Hey everyone. I used to be an active member here with my two babies Eve and Mae. My two have since passed on (November of 2013) and I was too ashamed to post anything here because I blamed/still blame myself for their deaths.

My family was installing new carpet upstairs and since my gliders had been a bit messy my father gave me the ultimatum... I could move out with my babies-- or get rid of them. At this point I was working full time and still only making $11.69 an hour and had no way to afford rent, bills and my gliders. So I started the lengthy process of finding a new home for my babies.

I contacted a good friend, Allison who helped rehome animals in need (mostly ratties and reptiles etc) to good homes. She contacted a friend-- lets call her Diane. Diane introduced a girl whom I will call P, to Allison. However what Diane did not tell Allison, was this girl P was from craigslist. P messaged me and answered every question and qualm I had about the care and upkeep of my babies with certainty and assured me they would be kept on suggie soup and that between her and her husband would be able to afford any emergency care that arose immediately. That I was welcome to come visit at any opportunity I wanted.

I was unsure but since she was recommended by Allison, I accepted. P and her husband showed up a few days later and after a good long talk about not breeding or introducing a new glider without the quarantine process-- off they went.

Not even a month later I see a picture of an un-neutered male pop up on her fb feed. I messaged her concerned with where she was going to keep him. She promised he was going to keep him separate until the quarantine was up. I immediately called her BS as I pointed out that in the picture she posted, he was already in the cage on the cage set I had given to her with the cage and toys that went with my babies. She then told me he was a rescue from CL from a situation where his brother had died suddenly and she was afraid he was depressed. At this point I am livid. Putting them in with an un-neutered male AND with a glider whose brother had died from some unknown illness?!

I demanded she take them to the vet asap, that she was already breaking her agreement to not let them breed or be put together with a glider without a quarantine period. (My fault here was not getting it in writing. Something I still regret to this day.) A few weeks pass and she refuses to answer my messages and texts. Until one night.

One Sunday night I received a video text from P begging me for help, that the gliders were sick and she didn't know what to do. The video showed all three gliders stumbling in circles, mushing their faces against the bars of the cage with labored breathing. I call her immediately and tell her she needs to take them to the vet ASAP that they were dying and need medical help NOW.
Of course the first thing she tells me is that she didn't have the money and there were no vets open near her, that she would try in the morning. At this point I tell her "then they are dead."

By the next morning they were gone. Of course P blocked me on FB, refused to answer my texts or messages. Was just gone. I hear from Diana that she found out this girl adopted all kinds of animals off of CL and was essentially an animal hoarder. I blame myself because if I had only looked into this person more closely, had asked to see their living conditions and visit the home before hand I could have found a better home for them.

Its hard for me to post this, for me its inexcusable to have let this happen to my babies. But I have decided to post here as a warning to anyone who has to rehome their babies under any circumstance. Do your homework, set rules, write a contract that involves getting the gliders back if the new owners are unable to care for them. I've learned my lesson the hard way.

I ma so sorry you had to find out that she was not a proper care giver for your babies. I have received about 7 glider now that had to be given up and I been really picky about who I end up rehoming the few that left went too. I hope you can find happy ness in the memories you have of them.

I am so sorry for your loss. It was not your fault. Not at all. It was out of your hands. You did the best you could. I hope you can forgive yourself in time and come to accept that you did the best you could to choose a new home for them, and it was someone else who made the terrible decisions. What a terrible thing for you to have to go through. Have you dreamt of your babies? If so, I want you to know that I believe that is them visiting you, and if they visit you, they still love you. I hope you dream of them tonight.

Hugs, and no judgement.

Bastards

Ditto to Cora1's comment!

First, let me give you my condolences on your tragic loss, my heart aches for you.

Second, having asked the questions you felt were important to know the extent of this person's knowledge of sugar gliders and that she (and for no reason you would know otherwise)was able to convince you that she was a suitable care taker for your suggie babies, you did for the most part all you could do to ensure that, and what most other people would do. (I use "most" only because there may be some that think of things most or average amount of people wouldn't think of).

I have three suggies that were all re-homes, here is brief description of the process I obtained them.

First, a pair of females, approximately around a year old, being 2 months apart in age and from same breeder. I found them on CL, they were fairly local, about 30 or so minutes drive from me. I emailed seller, I received a response answering the questions I asked (I was limited on my questions because I wasn't educated properly, being I was going by what an acquaintance was telling me) and given phone contact info and address. I was invited to come see them before making a decision. At no time, did the seller ask to see my home. She explained the care information she was given from the breeder and the diet and how she fed them, she showed me their cage and let me see and try to pet them. One of the girls, Lulu was not friendly, the other Skadoosh was pretty friendly. I left and considered whether to go ahead and get them. I decided to do so.

My third glider, a single male, neutered and around four years old. His current mom at the time had him with an older female and when the female cage mate died, she had him checked by vet. He was found healthy, but with her school schedule and finances she really couldn't search for a new mate for him and follow the protocol necessary for introductions and so decided to remhome him. I saw the ad for him on another forum I frequently visit and since he was alone and not too far from me, I contacted her. She had seen my posts on the forum and after talking to me more in depth felt comfortable re-homing him with me. I had offered if she wanted to visit my home first to see the arrangement ahead of time, and she said it wasn't necessary. She brought him and his things to my house and helped get him set up where I had to keep him for quarantine and although sad to leave him behind, I believe she was confident he was in good home and would soon have friends.

Anyway, I know I said brief, lol. I wanted to point out that at both times I homed gliders, neither former keeper of these precious animals saw the home prior to, that they were going to. They trusted me, merely through their impression after talking to me. As it is, I was honest about any intentions and always had the gliders best interest, as they believed.

My point is, not asking to see their new home does not make it your fault she was not what she presented herself to be.

In addition to that, all the pets I've had, whether adopted through spca or rescue or from a breeder, and purchased from pet stores, no one has asked to see the home in which these animals were going to.

Please know, that even if you had gone to her home, you may not have known what she really was if she could have staged anything prior to your visit.

I am so sorry that you had to go through this, and feel the way you did, ashamed and blaming yourself for so long that you didn't have the support from friends and fellow glider loving members to help console you.

I want to thank everyone for their support, I was really nervous at first, but I am very glad I got to finally tell everyone what happened. My lil fuzzies were irreplaceable to me, and if nothing else I hope this can help prevent a similar situation from happening in the future to anyone else.
Thank you all again.

i have a few choice words for the person that did this.....


I am so sorry for your loss and i hope you find a way to cure your heart!