Rest in peace, Grun...
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:41 pm
So, yesterday I was home sick, and I decided to finally trim Grun's teeth again. For a variety of reasons, his teeth have been a trifle long for a while, and lately, they went beyond okay and really needed to be trimmed. He was able to suck up his food fine, but I could tell he was starting to have trouble opening his mouth to get a good bite. Part of the reason for this was that I had tried to trim his teeth about a year ago and was only able to snip the very tip off his upper teeth before my nerves got to me and had to put him in the fresh tank water to revive him. Coupled with some snail source/breeding difficulties, I knew I had to trim now before he started starving.
I had some clove oil from the first time that I also keep around for euthanizing. Because I didn't plan on manually trimming but instead using foods to keep his and Schnitzel's teeth trim, I didn't bother to spring for the Finquel and thought the 1-2 times I might have to put them under would be safe enough with clove. Well, I meticulously measured out the 3 cups and actually put slightly more than 3 cups to be sure I didn't overdose the clove oil. I carefully made sure to only have 3 drops of clove oil in the approximately 3-1/8 to 3-1/4 cups tankwater with 3 cups fresh tankwater standing by. I scooped him out and placed him in the clove oil water and put the timer for 60 secs (present to make not to over expose him, just hit start) to make sure that I didn't go over the "safe" exposure time. He quickly started swimming head down and about the time the timer went off, he was just starting to look sedated enough to handle. I used an exam glove to handle him because it was hard to deal with the net handle last time. Well, that was a mistake, it so slippery that he would slip into my palm, and I was afraid to grip him hard because he seemed to fragile. I grabbed the net and used that instead to hold him, and I trimmed what I could. I dipped him in the fresh tankwater and made sure the teeth fragments were washed off enough that I could trim a little more. Then I was afraid that it had been over a minute that he was out of water, so I put him back in the fresh tankwater to revive him. Within a few seconds, it was apparent that he was not breathing at all. I then realized that I had probably gotten some clove oil in there from the net and glove from dipping him to rinse, so I dumped as much of that water and replaced it with more tankwater as gently as possible, but it did no good. I waited like 5 minutes, and I even used another net to dangle him in the tank for a bit, but I knew it was hopeless. He'd been not breathing for too long and was dead. I still couldn't give up and let him sit in yet more fresh tankwater for a few more minutes before I had to let go.
I'm so sad! I'd had him for about 2 years, and I'd brought him through my idiocy of buying 2 figure 8s and putting them in an uncycled tank ("what's cycling?"
). After all that triumph, I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake that killed him! Ugh! I'm absolutely sick about it.
I had some clove oil from the first time that I also keep around for euthanizing. Because I didn't plan on manually trimming but instead using foods to keep his and Schnitzel's teeth trim, I didn't bother to spring for the Finquel and thought the 1-2 times I might have to put them under would be safe enough with clove. Well, I meticulously measured out the 3 cups and actually put slightly more than 3 cups to be sure I didn't overdose the clove oil. I carefully made sure to only have 3 drops of clove oil in the approximately 3-1/8 to 3-1/4 cups tankwater with 3 cups fresh tankwater standing by. I scooped him out and placed him in the clove oil water and put the timer for 60 secs (present to make not to over expose him, just hit start) to make sure that I didn't go over the "safe" exposure time. He quickly started swimming head down and about the time the timer went off, he was just starting to look sedated enough to handle. I used an exam glove to handle him because it was hard to deal with the net handle last time. Well, that was a mistake, it so slippery that he would slip into my palm, and I was afraid to grip him hard because he seemed to fragile. I grabbed the net and used that instead to hold him, and I trimmed what I could. I dipped him in the fresh tankwater and made sure the teeth fragments were washed off enough that I could trim a little more. Then I was afraid that it had been over a minute that he was out of water, so I put him back in the fresh tankwater to revive him. Within a few seconds, it was apparent that he was not breathing at all. I then realized that I had probably gotten some clove oil in there from the net and glove from dipping him to rinse, so I dumped as much of that water and replaced it with more tankwater as gently as possible, but it did no good. I waited like 5 minutes, and I even used another net to dangle him in the tank for a bit, but I knew it was hopeless. He'd been not breathing for too long and was dead. I still couldn't give up and let him sit in yet more fresh tankwater for a few more minutes before I had to let go.
I'm so sad! I'd had him for about 2 years, and I'd brought him through my idiocy of buying 2 figure 8s and putting them in an uncycled tank ("what's cycling?"
). After all that triumph, I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake that killed him! Ugh! I'm absolutely sick about it.
I guess I panicked a bit. At least Schnitzel is fine and his teeth are nowhere near needing trimming. As long as my current snail population gets going, I should be able to stay ahead of it. And if he realizes snails are food. He hasn't realized the 2 hermit crabs are food yet, and they've been in there about 2-1/2 months! I saw Grun trying to nip at their legs once, but they were too quick for him. Schnitzel doesn't seem to realize they exist, lol. Maybe I'll try some more exposed crabs next time.
sorry for your loss