip to the doctor!

P.s. the is still one unaccounted for rubber band, i dont know if I missplaced it or if my dragon missplaced it for me....i'm going to wait to see if her goes to the bathroom normally and if there is even the slightest hint of something wrong he's going to get a trip to the vet as well.

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"If you're not falling, you're not trying." - Sonni Trotter

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

glad you got it out. my oldest dragon of 3 years ate one of those small ball chain braclets and it came out in her poop and thats how I knew she ate it.lol. they get into everything!

Good Grief! Rabies testing in a lizard!
To quote the immortal Bugs bunny:
"What a maroon!"

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hello,
Just so you know, the last I knew, the only true way to tell if an animal has rabies is to do a biopsy of the brain. What that means is they kill the animal, and operate on its brain.

I use to breed German Shephards. Addicca, my female, got in a fight with a skunk and it ripped her teet line. I had to get her to the vet and she got several stitches. Two days after my vet visit, I got a call from the local animal control stating that they were coming to pick Addicca up. There had been a report that there was a rabies infested skunk running around and they suspected that it was that skunk that she had gotten into it with.

Needless to say, I called the local K-9 unit for our local police department and had the detective come down. (He was a friend of mine.) When the Animal Control showed up, they dealt with him and one of them almost got arrested. Before they are allowed to test for rabies, my dog, if available, needed to be quarantined. I had a kennel, so we used that.

She didn't have rabies and was fine. During her quarantine, one of the pups became very ill. I took him to my vet and he was experiencing liver failure. After investing $2500+ to try and save him, he died at the hospital. (Several days later. They kept him on IV and he had a catheter.)

I took him home and buried him in my backyard. A few days later, Animal Control showed back up with a court order to retrieve that puppy for testing. I showed them where he was buried and gave them a shovel. They took him and called me a few days later. He didn't have rabies. I asked how they knew, and they said they had done a brain biopsy/autopsy. Of course I asked why, and they informed me that that was the only true method to positively identify rabies. There are signs to look for, and various conditions, but that was the only technique that was certain.

How did they intend on testing your dragon for rabies? (Other than that sounding ridiculous, I am actually curious.) You should look into that.

Ya no kidding Rich...I would ask also....I knew they did the brain test because of the outbreak of rabies on the news the past few years...they catch the raccoons that are suspected, behead them, and send the head for testing....of course if dogs are up to date on their rabies vaccines, then there shouldnt be any problems right??? Lyn

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Warmest Regards from Lyn