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He was tinier than my favourite highlighters... |
It’s been a tough week
here at SAT HQ…despite rallying in his last days our little foster-bearded
dragon, Sutcliffe, passed away on Monday. He was medicated twice a day,
provided with UV lights, consciously not over-handled, provided with heat and –
where possible – bathed in natural sunshine, but in the last 48 hours signs of
metabolic bone disease returned with a vengeance. He became soft and doughy,
lost his ability to grip, and despite injections of calcium and subcutaneous
fluids, failed to make it. His absence hurts all the more because his feeding
and medication regime topped and tailed my day.
In reflecting on this
exacerbation of disease, I wonder if the total lack of natural sunshine (due to
some pretty bad Sydney weather) for about five days preceeding his death tipped
him over the edge? He still had artificial UV light, but it isn’t the same. And
he really did come alive when he could spend time outdoors. Or was he always on
the back foot after a shaky start in life? Did I feed him right? Did he get the exact doses of calcium he needed?
It is hard to know. He
never missed a dose of medication, nor a meal. His enclosure was pristine and
never over-heated. What is certain is that he was a magnificent creature of
extraordinary beauty, and for only five grams he managed to teach me a lot
about MBD. And gee didn’t he love the sunshine.
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Sutcliffe on my thumb. |
Every time the sun pokes out
from around the clouds I think of little Sutcliffe, sitting on his twigs,
holding his chest up and soaking in the rays.
He has been buried at home
in the garden, and I’ve ordered a little headstone which I will lay over the
site when it arrives (it measures 8cm) (you can view the stones here - I've ordered a tumbled riverstone). I hope that one day I pop outside and
find a little lizard or skink basking on that stone.