24/10/2020
Happy Gottcha day to Dumpling! He barely puts up with me but I love him so much
Andi's Animal Pals
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A place to show my exotic pets and teach people about their proper care!
21/10/2020
Pip's 3rd Gottcha day is coming up so I splurged and bought her a new enclosure (pictures coming later). I got it on sale at petsmart and its almost twice as big as her old one. Its about 2 feet tall so it gives her a lot more vertical room than her previous enclosure. I was definitely worried that it would be too big and that she would feel too exposed, but she is actually settling in very well.
I made sure to fill it with lots of fake plants and hides so she would have lots of places to take care if she feels intimidated. She is a very anxious frog so I really wanted to give her as many hiding places as possivly so she can feel more secure.
But im honestly really proud of her. She has definitely become more comfortable in her new cage, and much faster than i had anticipated. She used to always hide behind her plants and jump away the second anyone got near her cage, but she seems so much more confident now. Instead of sleeping in the corner of the cage, she sleeps front and center. She is also a lot less flighty whenever i go to check on her. She even voluntarily crawled onto my hand the other day, which is something I never thought would happen. Im genuinely so proud of her and how much progress she has made. It took almost 3 years, but we're finally getting there.
04/10/2020
So Tad Cooper went to the vet for his yearly exam, and I mentiomed to the vet that he had been limping a little (i honestly just thought he fell out out of his hammock and hurt his wrist a little). She went ahead and did xrays and told me that there was some space between his carpals and ulna on his left arm. She said it could eithet be a joint infection or something as simple as a sprain. Because joint infections can get so scary so quick, we are treating that first. I give him an antibiotic injection in both arms every other day for 3 weeks (could be much longer since reptiles heal so slowly).
But, just based on how he was today, I think he's hopefully doing better. I set him on the couch and he wanted to look out the window so he jumped up on my arm and crawled up to my shoulder, which he hasnt done anything like that in a long time. Im hoping that he's feeling better.
For his injections, he gets an injection in both arms every other day. He obviously hates it and likes to yank his arm away the second I poke him with the needle (i had to awkwardly take some needles from work and reassure them that it wasnt a sketchy situation). But ive realized that taping his arms to his side is the best way to keep him from wiggling too much. He is rewarded with roaches or bok choy afterwards.
Just hoping for the best, hoping that these antibiotics are helping him and we can get everything under control. Glad to see improvement but still worried as any mom would be
12/09/2020
Tad Cooper went to work with me today for one of our meetings, and Id like to say that he was a hit. He went a stomping and everyone loved him (except my boss. She said he was gross, i said she was rude, its fine). He was even invited back for all foreseeable meetings! Im gonna take some of the other pets in just for educational purposes, but Tad Cooper will likely be the norm because it wont be as intimidating as some of the other animals.
05/09/2020
Get it? Cause he... sheds his skin...
15/08/2020
Yesterday was national lizard day! Which means its just another excuse for me to show off pictures of our lovely Tad Cooper! His "Gottcha day" is coming up next month, so its been almost a whole year since we got him.
27/06/2020
Yesterday we said goodbye to our electric blue crayfish, Freddie. Id had him for a year and a half after he was given to me by another family. I dont know how long he had lived with his other family but he was full grown when they gave him to me. Ths average lifespan of a crayfish is about 2 years, so I think he just passed away from old age.
He honestly was the most polite crayfish I had ever owned. Its hard for people to imagine animals like crayfish to have personalities but they definitely do. He was very shy and always used his manners. He was also very picky. Most crayfish are chow-hounds but he was very particular about what he ate. His favorite food was red wigglers and krill; he absolutely hated vegetables. Recently he hadnt been eating as much, but that wasnt unusual for him. He ended up passing away overnight and I hope it was peaceful for him. He will be missed.
26/06/2020
Just a Pip appreciation post cause she deserves all the love 💕
20/05/2020
So I mightve forgotten to mention my mouse, Nora 😅 ive only had her for a few months, she was initially going to be a feeder for Cuddles (but he went on a hunger strike so we kept her). Shes super active and probably the most graceful of all of all my pets.
Last week I noticed that she had a little red bald spot on the base of her neck. So I gave it a few days, hoping it would go away on its own. Today it was much bigger, and there was a second spot right next to her right ear. Now, she is definitely an overgroomer, she always has been. But fearing ringworm, we took her to the vet to get it checked out. The vet said that it seems like her ears are bothering her and shes itching to try to relieve that. He said this is commonly caused by a lack of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. So he sent me home with some syringes and I get to syringe feed her some oil for the next few weeks, along with adding some neosporin to the wounds to aid healing. She has a regular appointment with our normal exotic vet in a few weeks so I'll be monitoring her until then.
She bite the hell out of one of the techs tho, so thats great.
18/05/2020
For our last animal spotlight post, im actually going to be covering quite a few of my pets. And dont get me wrong, its not because I love them any less, its just because 1. I dont have many pictures of them and 2. The stories on how i got them arent as interesting so I couldn't make a full post out of each one.
Im gonna start with my bettas and other fish. We have violet, a purple and black female crowntail whom ive had for a little over 2 years now. She lives in a 20 gallon tank with lots of cory cats (who are all named after the simpsons). Next we have Allen, a platinum dragon scale betta. Ive had him for about a year and a half and unfortunately he is mostly blind due to a condition called Diamond Eye, but he navigates his tank just fine. Barnabas is a blue delta tail that was given to me for my birthday by one of my best friends. He lives in a 10 gallon with 2 black kuhli loaches, Macaroni and Ziti. My sister also has a betta named Sad Man who she keeps in the bathroom (he doesnt understand the meaning of privacy).
