Its oh so quiet Shh Shh

[Stefan-A]

I'm sorry to hear that, Rhea. Get well soon, as they say.

What kind of snake did you lose?

[tikichick]

Dang, that sucks I'm sorry for your loss!

[drache]

it was my female xenochrophis vittatus
now I have one male left
he was the one in the best condition when I first got them and he is in fine shape now
they were all scarred and had weird lumps and sores when I first got them, and most of it resolved
the other male I lost during the move and he later turned up dead in the basement
when these things happen I have to remind myself that I have over twenty snakes and a few other critters that are doing very well
somehow I feel so responsible
like - if I were really good at this, I could have saved them, even if they were in poor shape to begin with
I want to get better at this
but in the future, perhaps, if I want to save animals, I'll stick to the rescue, rather than buying wild caught asian imports

[tikichick]

You did your best! There are so few people in this world who would even try. Sometimes we just can't save them all and it's heartbreaking because we care so much, but it's part of rescuing. I rescued a few emaciated and very young Savannah monitors a couple months ago and lost one after 6 weeks and another one last week. The remaining one still refuses to eat on his own so I'm still force feeding him. They were in such terrible shape and I knew it would be a miracle if they recovered, but I determined to give them every chance to recover. With both that died, I felt like a total failure, that I should have found someone else to fix them. Then I had to remind myself that some organs can't recover from starvation and it can't be reversed no matter what anyone tries. So I'll continue to give him the chance and hope he turns around. My other rescues have all been successful, but it takes just one failure to make me want to give up. But the reality is, if someone comes to me with a critter I feel I have the skills to care for, I know I'll do it because if I don't, who will?

I had a woman call me last week in a panic with a dying ball python and a sick one that belonged to her landlord. It was way beyond my expertise (I'm good with lizards, but new to snakes), so I referred her to another local rescue. I found out today that the dying one did indeed die and was frozen to be tested and the second one ended up at a different rescue (that's also on the local reptile forum) and is being treated for a bad URI. It was so hard not to rush over there and take the snakes and make her feel better about it! I much prefer the "hey, there's a 5 foot lizard in my backyard" calls, lol.

Anyway, I know how you feel and you are really good at this, so please don't even think about blaming yourself anymore

[adamanteus]

It really is 'Oh so quiet' tonight, not one post in the past two hours!... in fact it's been a pretty quiet weekend on the forum. I hope you're all out doing something very interesting that you can tell the rest of us about!

I chatted with the instigator of this thread, Lulu, on Friday. She sends her regards and says she's missing us all, but at the moment she doesn't have access to a computer. Hopefully she'll rejoin us soon.

[Stefan-A]

It's been quiet indeed and I'm afraid I'm going to be a bit quieter than usual these next four weeks, since I start working on monday.

[adamanteus]

What work will you be doing, Stefan?

[Stefan-A]

I don't know yet. Paperwork, I'd expect. I'm supposed to work at a local municipal environment bureau, or whatever the hell it translates as. It's a part of our education, we're supposed to work for one of those for four weeks.

[adamanteus]

It will be a change of scenery for you, Stean. You might quite enjoy it.

[Stefan-A]

I better, I'll be working for free.