Gone overnight - what happened to my Stevie?? :(

[rangergirl]

I am so confused and devastated... my beautiful Stevie girl... pure black eastern grey, came to me from a wildlife sanctuary about a month ago. She was the strongest and healthiest of all four babies. She was thriving... playing, hopping, doing flips yesterday. This morning, she died in my arms!!

She ate all her food, was perfectly normal when I put them all to bed last night. I noticed this morning she didn't come to the cage door when I went into to feed them all. I saw vomit in several places around the cage, orangey coloured. Her poo was normal only orange as well. I figured it was from the carrots she had eaten... or the bit of tomato she stole from the one I had absentmindedly placed on top of the cage! I wrapped her up snugly and tried to give her some electrolytes, but she wouldn't take anything. I put her in a smaller cage, with a heating pad underneath... and left to get ready for work.
When I came back, I picked her up... she died a few seconds later...

The only other thing different was that I gave each of them a walnut (in the shell) to chew on. I harvest them from a friend's tree... they were skinned/peeled, and soaked in water... I thought it would be a good thing for their teeth... doubting they'd ever get thru it (which they haven't yet).
Could this have something to do with it? If so, are the other going to die?

Another odd fact... when I got these babies from the sanctuary, Stevie and Frosty were together in a cage, in a hat. Now they are both dead.

Please, can anybody give me some kind of answer or explanation... I am worried about the others!!

Thanks

[Mel1959]

I am very sorry for your loss. :hug I honestly can't explain or understand what may have happened. Maybe those with more experience can. RIP Stevie. :Love_Icon

[stosh2010]

Sorry----no answers.....just Love & Support............

[island rehabber]

I am so terribly sorry...what a horrible thing. Where did the carrots come from? I have heard that some baby carrots are washed in chemicals like formaldehyde but I am not sure.

[ClemC5]

So, so sorry for your loss. I recently lost 2 of 8 pre-release opossums one day apart just like you described. Heartbroken of course, but can not for the life of me can not figure out what happened. They were the two strongest of the bunch, ready to be released very soon and then just died in my hands in the morning. The other 6 are doing fantastic and will be released this weekend. I have lots of experience and I am sure everything in my control was being done correctly and according to a long standing protocol. Things like this just rock your confidence and cause you to question everything. While so cruel, I think losses like these serve to remind us to be ever vigilant on our care for these babes. No short cuts, no substitutes for diet, no saving a dime here and there and no excuses not to make time for them. In my mind it gives me some solace to know that they died in the warm hands of someone who gave them love and a home rather than out on the cold wet ground. Sorry

[BCChins]

I am very sorry for your loss of Stevie. :hug

You can have a necropsy done to dermine the reason. So Vet schools do them cheaoer then ets offices. You need to keep them in the fridge until you take them.

Again so very sorry for your loss

[LR]

So sorry to read about losing these squirrels. I did a search on "poisons in walnut hulls". I have a grandson who is allergic to both pecans and walnuts. I've never searched it from this perspective however. What I read makes me very uneasy about walnuts in general, not just the hulls.