I recently purchased an economically cheap hamster ball from Walmart with hopes to give my gliders more of a variety of toys to play with. I have drilled four evenly spaced holes on the top so it can securely hang from plastic chain links with the top off (do not have my camera handy to show you, but it looks pretty cool). I put small bits of fleece blankies/squares in for nesting that fill up half the ball, and I witnessed my glider climbing in to sleep in it.

But now that I'm looking at it, thinking about it, and reading more about the hazards of this ball, I feel too afraid to keep it in my gliders cage any longer. I believe that having it in the cage this way is no different from those who have the ball securely on the grounds of their cage for nesting: their toes can still get caught.
Is that correct? I'm trying to think of ways to close the openings but no ideas are coming to mind. I've thought of melting the slits closed but that doesn't sound safe to me either. I've also thought of slipping fleece between the slits, but in the end I feel as though the ball in the cage at all is not safe.

I thought it was such a good idea even just having it securely placed on the floor to climb in, but not so much anymore. Maybe I can find an item similar to this.....

What do you think?
Honest opinions are welcomed, but please do not scold me.

Looking into it further, I have discovered that a few others may do this as well: http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=27263

luckyglider comment

I read your linked post and I agree with Ed's(Lucky Gliders).

I like the idea of making a hide out with it. You could weave strips of fleece thru the slits so there would be less spaces to get toes caught in, and you could match it to your decor. You could also make shorter strips of fleece to put in there un-secured so the gliders can pull them out to add them to their nest.

Minnesota Zoo, that is a good idea! Thank you so much for your opinion. I am just going to experiment with putting fleece in the slits until I put it back in their cage :)
Thank you

I like that idea too..I think I might get a hamster ball just to do that too.