Please Help 911 Issue.

Hey Everyone. I am writing this very scared that something really bad has happened to my Male Nosy Be Clarence.

Today I moved apartments. In my new place I have built him a new custom cage which is way bigger then his 2x2x4. So while I was making trips back and forth I had his cage in my moms back yard. Today In Burbank it was 81 Degrees. So I figured some natural sun time would be good for him. I gave him a nice shower before I left to make my last trip from old apt to new apt. I also had a towel covering half of his 2x2x4 in case he wanted shade. Thinking all was well I went to make my last load drop off and came back to get him. I was gone a max of 3 hours. When I got back clarence looked like he was about to die. Literally. He was in the middle of the cage, Eyes sunken in, closed, and was a shade of white that Ive never seen. He was perfectly fine before I left the backyard. Once I got back and noticed him I instantly gave him another light shower with the hose which kinda woke him up, but he was not active at all, I picked him up and he was very limp, his tail really felt limp.

What happened here? Did he over heat? It was only 81, with a slight breeze and I had the top half of his 2x2x4 covered with a towel to shade half of his cage. He is sleeping now, but does not have his tail curled up like he usually does. I am scared he could pass at any time due to how lethargic he is. But he is sleeping now.. What could of happened? What could of went so bad in 3 hours. Literally I thought he was going to die.

What should I do in the morning? He loves super worms so I am going to see if he will eat some supers, and I am praying that his normal blue comes back, because the shade of white he was Ive never seen and I know it cant be good.

Did he have a heat stroke? I had my female nosybe out in the same exact place just 15 feet away, and she is perfectly fine. What happened with my main man Clarence.. I am freaking out.

Someone please help with some ideas.

is anyone on, any info before the morning would be great.

what the heck happened here.

I don't know that I can be of much help. If it is not heat related, is there any chance he was bitten by something, like a spider? That might explain why your female is fine while he is not.

Whatever happened, I hope he is looking and feeling better in the morning.

I cant say if he was bit by anything. I had his cage locked. But he doesnt look well at all. When I was holding him, he was only holding me with 2 hands very lightly. Tail was damn near limp. I hope in the morning he is alive and will eat and be his bright blue again... But I am freaking out.

What is the cage made of? Sure sounds like heat stroke to me.

Its a screen cage. And I had the top half covered with a white towel for shade.

If it is heat stroke, can they recover?

Reading another Thread it is heat stroke... I cant believe this happened / I did this. It was only 81 and I had half the cage shaded, and showered his whole cage before I left..

Please make it through the night clarence...

If it is heat stroke, you will most likely want to make sure he gets low temps in the 60s at night and plenty of hydration. If his eyes are sunken in that could be a sign of severe dehydration and you may need to take him to a vet if he won't drink very soon on his own.

Maybe it is possible that the sun hit the cage at an angle where it avoided the cover, or the overall ambient temp in that specific area was just too high? Could you post pictures?

How is he doing? Sounds like heatstroke or just major stress, my female hates it outside, just goes into stress mode. Normally comes back quickly enough though.

Ok everyone. So yea it was heat stroke for sure. I got up at 630 and raced over here to check on him. His color is slightly back to normal. Just not as quite there. I took him out. His grip is back and I have a way to have him drink right out of the spray bottle. So he drank a good 10 or so nice mouthfuls of water. Until he didn't want any more. Now he's back in his cage. INSIDE. and I'm going to finish setting up his new huge castle at my new apt and get him over there.

So I had no sleep last night. But I think he is going to be ok. He feels like he has more life in him. So scary how just 3 hours could almost kill him. Never been that freaked out in a while.

Id upload photos but I'm on my iPhone and don't know how. I'll post some of his new diggs when I get it all set up today.

NosyBe15 said:

Its a screen cage. And I had the top half covered with a white towel for shade.

If it is heat stroke, can they recover?

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Do you mean half the top, or the top half of the cage? If you covered the top half of the cage, yeah, that would do it. Heat rises but with a towel over the top, it can't get out. Ever get into a camping tent in the sun in the middle of the day? You can't be inside for more than a few minutes.

Good luck with him. Keep him cooler than usual and extra hydration. He probably won't be himself for a few days.

Symptoms do sound like he overheated but 81 is way to low to have such an issues.
Glad to hear he is coming around for you.
I would still give him a once over to check for any possible bug bites and I would not avoid taking him outside. I would just try again with good supervision and if he starts showing the same sings you know he just doesn't do well with heat

It is very odd that he would suffer heat stroke if it was only 81 degrees. My boys spend the whole day outside in temps up to 90. I do mist them quite a bit though. I have misters that are meant to go around a patio umbrella that hooks to the garden hose. If I'm leaving for a while I will leave the misters on low to keep things cool and ensure they have water.

Next time instead of a towel on top try getting a bunch of fake plant vines or leaves and put them up there. That's what I do. I put fake leaves and vines around for cover and put some on top for more shade. But they also allow air flow where a towel wont.

Mike Fisher said:

Do you mean half the top, or the top half of the cage? If you covered the top half of the cage, yeah, that would do it. Heat rises but with a towel over the top, it can't get out. Ever get into a camping tent in the sun in the middle of the day? You can't be inside for more than a few minutes.

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This is what I was thinking also. If the entire top half of the cage was covered, it would trap heat, giving no cool off shade to go to. Better to cover half the cage, top to bottom, for shade - leaving half the cage top to bottom open.
the comment about angle of sun may also be a good point.

very glad to hear that he is doing better the next day.

pigglett79 said:

It is very odd that he would suffer heat stroke if it was only 81 degrees.

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It won't be 81 in a cage covered like that. If it is in the sun, more like 125F.

Mike Fisher said:

It won't be 81 in a cage covered like that. If it is in the sun, more like 125F.

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When he said he covered half the cage to allow for shade, I thought that meant half vertically, not that he covered the entire top. Not sure that is what he meant.

When I say covered the top half.

I should of said covered half of the top half. So like right down the middle of the cage that hung over the side. So if you were looking at it half of the top allowed for sun to come in and the other half didn't.

Obviously though, I did something incorrect.

NosyBe15 said:

When I say covered the top half.

I should of said covered half of the top half. So like right down the middle of the cage that hung over the side. So if you were looking at it half of the top allowed for sun to come in and the other half didn't.

Obviously though, I did something incorrect.

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The sun angle must have had a part in it. I'm always really worried about that when I put mine outside. Ideally, a covered area with shade cloth over it would be the best option for me.

Well he took another turn for the worse. He is now in the animal hospital. But the vet told me to prepare for the worse.

I'm lost.

NosyBe15 said:

Well he took another turn for the worse. He is now in the animal hospital. But the vet told me to prepare for the worse.

I'm lost.

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So sorry to hear this. Hope he pulls thru. Best wishes