Some pics of the girls

[yoshimi]

Banjo is still OK, gonna get a fat worm before work, or on break or at some point today. She's sitting (I dunno about enjoying) new dirt but it's entirely her kingdom (queendom?) now.

Uki was always a chubba, I'd assumed she'd had eggs at some point, certainly old enough. I thought maybe bloat but touching her sides always just felt soft. And she looks especially massive in that post mortum pic, not holding herself up. I'd like to know what happened, but unless someone has an idea before she goes into ground tomorrow (thaw, we're putting her under a new tree in backyard that will be her tree as it grows), I have to assume old age or she ate moss or mealworm that just didn't pass. The moss has been gone for a while but I'm sure there were remnants. I felt nothing abnormally hard touching her sides and tummy.

She was always the best eater, but last feeding, I had to put her worm back in cup. That was a first, and I blamed it on winter.
I can't even tell the guy I adopted her from, cuz his email was a craigslist email and invalid now. He thought it was his personal email addy but i never bother to inform him otherwise. Maybe better he doesn't know. About uki, I mean.

[kueluck]

I would have to know what would cause this. Have you thought of cutting her open to look? That's how I found out Rosie was egg bound.

[yoshimi]

I would have to know what would cause this. Have you thought of cutting her open to look? That's how I found out Rosie was egg bound.

I feel like I need to know too, that's why I washed her to look for wounds. I don't think I could do it tho, fear of blades, no scalpel. And more desecration when she's pretty much frozen (in dirt in a box with a lid with holes (have none without holes) with a phone book on top inside another plastic tote in our breeze way with big ice packs. Her poor little mouth is hanging open.
If I opened her up, I might find eggs but its the wrong season right, and might not be the cause. I'd have to look into her intestines for something like moss jamming it up. And even that may not be the cause.
There WAS something small on her lower belly near leg but I wasn't sure if it was rot or a cut or a bite or heaven forbid, mealworm chewing through her. I got pics. It didn't look infected and camera died before I could get better shots. Looked like a little missing skin. She always collected dirt on lower belly and chin, since I adopted her, It'd be gone after a shed but come right back. Can't see the cause of that.
Maybe the 4 or 5 yrs as a pet without supplements had an effect on her. Maybe she was older than we thought.
She died Wednesday, its now Fri morning, pouring hot water over burial spot cuz thaw is not happening fast enough, still below freezing.
Banjo just had a shed, refused her worm (concerned, should buy more roaches) but otherwise seems fine, hopping around and if i didnt know better id say she wws looking for her roommate.
I want to bury Uki as respectfully and timely as possible. It weirded me out that my dad was dead a week before we buried him. I touched his hand and it was so very cold, (first wake/funeral) then i realized he'd been in a freezer locker most of that time.
Now it occurs to me that an empty equal box would make a perfect little coffin to fit in freezer. In a bag. That way i can wait for tomorrow's rain to get rid of snow. The pallbearers nearly dropped my dad getting him to grave through the snow. I mean I won't be dropping her or nearly dropping her, but freezing will hold off decay.
Unless I was donating her organs to a toad in need of a transplant, I couldn't cut her. I do have rubber gloves tho. But the sharpest thing I have is a box cutter which seems barbaric and I'm more likely to cut myself open.
Gonna rinse her again, close her mouth and freeze her til tomorrow. That way Paul can be there for the burial. He was there for baby Fiendly's and dug hole for me. I didn't cry til he was in the ground and we were back in the car. Haven't cried over Uki yet.
With my father's death, I noticed that preparations are a blessing. Yes, pets and people are different, but they can both be huge losses when they go, and there's always guilt and wondering "what if.."
Its a part of life that I escaped (for family and friends) for 31 years. Always wondered how I'd handle it. Realized that you do not stop loving someone (pet OR person) when they die. I didn't know that for sure. I do now. And I'm glad.

[kueluck]

If you’re not up to checking her out then by all means don’t do it. I had to; it wasn’t an option for me. I used a new single edge razor blade when I did this; one clean cut was all I needed. But enough on that topic. And you can’t hold on to the “what if’s”, it’ll drive you crazy. Just remember the fun you had with her and the sad moments will pass in time.