Profile: BERTHA

[cenecker]

Bertha was actually named by my wife. You can guess what the name implies... At 7 feet long and a little over 36 lbs she is the undisputed QUEEN of our collection.

She's got an interesting back story. I found her on craigslist a year ago. She was in awful shape. She had a terrible respitory infection and suffice to say I've never seen so many mites in my life. When I got her home I immediately put her in the bathtub in an attempt to provide some relief from the mite infestation. Literally, the entire surface of the bath water was covered by drowning mites.

Luckily, shes a fighter. A trip to the vet and a few weeks of meds and isolation and the mites were gone. Her respitory infection is cured but she will forever breath with a rasp due to scar tissue in her lungs. I've never seen such a recovery. She's healthy, active, and currently the proud mother of what I estimate at almost 50 eggs (maternally brooding...no way I'm trying to take them...).

The best part is she's an absolute puppy. Even after weeks of oral injections (it required me holding her head with two hands and laying on her, and my wife injecting the meds with a catheter), she never once tried to bite.