u/Caboose007

In the world of Ascalon, its lush green landscape is crisscrossed with rivers, lakes and an inland sea
Many of its inhabitants owe their lives to the running waters of this world, and many more lose their lives because of it
Among the many beings that call this place home, none have a firmer claim to dominance over the waterways of Ascalon than the River Troll.
Stalking along the riverbed, these great beasts use their long front limbs to quite literally creep & crawl their way along underwater, happy to stir up sediments to hide their passage (tho a keen eye could use this knowledge as a means to identify their presence). They lay in wait for hours at a time, relying on their plant like hair and stony complexion to conceal their presence until hapless prey wanders within their reach, before launching an attack with both arms spread wide ready to wrestle their prey into the water to be drowned, tho particularly clever (and dangerous) individuals have been known to take shelter under bridges so they may seek easy shelter from the sun and have access to a reliable source of food. Trolls who lair near villages can be bribed for passage, but you must never fully trust a Troll, because they can and will eat anything they want, be it the food you promise you’ll bring it next time, or you…

I’ve been a longtime fan of fantasy and science fiction, so I wanted to set out and have the fist creature I designed for my spec fantasy setting to be a River Troll, heavily inspired by the Troll seen in The Spiderwick Chronicles, a book series I couldn’t stop reading over and over again

I hope everyone enjoys this piece, and I strongly recommend you check out the rest of MadRabbitArts on Twitter and BlueSky, he is a dear friend of mine and I cannot commend or thank him enough for his help in bringing this project to life!

Getting ready to get some more plants and cherry shrimp this Saturday, I need to find something that’ll eat the detritus on the floor cause it’s getting gnarly

Can’t remember the plant names off the top of my head but we got a Rams horn Snail and we’re gonna wait a while longer before getting the shrimp in, hope y’all enjoy cause I’m really proud of it so far!

It’s been about 2 weeks since I set this jar up, it’s developed biofilm that’s on the wood and even floating around after I moved the jar
The plan is to get some cherry shrimp in a few weeks but I wanna add the plants and a snail now, what recommendations would yall have for a 2.5gal jar

So my GF and I have been talking a lot lately about getting other pets, and my GF really wants to get 2-3 rats when her 13yr old cat passes on.
I’ve cared for rats before (pic is of my old rat Merlin) and absolutely adore them, but I am deeply concerned with the dangers of owning rats in the same home as an enthusiast would-be rat eater.
When I had my rats, my Python was damn near unhandleable, he seemed to always smell them no matter how much we tried to disguise the scent, and I’m afraid that’ll happen with Gwangi as well. We keep him totally separate from the cat, so I’m confident he and the rats would never have an opportunity to interact, but the concern that he’ll know they’re around is still there
Am I overthinking it or is this a real problem?

I set up a betadine soak in a large tub I had laying around, he had pooped an hour ago so I didn’t think he’d do it again

He proved me wrong within 5min of the 20min soak I had planned >:(

How long should the Silver Sulfadiazine Cream stay on? Do I wash it off? I keep seeing people say “pat dry” him idk what that mean and I don’t wanna do it wrong

We managed to get him to the Exotic Vet early today after another appointment fell through, the vet says that it looks like the very early stages of scale rot but is confident that it’s more than treatable at this stage, she pretty much me everything everyone shared on my last post, Betadine solution baths every night, scrub with soft toothbrush, and after patting him dry, apply a silver sulfadiazine cream on the tail and let him stay in a dry sterile enclosure, which I’m using a front opening 40gal meant for a leopard Gecko my GF and I never managed to actually get
He has a follow up visit in 2 weeks to see his progress and we’ll go from there
Aside from the tails condition he is still a marvelously adventurous and amicable Tegu, tho we established beyond any shadow of a doubt that he HATES his veterinarian doctor, this is the third visit he’s ever done with her and he’s figured out the pattern, he recognizes the aids and the doctor, and was BERY standoffish and defensive with them, at one point bolting from them to jump into my arms, which was heartwarming tho he scratched me through the shirt real good xD

Pic is for attention, his new set up is on layers of paper towels now

I hate to use the tag solved cause the problem isn’t over yet but the news felt too good to justify using the HELP tag

Follow up from last time
Ive continued to give him warm baths every afternoon and have been continuously misting his enclosure, but the stuck shed had not even begun to come off
Until last night when I came home and got him out to feed him, and I noticed the wounds on his tail
It looked like his tail was bursting at the seams!
I took him to two emergency walk in vet clinics and was sent away by both after being told that they wouldn’t know what to do with him, with one doctor at the clinic having never heard of a tegu before
I have him scheduled for a visit with his exotic vet on the 5th, which was the absolute earliest they’d be available to see him
I’m at my wits end on how to fix this, he has no shortage of water, I keep misting his enclosure but nothing is working

I’ve been wanting to get into jar/nano aquariums for a while after watching videos like Tanks for Nuthin, Terrarium Designs and a few others
I’ve decided to start with a cherry shrimp set up in a 2 gallon jar, tho I wanna build up to a solo betta in a 5.5 I’m getting later today
What’s some good beginner advice y’all can share, I’ve read a ton so far but I’ve learned it’s never a bad idea to ask others with experience
I’m going to let the debris settle, but how long should I wait before placing plants in, the hardscape is complete and will be visible soon, and I know I should wait a week or two before putting live animals in, but I’ve heard mixed things about when to put plants in, with the aquarium shop owner I live by saying “wait 2 weeks then do plants, then animals after 2 more weeks” but have seen loads of people set up plants and then fill with water
I wanna make sure I do this right so any advice will be appreciated:)
P.S. I’m pretty sure I used too much soil and sand would it be better to dump and start from scratch?

Lately I’ve noticed Gwangi isn’t shedding right on his tail and I’m a little concerned
I mist his enclosure routinely and he gets a 15min bath every other day to get him to poop after he’s been fed, so I don’t know why/how his tail is drying out
There’s a pale white discoloration along the sides I don’t recognize and he REALLY doesn’t like having his tail touched so I’m not sure if he’s either in pain or is just fussy, he’s never bitten or gotten hissy, just jerks his tail away when I touch it
I’m terrified of the idea of potential scarring, so I don’t wanna try to peel it off, I don’t know what to do about it rn besides call the vet and take him over, and I’m worried it may be nothing and I’ll be dropping money over nothing and it’s just funny shedding

Today’s Gwangi’s First Birthday!!!
Everyone knows how fast they grow but it still shocks me how big he’s gotten in what feels like such a short time, and the knowledge that he’ll get so much bigger just blows my mind!
Tonight he’ll be getting scrambled eggs with blue berries and a big fat rat pup while watching his namesake movie “The Valley Of Gwangi”
Having him for the last (almost) year has been an amazing undertaking, and I’m sure everyone here can relate to the understanding that keeping a Tegu is one of the most unique and rewarding reptiles one can have. I can’t wait to continue to watch him grow bigger and older, and here’s to hoping he’ll stay an excellent Cuddler even after he hits Gooberty!

So Gwangi’s first birthday is this Friday/May 1st, and I’m debating what treats I should give him for his birthday meal, does anyone have any suggestions?