I'm writing this because I just had the biggest scare with my glider and I feel I should pass it along. Please, please, PLEASE vet your glider if anything seems off. I came very close to losing my little Rue baby. He's my only glider and he's been a lone glider pretty much since he's been out of pouch so I always have to keep a watchful eye on him. My sweet little guy does pretty great on his own which I know is exceptional. He's pretty independent and doesn't really let on when he's not feeling well much to my disadvantage. He's a happy go lucky fella until one day he bit the absolute snot out of my finger. Like chunk of skin missing and left my whole hand throbbing. I guess he was pretty grumpy so I let him be. He seemed a bit sleepy which was normal for the time of day but I wanted him fed before I left for work. He would normally give me a quick snuggle and head back to his hammock but not that day. When I returned home, he was still sleeping much to my surprise. He's usually jamming on his wheel and working out like a gym rat when I get home. Nope. Sleeping in his hammock. I left him alone thinking it might've been a tough day at the office for little Rue. The next morning is when it seemed his little world was turned upside down. I went to get him to play for a little bit but he was curled up in a ball and when I attempted to stroke his back, he bit me like he was on a mission to kill my finger again. The one stroke across him left me almost in tears and not because he bit me. He felt cold. Really cold. Like someone stuck him in the freezer and forgot about him cold. I went into absolute freak out mode trying to warm him much against his will but he didn't have a lot of fight to back him up. He was shivering and had lost the pink that's normally in his nose and little feet. His eyes were glazing over a little bit too at this point. I called my vet immediately and she had me bring him in right away. Poor little guy had his stomach pumped immediately to see if anything causing some kind of blockage in any way. Things starting looking up. His temperature was coming back to normal and his appetite was back in a fury. My vet gave me directions on making a smoothy like substance to feed him every 2 hours. We had the idea of treating him basically like a joey until his health seemed stable. Rue had a follow up visit and thankfully he's fine today. We're not sure 100% what was wrong. Possibly a food allergy so no more pellets for Rue. Only fresh fruits and veggies and Ledbetter's mix. The whole point of this long drawn out post being please just vet your gliders. I could've lost my little fur baby. Gladly he's okay and happy as can be but I could've easily lost him that day. Please don't doubt your instincts. You know your glider better than you might think. Take good care of your babies. Thanks all!

Awww... that's absolutely terrifying. Major learning experience!

I am so glad your little guy is ok. That is very scarey to have that happen. Thank goodness he recovered.

Honestly I thought this was a post to Call out the importance of taking your gliders to the vet when they have obvious injuries or illness.

I have seen too many posts lately where folks are not willing or not able to get their gliders to a Vet!

If you can not afford vet care, you should not own pets!

I understand that times are tough! Have an emergency fund, Have a back up plan, a pet credit card, a Care credit account, a relative you can borrow from....what ever it takes!

If your pet gets an infection it can die...plain and simple. Ripped off toes, bleeding, necrotic genitalia, wet dehydrated gliders! This is serious stuff!

And all the advice we give to you does not take the place of a Vet..we say this all the time "We are not vets and can not diagnose your pet on line".

Have a vet lined up with glider experience BEFORE your pet may ever need one. Finding a vet in the eleventh hour may be too late.

Sorry to hijack your post Reba but your headline says it all!

P.S.A. done!
Thanks!

Hijack away! Vet care should be common sense and something that shouldn't even be thought about twice in my mind so I really didn't go big on that. My biggest thing is letting the little stuff go and acting like nothing is wrong. Gliders are very little furballs with very small worlds around them. As owners, we are quiet literally all they have. My biggest back thought was having letting his ridiculous biting rant go. It's about the only way he can say "Mom, I feel like junk. HELP!" Instead, I let it go due to work, appointments, grocery shopping, seeing friends(life). His second bite was just as hard if not harder than the first which is pretty intense considering how weak he was at that point. Again, "MOM! LISTEN TO ME ALREADY! HELP!" I mean how else was he supposed to let me know he felt bad? Have a huge fur blow out? Not exactly possible. Just notice the little things in behavior. They are very small so small changes could mean major things to these little guys. Pay attention and know your glider and get the help they deserve. Sometimes we just don't cut it as providers and need professionals to do the jobs we can't. Don't be scared to over judge mentally. Just do what your gut tells you when you can't fix it yourself. Vet your babies! Just do it!