Its oh so quiet Shh Shh

[jitami]

hyperthyroidism? thats not too bad an issue, its not usually passed down to the young though. oops i meant hypothryroidism, shes larger than she should be right? well its usually not a congenital defect

Awwwww beautiful berner babies Shanley!!! Sooo snuggle-able!!!

Actually, thyroid disease in dogs is hereditary. They can test adults and young adults to see if they will develop thyroid disease later in life. They usually do this right around 2 years old, the same time they check for hip/elbow dysplasia, heart problems, eye problems, etc. My male Great Dane is TgAA positive. TgAA is an antibody that shows the dog's system isn't processing thyroid hormones correctly. That said, he's now 8, and has tested low-normal, but hasn't needed medications and shows no symptoms of thyroid disease. All of his other health tests were excellent, so we did breed him to a female that was TgAA negative and clear of thyroid disease 4 years ago. He's a champion show dog and his breeder and I thought long and hard about whether to breed him at all. He's gorgeous, but new information is suggesting that thyroid disease is linked to other auto-immune issues, which are on the rise in dogs. I think we made an ok decision, and wouldn't criticize anyone either way, but it's easy to see why someone would chose to not use dogs with any sort of health issues when there are healthy specimens available.

Hope no one minds the doggie ramblings! As opposed to garters it's something I actually know a little something about

[Snake lover 3-25]

maya was tested low-normal....... but didn't show any real signs till after her babies...... unf the male that she was bred to showed signs shortly after the puppies were born...... sometimes they will have no signs and then suddenly they just appear out of nowhere..... but it is sooooo common in the breed that it is almost imposible to find dogs that either do not have it or are not carriers of it..... so idk what we will do........ if we can find an older male that still shows no signs we may breed her to him....... but the chances are pretty slim....... we should have kept Corona!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jitami]

I LOVED Corona just from the pics! He seemed to have such a presence about him! But I always love big tank-like boys! lol I hear ya Shanley, we went through all the same concerns your mom is having. It sucks having everything else be perfect and then there's "just this one little thing." I don't know if I truly trust the TgAA thing, but it's all we've got to test young animals. It's included in the OFA thyroid panel, and it should at least give you an idea of whether the dog is a carrier or not. My dog's sire did have some thyroid issues later in life, but the sire is from an old school breeder who never tested for it and kept it pretty quiet. You just make the best decisions you can based on the info you have...

[Snake lover 3-25]

Corona's a girl but yes she was deff the cutest and the smartest!!!!!!

[jitami]

ooppss! sorry! Guess I'm drawn to tank-like GIRLS, too!

[Snake lover 3-25]

i can see how you got confuesd though...... she did whear the spider suit XD XD and she was riding the sled and killing the toy cat.......... she was sooooooo cute

[Zephyr]

Hooray! After 2 days of convincing my parents, I'm finally getting 2.2 red sideds!
They should be here on Tuesday. (Shipping on Monday.)
I can't wait! These'll be my fourth garter species! The leetle dewds/dewdettes. XD

[reptileparadise]

Awesome! We love pictures

[Zephyr]

I'm such a sucker...
Today, I decided to pop into a pet store while my dad was at K-mart. I haven't been to a store with "buying" intentions in months mind you, and the last time I was it was when I was looking for new garter species.
So anyways, I was looking around and noticed a tank of coastal ribbon snakes (Species name please?). I noticed that one of the females was EXTREMELY gravid, and the caging conditions were okay but not brilliant. Then I realized I'd seen this same batch of snakes 3 months ago! I felt so sorry for her... So...
I bought her. After checking her out on the car ride home. *My dad ran into Target after I told him not to...* I found one tick, which I disposed of. She has an odd injury on her lower spine, and the very beginnings of scale rot on her belly *The cage material looked a little damp,* but she was actively, alert, and showed no other ill signs. So I have her set up in a quarantine tank at the moment. She's a good 3 feet long, 2/3 of which is MASSIVE. However, although she's huge, I'm not sure if it's a "I just ate" huge or gravid huge. Pics soon. Please don't be hatin. D:

[Lumpy]

How often are ticks found on snakes?

Lump