My vacation was ruined.

[troglodyte]

I went on vacation in Europe with my parents for two weeks. I left my reptiles/amphibians with my boyfriend (garter snake, 2 red-eyed tree frogs, and a bearded dragon) and my 30ish tarantulas with an experienced tarantula keeper.

While I was gone, my oldest and favorite tarantula passed away of old age.

Then right before I came home, both of my red-eyed treefrogs and my garter snake died. I don't know what the hell happened. I do know that they sprayed my area for mosquitos around then, but I'm not sure that that would have had an effect? I've lost almost all motivation for keeping critters anymore. My heart is just too broken and too heavy with guilt. :\

 

[equuskat]

Don't give up - you may never be able to explain what happened to the snake and frogs. Stuff like this HAPPENS. You went to Europe. You had an amazing time, don't let this ruin it. Also, don't let it discourage you from discovering more of the world in the future. There IS more to life, always, and you've done nothing wrong. You did everything that you could to make provisions for your pets, and you cannot prevent things from happening - heck, they may have happened even if you were home.

Bill had numbered days anyway. It's sad that he died while he was in my care, but he was quite old for a MM and lived a full life. You cannot feel guilty for that. Yes, we mourn the loss of our pets, but you have a lot of males in your collection. I hope that you will be able to handle their passing when the time comes. It is sad, but it's how they live, and they don't suffer, I'm sure.

Please don't dwell on your losses. You have done well for your pets and for yourself and you have nothing to feel guilty about.

Oh a cheerful note, you've had several molts! I've marked the cages with dates. Nothing I could sex, though.

-Katy

 

[Tcollector]

I went on vacation in Europe with my parents for two weeks. I left my reptiles/amphibians with my boyfriend (garter snake, 2 red-eyed tree frogs, and a bearded dragon) and my 30ish tarantulas with an experienced tarantula keeper.

While I was gone, my oldest and favorite tarantula passed away of old age.

Then right before I came home, both of my red-eyed treefrogs and my garter snake died. I don't know what the hell happened. I do know that they sprayed my area for mosquitos around then, but I'm not sure that that would have had an effect? I've lost almost all motivation for keeping critters anymore. My heart is just too broken and too heavy with guilt. :\

Depends where they sprayed the chemicals. Sorry about your loss

 

[Galapoheros]

Awe, man, well all you can do is take care of what's left and keep on going. I think it was crpy that thought the death of his bullfrog might have had something to do with them spraying for mosquitoes too.

 

[troglodyte]

Don't give up - you may never be able to explain what happened to the snake and frogs. Stuff like this HAPPENS. You went to Europe. You had an amazing time, don't let this ruin it. Also, don't let it discourage you from discovering more of the world in the future. There IS more to life, always, and you've done nothing wrong. You did everything that you could to make provisions for your pets, and you cannot prevent things from happening - heck, they may have happened even if you were home.

Bill had numbered days anyway. It's sad that he died while he was in my care, but he was quite old for a MM and lived a full life. You cannot feel guilty for that. Yes, we mourn the loss of our pets, but you have a lot of males in your collection. I hope that you will be able to handle their passing when the time comes. It is sad, but it's how they live, and they don't suffer, I'm sure.

Please don't dwell on your losses. You have done well for your pets and for yourself and you have nothing to feel guilty about.

Oh a cheerful note, you've had several molts! I've marked the cages with dates. Nothing I could sex, though.

-Katy

I just loved Bill a lot... You know what they say: "You never forget your first." I cried a little for Bill, but now all the death that I've had to deal with has hardened me I guess. It's caused me to think more about the future when adopting animals... It's difficult to go on vacation when you're an exotic pet owner. Sure there are tons of people willing to give it their best shot, but there's nothing quite like experience when it comes to exotics. I've decided to chill out with my animal adopting. In the past few months I went on an adopting spree and took on way too many animals that required attention that I could give them, but when I wasn't available they had no chance. It all seemed like a good idea at the time but I wasn't thinking far enough into the future.

It's sort of like how my boyfriend and I adopted 3 cats and a dog within the first year of moving into our house. We realized a few months into it that we really have our hands full. We're getting by for now, but each of our first children will live well above 10 years. How could we possibly handle having human children in the future when we have all these critters to take care of as well? It's a tough lesson to learn, but learned it I did.

 

[equuskat]

It's easy to bite off more than you can chew, sometimes. Don't feel too bad. Yes, there's a lot of responsibility involved, but even parents go away and leave their children with friends or relatives. Maybe you have too much to take care of, but don't worry about the vacation. It was worth taking, and these things may not have been preventable anyway.

Don't loose hope! Once your Ts are a little bit bigger, you'll be in good shape and they will be fine to be alone for a bit.

Did you get my PM about getting them back to you?

 

[troglodyte]

Did you get my PM about getting them back to you?

Yes, I'm trying to figure out my schedule still. Could you drop them off Thursday? I'm trying to put off putting gas in my car until payday (dream on Jeanine)!

 

[crpy]

Chin up trogger, it sucks ,we are not a stranger to it and it goes with the territory.
We couldn't love them properly if there is no pain sweetie. Thats what time is for ,gettin over painful things.

This has been a weird day, Robc, jeverson and troggy and others reported hurt today on AB

 

[equuskat]

Yeah I can take them to your place - can actually go tomorrow if you want - plans changed a little...but you will have to PM me your address and such again. I did not keep it. If I go tomorrow right after work, I can get to your place by about 7:30.

 

[gecko_keeper/KBfauna]

Hey Troggy, don't let this stop you from enjoying things to the fullest. My wife and I keep a TON of animals, and provisions have to be made. But things do/will happen. Unfortunately some things can't be controlled. In our case, it's very sad to see a newly hatched gecko pass away within a few hours. It sucks, but the others always make you smile.
One of these days you and your BF should come on up and see for yourself.

Take care
GK

 

[equuskat]

Geckokeeper's not kidding - that dude and his family own a ZOO.