Many of us enjoy making cage sets for our babies. It's been pounded in repeatedly that fleece is really the safest option of any fabrics to be used with gliders. It's also been shared that there are horrible tragedies with lose threads causing serious if not fatal injuries.

With all this being said...I've been working on many cage sets for a long time. All the stitches are very tiny and flipped so that they are on the inside except for that inevitable little tiny space after you turn everything inside out. I've worked to make that as small as possible and been overly (I thought) cautious about how I sew that shut.

This morning I had a feeling that the sisters had a little disagreement last night as Lisle was sleeping in the pouch this morning and Maeve was still up, but not grooming and getting ready for bed. I checked on both of them by hand and they seemed well. After getting my coffee I looked again and both were tucked away.

THANKFULLY, I came home for lunch and checked on them. The triangle corner piece looked strange to me. I reached in to straighten it out and Maeve was INSIDE the two layers! She was warm and clicking away when I took out the "pouch". I looked it over and she'd made her way through about a one inch gap in that weak area that I spoke of. I quickly ripped away at the stitches and reached in and took her out. She was absolutely fine. Looked at me like, "Hey...wha? soooo sleepy..." I put a second pouch in for her but she was looking for Lisle. She went over and curled up in the pouch with her. I then took them both out in that pouch for a little inspection and they were both fine.

A simple little morning grouchiness between them could have been catastrophic. Side note I took out anything with that type of closure and will be sewing tonight after I come up with a more secure and safe way to take care of that little space. Any ideas? If I think about it I may be able to work a needle through back and forth by hand and still make most every stitch internal. Hmmm.

In addition to checking the seams - check the inside layer of the double pouch.

I have several gliders that like to dig a hole through the inside fleece layer and squeeze in between the fleece layers as their favorite sleeping spot.

I have to replace pouches fairly frequently.

I have also been making single layer fleece pouches for the summer - make the pouch extra large then trim the seam very close to the stitching and then turn the pouch inside out and stitch along the edge - again with very tight machine stitching - so that the raw edge of the first seam is completely enclosed. This leaves a thick seam but no raw edges for gliders to separate and get their nails into. The tiny stitches sink into the thick fleece.

Thanks...I'm going to give the single layer ones a try this evening. This particular triangle was about 2 months old so I'm going to toss it. Having glideritis means there's plenty of fleece stored in the sewing room!

I thought I was checking so carefully each time I'd change them out...little buggers!

I had a similar issue!

When I got my first glider I went out and bought some lounging pouch for him, it was fleece but had an outer layer made of something smoother.

Well one day I'm looking for him and I'm freaking out cause I can't find him, so I take out the pouch and feel that it's heavy, but I don't see him!

He had somehow buried inbetween the two layers and was (as Candy said) happily sleeping in their warm little hole.

Needless to say I immediately cut him out of there and retired the pouch.

I prefer the pouches that are just one layer now, for my own piece of mind. Haha.

Why is it dangerous? Do they eat the thread?

We got to the vet for nail trims and baby checkups on Thursday and when we went to get mom and dad out, dad was nowhere to be found. I panicked and thought he must be loose in the car, and then the vet said she could feel him in there, but not see him. Turns out he chewed into the middle of the two fleece layers and was stuck in there. What if one of the joeys got stuck in there? I didn't even know that could happen. Now they're in a bonding pouch because that's all we have. We have another pouch on the way in the mail, but it is the same kind that he chewed through, so... i don't really know. I get them from thelittleredladybug.

The danger is in mostly for pouches that are made with fleece inside and a woven fabric on the outside that might have threads that ravel along the edge of the seam. Gliders can get themselves tangled in the threads and possibly get a thread wrapped tightly around a hand, arm or tail so that it cuts off the circulation and causes an injury.

The other danger is in stitching that is too loose or long stitches that gliders tend to get a nail or even a whole toe caught under which can injure the nail or break a toe when the glider struggles to free its self.

Fleece pouches that are tightly stitched with very small machine stitches are not usually a problem unless a thread breaks and allows the glider to open a seam and create a long loose thread.

It is good to have several spare pouches on hand and to check them frequently. I have one cage of gliders that likes to dig through a pouch on a regular basis. They get a new pouch about once a month. Some of my other gliders never damage their pouchs.