All I can say is "Let's hear it for Fleece"! It is hard for our small heating system to keep the rescue room warm at night. The whole house is one zone so if it is warm in the rescue room, it's hot upstairs in the bedrooms. This does not stop the suggies from running wildly on their wheels all night and it does not keep them from their play.

Most of the gliders sleep in fleece-lined baskets or nesting boxes stuffed with fleece. Some sleep in pouches and we keep both boxes and pouches in each cage so they can choose.

We have observed an interesting behavior in that some gliders like to pull fleece into their nest and use it to cover the hole. Some do this even during warm parts of the year, but even more do it when it's chilly outside.

This reminds me of the book "Leadbetter's Possum: Bred To Be Wild" which was published posthumously and based on the field notes of Des Hackett, the Australian amateur naturalist who was an expert on Leadbetter's Possums and Sugar Gliders. In his book, he described how Leadbetter's Possums would build nests out of strips of bark and use a funnel shape in which they would regulate heat by stuffing the "chimney" with material or plug it up depending on how cold it was outside. Seems like their cousins the sugar gliders do essentially the same thing!

Here is a photo of the beautiful sunrise we had yesterday...

oooh, pretty. Iknow the feeling of covering up even when warm. Maybe they cover the hole because it makes them feel safe. I sleep with my blanket covering my head because of this. I can only imagine what runs through those little minds at night..."God, please let it get warm again soon."

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Omis n Kais g-ma</i>
<br />oooh, pretty. Iknow the feeling of covering up even when warm. Maybe they cover the hole because it makes them feel safe. I sleep with my blanket covering my head because of this. I can only imagine what runs through those little minds at night..."God, please let it get warm again soon."
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Yes I bet that's what they are saying too!

I do recommend the book I mentioned. You can get it used on Amazon. Here is a photo from the book that shows Des Hackett with one of his jumbo gliders:

lol i wish i could say the same thing about my boys(at least most of the time). sometimes if they dont come out to play or eat and then run back to their pouch and its getting late ill turn the heat on just a little bit to make my room warm and im usually cold as well when i do this. and that gets the boys out of their pouch to play. i have one skinny glider and one big boned glider and lately the bigger one has been sleeping in a different pouch away from his brother, he has been doing this every night for at least a week. im wonderin if he is doing this to get some alone time or maybe he is getting hot in the big pouch with his brother. now the smaller one has followed him to the smaller pouch, not sure how happy the bigger glider is about that lol.
thanks for sharing this with us, i love hearing about all the neat things gliders do. thats a very pretty picture : )

yes we have some gliders that prefer to sleep alone. In the Leo colony, there are six individuals - all greys with the exception of a white-faced boy named Duke. Duke mostly sleeps alone but sometimes can be found snuggling with the others. He was introduced "late" to the rest of the colony before being surrendered here. It's been a few years and he's mostly a loner.

All I know is there are a bunch of spoiled gliders whose staff congregate on this forum. Just when I think I've seen it all, my daughter will comeup with something new to apoil her bubbies (thats what she calls them). Yes, B not D.

My sugar gliders pull or push the blankets to block out the light.
Art

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by daddyglider</i>
<br />My sugar gliders pull or push the blankets to block out the light.
Art
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They really are pretty smart aren't they!!!!

I've read a study that sais that sugar gliders in the wild occasionally take a break from their colony. The study said that it typically lasts about a week.

Yes Ed they are very smart and great parents to their off spring. Here is a little story everybody may enjoy.

I got up at about 4-5 am went into computer room and while in here heard a crash. HMMM also heard scare barking. Got up looked around all but against wall in my bedroom. Didn't think anything and came back to computer room. Again heard alot of barking not really normal hear. At about 7 am went to check all cages and my bedroom gets lighter sooner than the living room. As I looked and started to walk down aisle in bedroom I saw a sugar glider cage door wide open. AH Crap so I got their pouch out and did a head count. There was Duchess, A 3-4 week old baby another 3-4 week baby uhh oh no momma. So I litrally started tearing the room apart and looking behind cages, under cages on top of cages. Then thought since I heard the barking from the other room that she might be on those cages, again I looked under, got step ladder looked on top moved them to look under cage covers. NOTHING no Duchess.
Was starting to go to other rooms and noticed it was garbage day, OH NO so I went down to the road and was freezing going through the garbage, about this time Paulette was coming home and told her so we loaded the garbage can up and brought it in the house.

