Dear Spyro - An open letter to a lost loved one.

Dear Spyro

I won’t forget the day that we came to meet you, there you were on a bed of blue calci-sand with your sibling scratching at the glass. We held you for a good 40 minutes where you just sat there chilled out on my other half's hand, you seemed so content so we put you both on hold. The other half said I couldn’t build your vivarium alone, I spent 3 hours shouting, swearing and stubbing my fingers to prove I could, and I did. I was so proud of it, and couldn’t wait to bring you home.

The next day I was excited to get back from the Zoo to see you both in your new home, and you were sat there and I told him, you were my dragon and the other one was his. You were the prettiest, you had orange streaks on your face and seemed to be a brighter colour than your sibling, you were definitely my dragon. We had you both a week until we found you had had a fight and you had injured your foot, I was so upset for you and we took the decision to take your sibling back to the store because of course you were my dragon, why would I let him take you back?

You began being sick one morning, nothing you ate you kept down, we were new to reptiles and we learnt that you couldn’t eat the bigger bugs but even the smaller ones you began to vomit them up. After hours and hours of researching, the other half found you calcium worms and ordered you a huge batch. They came, and you were so happy. It took us weeks to find you the perfect name, the family called you Keith and I hated it, we eventually settled on Spyro, a what we thought was a gender-neutral name because we had no idea whether you were a girl or a boy. This would take nearly a year and half before we finally knew. This never stopped the family calling you Keith, this caused many disagreements for me as you were always Spyro.

I sought the help of some of my colleagues to find you the best vet and I drove you 40 miles to see Ben, he was incredible and he helped you get better. He also said you were the prettiest dragon he had seen in such a long time, that you were. He said that the lump on your foot will never get better, he could operate on it but as it wasn’t affecting you he said to leave it so we did.

I won’t forget when the other half left the lid off your calcium worms, we were living with his family then and the house was full of these strange flies that we had to hide from them. Somehow, we got away with it and no one noticed the slight infestation we caused. I won’t forget his mum saying she saw a strange looking fly, we said nothing!

Over time, you grew to love sitting on the windowsill watching the clouds and people going by about their day, you turned into a proper people watcher where you looked as if you were judging absolutely everyone including us. You used to fit in my hand, and I would walk you around the house to different spots for you to sit and look at, even if it was just on my knee if I didn’t make any sudden movements you would sit there for hours just chilling enjoying the sun.

You loved caves, whenever I cleaned your home out I would build you a new cave that you would hop straight in and spend at least 2 hours digging in. You were so small that when Winter hit, we bought you a fluffy bed and you loved to climb in and sleep in it- people at work thought I was mad, I was just a loving pet owner providing whatever you wanted.

Meeting new people was your thing, not for the attention but for being able to stare at someone new. I won’t forget the day you met one of my best friends, you sat on her lap for ages she is a Zookeeper too, and you decided this was the perfect opportunity to have the biggest explosive poo ever. She picked you up and the poo went EVERYWHERE, all over the family sofa, the dogs bed, all over her, I was in tears it was so funny. You could see you were so proud of what you did and the smell- Wow. She never held you again after that but loved to come and see you.

You would come on Holiday with us to see my family, you hated every moment of it. You would go to sleep and we would put you in a warm box and the next day you would wake up in my old bedroom. You always looked so angry, but we didn’t want you to be alone as you loved attention so we bought you a holiday house. You got to meet my family, and you got to people watch them, but you didn’t like it. It was only ever a few days before you were back home but we loved taking you with us. You mean the world to us both.

You never ever ever refused food, EVER. You loved dinner time, you would hunt your food down and we always tried to make it harder for you to get your bugs. You would do absolutely anything for a waxworm that you understood even the colour of the lid meant there were wax worms around. You once jumped out of your viv and crashed landed on the floor, it panicked us both but you were fine. I began searching the perfect diet for you, herbs were your favourite as you got older and you began to love your veg days.

When we moved out, you were our first thought whenever we viewed a property, we wanted to make sure you had prime spot in the living area where we would spend the majority of our time. We found the perfect home and you were right next to me on the sofa.

