Lubing up lizards.

Working at camp over the summer was the most amazing experience of my life. It was hectic and stressful, but I learned so much, made so many wonderful memories, and met some awesome friends. One of the most stressful parts of my job was being the go-to animal-fixer person. So anytime anything weird was going on with an animal, people came to me. I'd do what I could, but if it was too intense, I'd call the boss (and owner of the camp). With over 300 animals and just as many kids and counselors running about, some days were pretty crazy.

On one of those crazy days, I was in the process of having a sizable chunk of my hair ripped out by an overly playful ring-tailed lemur when I heard one of the campers calling my name. One of the leopard geckos was stuck! So off to the reptile room I went (as soon as I got the lemur off my back and told the kids to stay out the lemurs' room until the silly thing had calmed down a bit).

His sweetness makes up for his rambunctiousness.

I wasn't sure what to expect because "stuck" is a surprisingly vague term when referring to animals. They get themselves stuck in more ways than you could imagine. Luckily, this leopard gecko was just the normal kind of stuck. Somehow he had managed to squeeze his head and body through a hole in his log-shaped hide, but his back legs and tail were just a little too fat.

Isn't this the cutest leopard gecko shedding you have ever seen? I'm so glad I caught this adorableness in action. And you can see why the tail might be too fat to squeeze through small holes...

I picked him up and gently pulled and pushed, but that thing wasn't budging. It looked like his legs were starting to swell a little, which just made things worse (and meant I needed to move faster).

"I need some lube!" I said to the growing group of hovering campers and counselors. Lube is a wonderful thing. So useful, even in the strangest of circumstances (and especially when trying to re-sheath pig penises).

"Will this work?" Someone asked as they handed me a bottle of Shed Ease. It was oily enough, so I dripped some on, gave him a little lizard massage, and gave his butt a small push. Sure enough, he slipped out and crawled away like nothing happened.

Of course, many sexual jokes were made by the counselors (not in the presence of the kids, thankfully). By some, I will always be known as "that girl that lubed up Dino".

 And I just laugh, knowing that I've done much stranger things. If only they knew...