A funny inner voice kept nagging as to why would she leave her babies, Duchess is a great mom and travels with babies with no problem.
Well we both went back into their room/my bedroom and again looked on, under, inbetween. What I didn't know until later was that Paulette saw a cage liner on the cage next to her house that was bunched up she said she open it up so it would hang down. It is a very dark heavy fleece material, Duchess has a light weight white material on the back of her cage. We left that room and was discussing if we would have to feed the babies or where else to look(she doesn't crab at movement which was a diadvantage at this time) so I went back in room and slid all the cages out and as I moved her cage and looked over behind the dark liner cage and there was a beautiful stinker of a suggie named Duchess. Just peeking over the side of the cafge. Walked over and got her to jump on me and re-united with her family and many mealies for all. She made a temporary nest out of the neighbors cage cover to get out of the light. VERY SMART INDEED< Almost too smart.
I need to listen to the voice more.
Art

this is the post i was looking for today! about to move in with my boyfriend, and he has the basement to himself(big sliding glass doors, not a cave!) but the thing is, the place is cold. his first statement "you'll be cold...we'll get a space heater. WHAT ABOUT THE SUGGS?! will they be ok?!"

...so as long as i have a few fleece sleeping bags (double lined and single) they'll be ok right? its not even close to freezing. im always cold (borderline anemia) but im ok with sweats, socks, and a hoodie. should i get them their own heater and place it a little closer to their cages?

also what precautions should i take with the space heater...if i know my nuggets they'll make a bee-line to climb on the one thing i dont want them to. lol

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by daddyglider</i>
<br />Yes Ed they are very smart and great parents to their off spring. Here is a little story everybody may enjoy.... She made a temporary nest out of the neighbors cage cover to get out of the light. VERY SMART INDEED< Almost too smart.
I need to listen to the voice more.
Art
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Thanks for sharing that story! I have a similar one from the B colony about 4 years ago. They were out and about one night in the bedroom and I could not find one of them - and there were 7. they had chewed a hole underneath the bottom drawer of our dresser and hid under some shirts in that drawer!

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fergline</i>
<br />this is the post i was looking for today! about to move in with my boyfriend, and he has the basement to himself(big sliding glass doors, not a cave!) but the thing is, the place is cold. his first statement "you'll be cold...we'll get a space heater. WHAT ABOUT THE SUGGS?! will they be ok?!"

...so as long as i have a few fleece sleeping bags (double lined and single) they'll be ok right? its not even close to freezing. im always cold (borderline anemia) but im ok with sweats, socks, and a hoodie. should i get them their own heater and place it a little closer to their cages?

also what precautions should i take with the space heater...if i know my nuggets they'll make a bee-line to climb on the one thing i dont want them to. lol
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Fergline, the geographic distribution of gliders is wide. Closest to the equator - in fact practically right on it - are suggies who live in Indonesia. This includes the Aru islands, Marshall Islands, Papua / New Guinea, and the Bismark Archipelago - just south of the equator. In this area, the temperature year-round is a steady 90 degrees F under the rain forest canopy. The coldest temperatures they endure is as low as 48 degrees F in Hobart, Tazmania and some cold snaps in the forests along the eastern seaboard of Australia. That said, I would not subject them to temperatures under 60 degrees F for extended periods.

If you intend to use a space heater or other stand-alone heating device close to them, I would recommend "caging" the device with wire no less than a half inch apart. This will keep them from getting hurt if they are out and about and wander close to the heater.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by daddyglider</i>
<br />My sugar gliders pull or push the blankets to block out the light.
Art
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My boys do the exact same thing. It really does impress me with how smart they are. It's cute to watch them arrange their nest like a little condo or something. I should get some chairs and a table in there.