(I posted this on the ratsrule forum as well, so sorry for a sort of double post if you end up reading this twice)
Had to make a short trip to the pet store today to pick up some climbing stuff for my hermit crabs and decided to take Sydney with me since it was a short trip (10 minutes to get there) and I planned on being in and out of the store. He is always really good about not jumping off shoulders so I drove with him on my shoulder. He loves it so much. I also had a little box for him to go hide in if he needed to. Well it wasn't THAT hot outside, maybe in the upper 80's, nice cool breeze coming through and whatnot, I thought it would be fine.
Well he got WAY too hot on the way home! It scared the heck out of me... he just layed in my hand with his head laying limp and his mouth open, his nose and snout were covered in red fluid and his little heart beating so fast! I got home as fast as I could (despite a traffic jam and 35mph on the highway, arg!!) and he still wasn't doing much at all but laying limply in my hand. I rushed him inside and put him in the sink and ran some cold water for his feet and tail, grabbed a couple ice packs and washcloths and put the ice packs down in the sink, put the towels on top of the ice packs then stuck Sydney on it and poured a little water on the towel also. It got nice and cold and he layed there on it for a few minutes (I was almost hysterical by this point and got my husband to come help me, he has a much calmed head about these things), hubby dipped his fingers into some ice water and Syd was licking the water off hubbys fingers. He started moving around a little and after about 10 minutes on the ice packs and wet towels he was a happy cool rat again. I was still pretty upset and mostly crying and apologizing to Sydney. It's been a few hours now and he is just as happy as ever, like nothing ever happened.
I have never felt so bad in my life!
I'm just glad that Sydney is ok!
Had to make a short trip to the pet store today to pick up some climbing stuff for my hermit crabs and decided to take Sydney with me since it was a short trip (10 minutes to get there) and I planned on being in and out of the store. He is always really good about not jumping off shoulders so I drove with him on my shoulder. He loves it so much. I also had a little box for him to go hide in if he needed to. Well it wasn't THAT hot outside, maybe in the upper 80's, nice cool breeze coming through and whatnot, I thought it would be fine.
Well he got WAY too hot on the way home! It scared the heck out of me... he just layed in my hand with his head laying limp and his mouth open, his nose and snout were covered in red fluid and his little heart beating so fast! I got home as fast as I could (despite a traffic jam and 35mph on the highway, arg!!) and he still wasn't doing much at all but laying limply in my hand. I rushed him inside and put him in the sink and ran some cold water for his feet and tail, grabbed a couple ice packs and washcloths and put the ice packs down in the sink, put the towels on top of the ice packs then stuck Sydney on it and poured a little water on the towel also. It got nice and cold and he layed there on it for a few minutes (I was almost hysterical by this point and got my husband to come help me, he has a much calmed head about these things), hubby dipped his fingers into some ice water and Syd was licking the water off hubbys fingers. He started moving around a little and after about 10 minutes on the ice packs and wet towels he was a happy cool rat again. I was still pretty upset and mostly crying and apologizing to Sydney. It's been a few hours now and he is just as happy as ever, like nothing ever happened.
I have never felt so bad in my life!
I'm just glad that Sydney is ok!