In my dads office in the basement, we have 2 crayfish named Gumbo and Freddie. They are both rescues. Gumbo was rescued from the feeder tank from when I worked at Petco, and I found her with a whole in her shell. After a few molts, it was all repaired and shes happy and healthy now! Shes about 5 inches long and lives with 3 guppies. My electric blue crayfish, Freddie was rehomed to me from a family who couldnt keep him anymore. Hes very shy and spends most of his day hiding, but is the sweetest crayfish ive ever had. Crayfish are super underrated pets and I think more people would enjoy them if they knew more about them.
05/05/2020
Its that time of year again for Andi's annual vet visit! Its just a yearly physical and vaccinations. She's coming up on 3 years old, which is about the time that ferrets start to develop more long term issues. No lumps or bumps on her, but its always good to get the opinion of a professional!
She will be receiving her rabies vaccine this year, but not her canine distemper. Most exotic vets fully support and advise ferret owners to also get this vaccination. So last year, we went ahead and got the vaccine done, and she went into anaphylactic shock within just a few minutes. She stopped breathing a few times and had to stay in an oxygen tank the rest of the day. Thankfully the vet told us to hang around in the lobby just in case something like that happened, so she was right there to take care of it when it did happen. She also said it was one of the worst vaccine reactions she had seen in her 30 years of exotic veterinary medicine.
Needless to say, she will not be getting her distemper vaccine this year 😂 we dont want to run the risk of something like this happening again. She will be getting a full look over by the vet to make sure she is as healthy as can be. Ferrets are little cancer-factories, so its extremely important to get them in for yearly (or even biyearly) check ups to make sure any abnormalities are caught as soon as possible!
23/04/2020
So I havent talked a ton about him, but this is my newest snake, Arlo. He's a pygmy western hognose (age unknown). Hes only about a foot and a half long, and he is considered to be full-grown. He's also rear-fanged venomous, but his venom is very mild to humans (plus he'd have to chew on you to inject any, so it'd be hard to get envenomated).
He was given to me a few months ago by the vet. His previous owner could not afford to care for him anymore and left him in their care, and the vet rehomed him to us. She told us he was a little feisty and would only eat freshly killed fuzzies. He was definitely a little fiesty in his first week or so with us, but he's calmed down immensely and is as sweet as can be. He will still shake his tail (to imitate a rattlesnake) or hood up (like a cobra) if he's startled, but he's never struck at anyone. And ive already been able to switch him over to frozen/thawed fuzzies. He also went through his first shed a few weeks ago, and he had no problems at all.
Ive always wanted a hognose, and because they are rear-fanged, I know my mom and sister are both very happy that he's considered a pygmy. Hes got such a sweet personality bundled up in such a small snake and im so happy that hes a part of my reptile family!
11/04/2020
I know we've covered him a little bit already but here's Hugo! He's a 7 year old Russian tortoise. He was kept with two other tortoises who bullied him a little bit, and his owner couldn't take care of them anymore, so he got rehomed to us!
The vet says he has a genetic condition with his beak, but that doesnt stop him from eating absolutely everything. Hes also very restless; he wants out of his cage at all times. Besides eating and sleeping, he also enjoys crawling into shoes. They are his favorite toys. But he hates it when you touch his feet, thats not allowed.
Right now, he's in a tank that (ill be the first to admit) is too small for him. So we are working on getting him a larger, open top enclosure. In the meantime, we're letting him wander around the house a lot because he gets the zoomies. Once it warms up more, we're going to let him outside a lot more.
09/04/2020
Binky just got done with his vet appointment and hes totally fine! He does have a cataract in his left eye, which is why it wasn't reacting to light. The vet said he can only see shadows out of it (if he can see anything at all), so his depth perception is going to be messed up. She also said it was most likely caused by trauma at some point and time.
The most important part is that he is okay! I'll have to focus on keeping his eyes extra clean, but other than that, he's in great shape!
07/04/2020
Gonna pause the pet spotlights here for a second just to inform everyone that Binky, my pixie frog will be going to the vet on Thursday.
For the past week, ive noticed that his pupils are two very different sizes and they have a hard time reacting to light. He is eating and behaving fine otherwise, but I still feel like a trip to the vet is necessary.
I spoke to the vet on the phone and she said it could be one of a few things. First and most obvious is head trauma. There hasnt been an instance since hes been in my care where I've seen him hit his head (he sometimes hits it on the side of his feeding bin, but never hard enough to cause any issues). She also mentioned that there could be a brain tumor pressing on something vital to his eyes.
One of her other suspicions is an overdose or deficiency of Vitamin A, which affects the health of vessels (including the eyes). Because of this, I am already being much more careful with the multivitamin I give him.
The third possibility is internal parasite migration. She didnt say much about this, but since hes mostly likely wild caught, he's more prone to having parasites. (I didnt know that when i got him, dont attack me please). I will keep everyone updated on what happens, I am very worried about him. Im hoping it is something that is fixable, because I will be heartbroken if anything happens to him.
31/03/2020
Hi, its Emy! I just wanted to make an account to keep everyone up to date on all my animals! Lots of people ask me about my pets, so I figured this would be a good place to showcase them all. I wanna start by making individual posts about each pet, and then go into more educational posts about diet, husbandry, etc. Please stay tuned and follow us on Instagram at andisanimalpals for more cute animal posts!
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