Out All Night

Frankie found an end of the day basking spot against a fence that caught the last of west sun. Apparently, he then fell asleep in that spot and forgot to go into his enclosure for the night.

I was out for the evening and had an overnight guest too so I didn't keep up with my routine check on Frankie that I do every night to see that he is snug in bed. Night lows were in the 50's. The next morning, at 8:30 am, I found him, cold to his core, still sitting against the fence. I had to lift him into a sunny area so he could warm up. After a short sit in the sun, he then decided he felt really bad and went into his enclosure - which the heater was not turned on since it was day. Again, he failed to warm up. I dragged him back into the sunlight around 10:00 am and stayed with him until I felt he would not leave the area. He never acted okay the entire day. All he did was move to different basking areas attempting to warm up.

I worried all afternoon that this was going to bring on a respiratory infection or worse. At his bedtime, I went out to double check that his heater was working. I put a board in front of his door to keep any drafts away. I checked on him hourly until I was entirely sure he was okay.

In the morning, I found him basking in the sun, looking quite cheerful and ready to take a walk. Greg had a backyard project, putting in a weather tower, and Frankie was on site to supervise the whole operation including the moving of materials, digging of holes, and mixing of cement . He stepped on all the dirt - guess it checked out - and then moved on to check to see that they tools were appropriate for the job (maybe a potential girlfriend in the bunch).

So, after his night in the cold, his recovery looks complete. Thank goodness, I was very worried.