My poor Dragon
 

I admitt that I act more like a lurker and dont post often, but if nobody minds I just wanted to share. The attached pic is my Savannah monitor, Sand Dragon. He suffered a severe burn about a year ago and although he recovered his herp doctor thinks he may now be suffering renal failure due to the damage and healing. It is a good chance we are going to lose him. As monitors go Savannahs are a moderatly docile group but Sand was handled from hatchling to current by myself. He actually liked laying in my lap and napping. He also use to go for walks in the yard and harass the cats. His favorite past time besides hunting for the hissing roaches I breed for his snacks. I don't know why I am sharing this exactly, maybe I just felt the need to talk about a sick friend. Hope nobody minds.

Here's to hoping your vet can do some more good for the rather striking beastie. It is a lousy thing to lose a pet that you have raised from infancy.

How did he get burned? Is that the burn site on his back where the striping appears to be more pale?

Yes the white spot on his back is the burn site. He managed to knock his heat lap down and then spent the day with it laying against his back. The pain recetors in a savannah monitor work a little different so he was just enjoying the warmth and didn't know he was burning. My wife and I returned home from work to find him burned.

I never have gotten the whole lizard ,snake thing for pets,
but i Do understand that a friend is hurting ,
this is technicaly for a dog but the sentament rings true for ANY pet,
Best of luck for you and your friend dude . :biggrin:

Bummer Nightsong, I know that helpless feeling. There's often a nagging doubt that you're doing everything you can, for a buddy. You have to trust your vet and your instincts. Good luck. :(
Oh,...btw, if "anybody minds", they can kiss my ass.

Bugger, he looks very cool. How is the burn and renal failure related? Can they operate on the critters? They really do have fat tails.

Oh and do your belt up ;)

Good luck and healing to Sand Dragon! Keep us updated on his progress.

He has the nicest calmest warmest smile on his face.

What a cool beast. I wish you both the best. Y'all were brought together to bring joy to each other - clearly you have - take comfort in that.

On a very sad note....
 

To all who have posted we thank you so very much. It means alot to us. Hi I am nightsongs wife and I bring you bad news today after 11am we had to put our Sand Dragon (in pic on 1st post) down. He was much worse today then when 1st posted. Our vet was in tears with us he was there to check the hatchlings before they were sold. He was as attached as we were these past 3-4 years. Tomorrow we will be putting him in a special spot on our property. Once again thank you all for your posts. It helps to know that even if these animals are not as cute and as cuddly like most people like, they still support you when in need.

My sincerest condolences. May there be many hissing roaches to hunt and eat in the other world.

May your dragon rest in peace,

It was very brave of you both to make the decision to have him put down when he was hurting instead of allowing the pain to continue. You obviously loved him very much.

He was a GORGEOUS animal, one that you should be proud to have raised. I hope that your memories and photos will serve you well in times to come when remembering his time with you.

My condolences. I'm sure that in his lizardy way he appreciated the care, concern, and love you have for him.

Allow me to add my condolences as well.

If it's any help, be thankfull you had a chance to say goodbye. Having lost two pets in the last year (one to FIP, a slow wasting death, and the other to a hay mower) I can say (imo) it's better to be able to brace and prepare for the end.

The hardest part is knowing when your pet has stopped enjoying life and to let them go. Once we can do that, wherever they are, they are no longer suffering and have a chance to be whole again.

What a privilege to have been able to see your wonderful dragon, and what an amazing experience for you to have raised him. I am so very sorry for your loss, I have also loved and lost precious animals and my heart goes out to you. Thank you so very much for sharing your very moving account. Lizards rock on.

Again we thank you for your posts they mean so much. We have a bad habit in our lives we rescue reptiles from people. We have put down reptiles and we have healed many more and given them to friends who know someone who can give them the care they need. Out of our 50+ animals (mostly box turtles) we may now have only 3 we have purchased the rest were rescues. I try not to attatch myself to these animals but somethimes it is hard. Like tonight we will be putting down a severely damaged iguana. This iguana has MDB metabolic bone disease the best way to explain what happened is to feed a 3 yr old M&M's for a year and see how they turn out. Well this particular one has a deformed spine that is so terrible that it cannot use either of it's back legs we tried to make it more comy but the seisures are getting bad. I am upset yes cuz I hate to see anything suffer but I am not too attatched. You cannot be when it comes to that. I again thank everyone for posting, nightsong was very comforted by the care people have in thier hearts. :)