We got you a fluffy stool so you could sit and watch the clouds and the local cats coming into the garden. You would even watch me put the washing out or the gardener cutting the grass, you would sit there for hours sometimes allowing us to forget your out and about. You knew where your viv was and would walk back slowly because you were cold to the area of where it is. We would oblige and put you back.

We always knew when you were happy, you would go a bright yellow colour it allowed us to know that we were getting everything right for you. We would change your lights every 6-8 months and always had spare heat bulbs available for you.

You would run around your viv with excitement when we came home, you would always go crazy when someone new would come over and sit and stare at them with your nose on the glass as if you were saying “who the heck are you and what are you doing here.. pay the charge of a wax worm please”. You even got my sister-in-law @april-eliza up so early in the morning because you were excited to see someone new that you bombed it around your house digging and jumping everywhere.

You were everything to us, every night I come home from work you are the first thing I say hello to, not the rabbits and not the other half, you. On Monday 29th January, I came home and you were sat where you have been for a few days, its not unusual for you to do that.

I stroked your head and you didn’t move, so I offered you a waxworm and you ignored it. You have never done that, I knew something was wrong. I called the other half down and he offered you a locust which again you ignored. You loved hunting, you loved food we were concerned. I called a local vet and booked you in, only in October last year you got a clean bill of health you were 510g and he called you every so slightly podgey but that’s just your species. On Tuesday, you were at the vets, he felt a lump in your stomach and instantly took an xray, he found a mass that was either a deformed egg or a tumour or even a blockage he wasn’t sure and wanted you to have the best care and suggested we sought a specialist- I knew just the person.

On Wednesday I called and booked you in for Thursday morning, he was off on Wednesday so I couldn’t get you in sooner. We had family check on you throughout the day and you just sat under you heat lamp ignoring all food, we tried everything to get you to eat. The last time you ate was Sunday 28th January where you ran around your viv like a loon chasing locusts. It was so unlike you. That night I came home and sat you in my lap on a fluffy blanket and you snuggled in, every time I moved you jumped a mile as you were so comfy, in the end I gave up and put you back in the warmth of your bed and let you rest.

Thursday morning, I came down and you looked like your old self, yellow but you had an ever so slight dark beard so I knew you still weren’t 100%. I got your hot water bottle and put you in the box and took you straight to see Ben. You were fast asleep when he looked at you and he got the ultrasound box straight away.

He found your whole body full of follicles that hadn’t formed into eggs or moved through your system. He was relieved as he was convinced it was a tumour and he took you for surgery, I stroked your chin for ages I told you I loved you and he came back and scooped you into his arms. “See you later Munchie” I said as he took you through and you gave me the stink eye. You were a fighter. At 3pm, he called to tell me you had made it through the surgery and that he thought he got it all out. He said you were staying overnight to make sure all is okay and that you were slowly coming around. We were relieved. The other half ordered you your favourite calci-worms as we thought you would like them to recover and I called again at 6pm, you were more alert but coming around and that we were to call in the morning to arrange bringing you home.

7:30pm, I go upstairs quickly and come back down to my other half on the phone, I thought it was the takeaway guy getting lost so I chuckled but then he turned and looked at me. I knew it was you, I knew something was wrong, I was praying that it was just about more money on your bill but then I heard him say “shall we collect her or shall she go for cremation” Those words floored me, I knew you were gone but I couldn’t decide right now. Your heart had given up, although you were a fighter your system couldn’t cope. I couldn’t sit and look at your empty viv, I sat in darkness wishing I was there with you. Praying that one last time I could call you munchie. I have never seen my other half so upset either he is usually so strong but losing you has torn us apart, I can’t believe you’ve left us.

I sit here, in tears writing this because you were the best little reptile I have ever come across, you taught me how amazing you guys are and what joy you could bring to a family. Spyro, you have left this huge void in our hearts and in our home. We loved every part of you, even when you hated bath time and would scratch the life out of our hands or would poo in your newly clean vivarium. I can’t imagine not seeing you every day. I am glad we found you and you found us.

We will love you forever and always

Until we meet again my little munchie

For another who is grieving for a lost pet I recommend this painful but wonderful poem Rainbow Bridge

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Please note: This post was not checked for grammar but instead written purely from my heart. All photographs are my own.

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Amazing Animals will return to normal when I have the strength to write another post

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