Hello everyone,

I don't know why I'm posting this. I just need some reassurance I guess. I recently just got two baby gliders. A sweet, normal grey female and a beautiful piebald male. I watch dogs for money, and I currently have two small dogs at my apartment. Well I left one night to go sleep with my boy friend. The gliders had fresh food and water and I had bonded with them for hours that night. The dogs were fast asleep and I made sure the cage was nice and secure. The next morning I come home to see my sweet piebald in the mouth of one of the dogs, dead. I feel so horrible. I'm getting another glider so my girl has a friend, but I'm just so heavy with guilt. I feel like I did everything right. I don't know HOW he got out of the cage. I just feel so stupid and I can't stop crying. If anyone has any advice they can give me or has been through something similar, I'd love to hear. I feel so irresponsible and terrible.

Caroline

So sorry for your loss. First thing I would do is inspect the cage to find the place where the glider got out. I would hate for the other glider to find that same escape place if there is indeed one. They can fit through very small spaces!

Thank you, I'm trying to move on but it's hard. I'm thinking about even getting a new cage because I am so afraid it will happen again.

Is it possible the door latch is too easily opened?

Im sure you did nothing wrong and you shouldn't feel at fault. Just do what you can for the other glider in making sure its safe now.

I have a Strudy Cage and it has 1/2 inch spacing which is glider safe, but there is a a couple of large horizontal bars above the top doors that are way larger than 1/2 inch spacing. I didn't feel good about them at all and know one said they could escape from this area, but I just think they can since mine are very small and young. I put a strip of clear plexi-glass over this area on the outside of the cage.

Also check the bottom grate where the drop pan is...some gliders have figured out how to push the grate and escape thru there.

I zip tie my bottom grates to the frames of the cages.

I am so sorry for your loss.

I had a similar situation. I live with a standard poodle (the big kind) and somehow the dog got the grate at the bottom pulled out about 6 inches and when I went in the room I didn't see that one could've gotten out. There was a lot of crabbing coming from the pouch so I didn't check it.... 2 hrs later I went to check one them and one of my gliders wasn't in the cage. I found her and put her back in the cage and about 20 mins later I could see she wasn't going to make it through the night. I had had one glider for a month and the one that died for about 3 weeks. I felt terrible. The bottom of the cage is now zip tied in place.

i'm so sorry