Sometimes I do things like rescue wounded animals and nurse them back to health--preferably so they can go back and live in the wild where they belong, not in my house.

Well over a year ago, I rescued a 6 inch Desert Spiny lizard my kids named Spike. Something had tried to eat him, and he was missing a chunk of flesh from his back, some of his toes on his right rear foot, and his entire left leg was paralyzed. Despite his severe injuries, he thrived under my care, fed first some bits of egg, later bits of chicken, and then a normal lizard diet of crickets, mealworms, and waxworms. He did pretty darn good, tugging himself around with his front legs and started to get fat. I tried to release him twice. The first time, he crawled right back into the cage. The second time, I returned him to the place where we had found him, and he pulled himself along on his front legs but really didn't get moving very fast. So, after thirty minutes of deliberation and a vote, the kids and I decided he would die sooner rather than later if left in the wild.

Since then, he's been the king of his terrarium, feeding regularly and hunting on his own. About two weeks ago I noticed the he had suddenly lost the use of his one good back leg. I kept finding him upside down, unable to right himself. His front feet would twitch uncontrollably and he was rather pissed that he couldn't move out of the way when I would turn him right side up. Not long after, he wasn't able to expel his poo and needed help with that. Dutifully, I helped out. Mommies learn early on that sometimes others need help with the basest of such tasks.

Sadly, I think today is his last day to live. And while I don't think he ever particularly liked me or wanted to have much contact with me, I feel real bad that he's about to die. He's become quiet and motionless, save for a few deep breaths of air every so often. He gives me his usual glare of disdain, but mostly, he keeps his eyes shut now.

I guess all I can do is be thankful that we had him for as long as we did. My family has learned from him. My son wrote a book about Desert Spiny lizards for his science project last year, and if not for Spike, I never would have known what a Desert Spiny lizard is.