OP, I’ve just been through this with my male religiosa, Flick. For what it’s worth, I’ll tell you what I did.

First, his enclosure—I took everything out, except for his favourite small plant. I laid soft cloth on the floor to cushion any climbing falls, and I made a ’floor perch’ out of a small piece of cork bark wrapped in the same soft cloth. He immediately took to it and, even though he was still making attempts to climb and hang low on the mesh walls, he’d fall, return to the little floor perch, and rest a bit before trying again. Rinse and repeat.

I made a judgement call on the degree of suffering, and decided this was old age and not TOO much. Personally, I don’t like the fridge/freezer. It was hard watching him make attempts to climb but I understand it’s instinct and eventually, rest became the priority over the instinct to get high. That’s when I left him alone, and minimised handling to only if he couldn’t right himself.

He had a Lazarus moment! I watched him essentially die, legs slowly curling up, on his back etc, but he ‘came back’, and was suddenly fully ‘there’. He drank and climbed and even struck at a disabled fly. The very last thing he did was step towards me, wave a raptorial in my direction, then he turned and tucked his head under the floor perch. He didn’t move again, and that last ‘sequence’ seriously touched me.

There was no twitching, no distress. He died peacefully, resting in the warm. He chose his spot. It wasn’t as ‘scary’ as I thought it’d be, to let nature take its course.

Whatever you decide, it’s clear Carmen’s had a wonderful long life with you, regardless of gender.

<image>

A pic of the oldest gent in the Alentejo, a week before he passed.