ASY male in a cage for a week now in the house.

[jerleen]

I have had my ASY male in the house for a week today. I feed him crickets and have put super worms in his dish too. He does not like the super worms and throws them out. He eats crickets when I put them in but today he is puffed up and seems to be shivering as if he is cold. I have a heating pad under the cage and keep it on low and he seems better.
I am worried that he will be weak when I release him when the temps get warmer. Wondering if he will be able to take the cold nights even if the temps are in the 50's and 60's during the days.
Here in Dallas area we have not had a day when the temps have been in the 50's since I brought him in the house on Feb 26th. I know even with putting hand warmers in and crickets in the gourds he would not have survived this terrible cold spell.
I have 18 hour hand warmers but they don't seem to hold the heat longer than a couple of hours, what can I do to make them work longer? I plan to continue to use them after I release my Marty, his new name. He puts his head out the small holes and lets me scratch his head. He has talked to me some but has not the last two days. Am worried if he will survive.

[Louise Chambers]

Jerleen, you are less than an hour from an excellent wildlife rehab facility and they are very experienced with Purple Martins. Please call them - Penny Halstead has rehabbed more martins than anyone else in Texas, I bet.

http://www.rogerswildlife.org/ 972-225-4000