RIP Scales

Oh, a sad night at the Turner house.  Joseph's alligator lizard, Scales, died.
Joseph noticed he wasn't acting himself a few days ago.  And yesterday I noticed that one of the leopard geckos, T-Rex, had lost weight and had a bit of an eye infection.  So we took them both to the vet yesterday where they were diagnosed with an infection by the lovely name of "mouth rot."  Nice.  They got antibiotic injections, subcutaneous fluids, and were sent home with instructions for how to care for them.  They both seemed to have perked up quite a bit, and were walking around happily today.  Joseph took them both outside in the backyard for some sunshine in the morning.
After Joseph's flute lesson, we went by the pet store to get a smaller terrarium to keep the sick lizards in, and to keep as a home for Scales after he was well, since alligator lizards do better with a different substrate than what we had been using for the geckos.
But tonight when we went into his room to set up the new terrarium, Joseph reached in to pick up Scales, and he was already dead.
Joseph was heartbroken and was inconsolable for a long while.  He curled up next to me in my room and I read to him for 45 minutes or so until his sobs subsided and sleep drew near.  I hope he's never too old to take comfort in his mom like that.
But it is so sad!  Joseph loves these animals so much, and he takes their loss really hard.  This one was particularly hard on him since he had captured Scales from the wild.  We've had him for a year and a half and he's been a great pet, friendly and beautiful and just about the coolest hunter you'll ever see.  Joseph cried that he wished he hadn't ever captured him, although surely he had a better, and probably longer life in captivity than he would have had otherwise.  We don't even know how old he was-- he could very well have been toward the end of his life anyway.
Scales really was a very cool lizard, and one that Joseph was justifiably proud of.  He will be missed.
We're going to keep the terrarium and when Joseph is feeling better, I hope he will go on a hunt for another Texas Alligator.
In the mean time, I put Scales in a shoebox which I wrapped in white paper and decorated with some pictures of him and Joseph.  I told Joseph that tomorrow he needs to find a good spot in the forest where Scales would like to be put to rest.