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 #1778201


Lucke126
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 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

I rescued what I later identified to be a western fence lizard from my cats jaws earlier today. He had a pretty bad looking gash on his right abdomen almost in the crook of his leg and a poke on his back near his tail. I cleaned him off with some water and Q-Tip and put some neosporin on the open wounds and moved the skin flap back over and he’s currently being housed in a shoebox with a dry clean shirt (and a clean rock and a leaf because I felt bad not having something a little nicer :/) and after several hours he seems to be moving fairly regularly but is still pretty lethargic, though the wound looks better. I want to get him back on his way out in the wild as soon as possible but have a few questions;
- Is the shoebox good enough for short term?
- I put a couple pill bugs in the garden being they were the only thing I could really find is that good enough for now? If not,
-What else can I feed him that could be found commonly in nature like the pillbugs, I live in a pretty rural area if that helps.
- What are the chances he’ll make it?
- When should I release him? In other words how will I know when he’s healthy enough to make it on his own?

Any answers would be great.
Thank you sooo much, me and the little guy really appreciate any help. :)
06/29/08  11:32pm

 #1778431


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Lucke126   In reference to Message Id: 1778201


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

If you can fix up a little terrarium with paper towels for substrate (for cleanliness) and feed him grasshoppers, he may make it. It would take about two weeks to heal enough to go back in the wild. Put a small pot of grass in the terrarium and mist it so he has something to drink and the grasshoppers have something to eat, too. Put screen over the tank to keep everyone in.
You can easily catch grasshoppers by slowly walking in an area like short dry grass and laying down a fly swatter on them. You dont want to swat them too hard, just hold them down with the swatter so you can pick them up. This is the fence lizard’s favorite food. But they wont eat dead ones. Keep him at about 75 degrees at night. Give him a hidey spot in his tank.
When he can scuttle quickly about he can be released.
06/30/08  09:36am

 #1778742


Chorro
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   Message To: Lucke126   In reference to Message Id: 1778201


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

Is he/she juvenile or adult? Our wild Western Fence Lizard do not eat pill bugs, except baby sew bugs. But definitely they like tender moths and crickets. You can buy baby crickets at pet stores.
I catch wild crickets and pull their legs and give wild blue bellies in my back yard. Also they like to eat earwigs too. When I saw injured lizard, both juvenile and adult, in few days they were capable for hunting again so I released them, and in two months almost every parts that they got wounded have recovered and skin heeled well too. Have you put soil in the shoe box? Some times, when they sleep
they dig and put them selves under the soil..... Be well, take good care of your little friend.



06/30/08  03:50pm

 #1781293


Lucke126
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   Message To: Chorro   In reference to Message Id: 1778742


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

Thank you for your help. I made her a little habitat including a cave to hide in (which she loved by the way thanks for the suggestion) and gave her some crickets and misted foliage for water but I think her injuries were too severe and she didn’t make it. She managed to do pretty well during her last few days though and had a peaceful send off and I thank you in part for that.



07/03/08  12:19am

 #1790941


Lizzy77128
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   Message To: Lucke126   In reference to Message Id: 1778201


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

Feed him some grass hoppers.Let him go when he’s wondsare better.
07/11/08  07:56am

 #1793409


Greatballzofire
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   Message To: Lucke126   In reference to Message Id: 1781293


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

Lucke126,
Sorry your little rescue didn’t make it. It is almost always worth trying, anyway. I have several cat-bite rescues, the most severe is a juvenile king snake the cat bit 4 times on her neck. I thought she was toast, but two months later she is in excellent shape. She’s a keeper!
If I don’t want to keep them in captivity I try to release them at my friend’s house as he doesn’t have any cats. As much as I love cats, I hate their habit of killing these little creatures, and they don’t even eat them, which is extremely wasteful!
07/13/08  09:44am

 #1793664


Geckos1218
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   Message To: Greatballzofire   In reference to Message Id: 1793409


 Need advice to rehabilitate a wild rescued fency!

feed him store bought crikets cause wild ones can strangely cary worms also KEEP YOUR CAT AWAY FROM WHERE YOU RELEASED HIM ps good for you for saveing him
07/13/08  02:32pm


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