Gary Life Updates

A lot has happened with Gary since the last post. He has shed his skin twice, and has grown to a length of 7 inches from snout to tail. Gary looks forward to being fed when I get home from work, and he enjoys exploring outside of his tank when supervised. Feedings are only needed every other day at his age, and he is able to eat larger crickets and waxworms.

A Brief Health Crisis

A couple days before New Year's, Gary developed a lump under his chin. He was able to eat with some difficulty swallowing, but he wasn't using his tongue to lick his lips or his environment. It is likely he either bit his own tongue, got it scratched while hunting a cricket, or had a piece of food stuck. He refused to open his mouth for me to examine, and became stressed during my efforts to coax him to open it. The next day I mixed some salt into warm water, dipped a cricket in the water, and fed it to him. I noticed that soon after he started using his tongue again, but it looked a bit redder than normal. The bulge, which I assumed to be his swollen tongue, began to disappear after that. He slowly started to brighten up, both in his color and behavior, over the next few days. I am taking him to the vet this week for a wellness check to make sure he is healthy clear of infections. It can be very difficult when a pet isn't doing well, especially in non-mammalian animals that aren't as easy to communicate with. Even so, animals are resilient and capable of reminding us that they are wild creatures adapted for much harsher conditions. On that note, stay tuned for updates on his first vet visit and photos of new additions to his vivarium!

Photo of Gary yawning a week before the incident