Alright, I have four wonderful sugar babies and have had them since July. I have had no issues up to this point, they were all previously owned by someone who had to move and couldn't take all her animals.

I have kept them on the same diet they've had their whole lives, and again, no issues. The other day though, one of them, my white faced girl Arya (shes about two and a half) started behaving strange. I had been putting a bit more time into bonding with her since I was tackling one at a time, and she started going backwards, outright attacking me whenever I even got near their cage.

I had been told they sometimes go backwards in bonding and to just be paitent. I didn't think much more into it until today. I went to feed them and she was lying on the floor of the cage nearly prone. Her ears were droopy and she didn't seem interested in climbing up to get food. I picked her up with my bare hands (mind you, I haven't been able to do this without being bit til I bled) and she gave a weak crab as I placed her near the food.

She is currently very slowly eating a blueberry from her food choices (I grabbed more foods to give her a variety, sugar snap peas, carrots, bell pepper, mango, blueberries, kiwi, a bit of her favorite strawberry yogurt, and all topped with some of the hpw mixture).

Jumping straight to the internet I discovered her symptoms sound like dehydration and she needs to get to a vet. Unfortunately, it is Saturday night, and no vet within a two hour drive distance (I haven't looked much further than that) is open this late, or on Sundays, and I unfortunately just had to dig into my savings for car repairs and have no money for emergency visits to the vet.

So. I'm letting her finish her blueberry. I'm going to run to the store to get unflavored pedialite, I currently have some grape gatorade mixed in with their water, my roommate is helping me scour the house for a dropper to give her liquids by hand.

Is there anything else I can do? I feel horrible not being able to afford an emergency vet bill. I don't want to be one of those bad glider owners but I don't know what to do! If you have any suggestions please please help!

First determine if she is in fact dehydrated. Do a tent test, in the middle of her back put your finger on one side of her spine and your thumb on the other side of her spine and pinch the skin, if the skin stays up like a tent and doesn't go right back down then she is dehydrated. If the skin goes right back down she is not dehydrated.

For dehydrated gliders we use orange gaterade mixed 50 50 with water. OR you can dilute her hpw 50 50 with water.

I would suggest a vet visit regardless and a fecal test. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is are the lights on and bright when she eats and moves slowly ?

It sounds like you're doing a great job taking care of her and tending to her needs. I totally agree that getting her to a vet would be wise. I understand the financial aspect, especially with an emergency visit, but most vets will work with you and figure out some sort of payment plan. I went through something similar with my female glider earlier this year and rushed her to the vet at midnight. By the time we arrived, she had completely "recovered". But I'm still glad we went. Better safe than sorry. Wishing you all the best. Please keep us posted.

I did the tent test this morning and she was more her usual self, it was difficult to get to her, esp when she was cuddled in with her sisters! I compared to my seeminly healthy babies so I'm thinking she's doing much better. I can almost guarentee she would have failed the tedt last night. I went through a dehydrated cat not long ago and I can't believe I panicked and forgot to check this. I ended up giving him sub q fluids at home. Mental note, tent test first!

Her eyes aren't dull (they weren't before but I wanted to mention it) and her ears are perky now. Normal it's morning can I go back to bed now mom? As for light, none of them honestly seem to mind the light. Middle of the night and I can turn on my lamp and they'll freeze for a second, but go back to what they were doing. She was more wobbly last night and unsteady, very out of character for her which is why I was concerned.

I'll still be taking her to the vet as soon as possible. A $35 visit monday morning is much better on my wallet than a few hundred.

I will pick up orange gatorade on my way home from work today. Currently I mixed their water half and half, put a little bit over their food, and gave each of them (better safe than sorry with all of them!) their favorite monkey biscuits soaked in gatorade

That's awesome news glad she is doing better. I hear ya on the ER vet they are expensive and usually don't do much more than you can do for the glider yourself if you have even basic knowledge. If you don't know what your doing there are people that do that will help you get the glider stabilized at least until you can get to your normal vet.

If your knowledgeable enough to subq at home you are already ahead of most glider owners. Just gotta remember to be remain calm, it's sometimes easier said than done I know lol. '

Most of the time when people post online that a glider is not doing well the first responders scream GO TO THE VET RIGHT NOW. Were not vets, I get it, however they don't tell the owner what to have the vet DO most of the time. They don't explain what the owner needs to tell the vet to check for what tests to ask for, nothing, just go now. Vets aren't mind readers and need to know what the medical concern is. Needless to say I'm not one of those people that scream go to the vet UNLESS it's during normal vet business hours and they can actually do something for the glider that you can't.

One thing I will say is dehydration is not THE actual problem, dehydration is most often a symptom of something else going on. Treating dehydration is absolutely important, but we also need to figure out what caused that symptom to begin with.

Go through variables...

Did you check the water bottle to make sure it's working properly

did the water bottle have water in it

are you giving them plain water normally or putting something in their water if your adding something to the water it may be sticky and cause the ball in the tube not to work properly.

what are you feeding, then what exactly have you fed including treats

are there any other symptoms

are there any other changes in behavior

Have you done anything different or new have you changed your routine added something new to their diet and or new to their cage etc

is the glider peeing ok, is the glider pooping or constipated

does their poop look normal are they hissing while either peeing or pooping, is the poo runny

The same thing goes for injuries go through variables to find out what the cause was.


I see a lot of medical issues and have helped many of the ones I see or am pulled in on. This is not to say that getting help from me or the people I work with replaces the vet, we absolutely don't. However, we can at least stabilize the glider to get to the vet.

Then after the vet, we continue to help with the after care. We also never give advice that under minds what the vet does or says even if we don't agree with the treatment or meds. We follow the vets directions to the letter. If what the vet has done doesn't work, then we explain what we'd like to try to the vet, if nothing else has worked there is no reason not to try something else, a lot of times they will listen and do as we ask, sometimes they won't.

Anyway, though your glider is doing better today I agree a normal vet appointment is in order. Explain you feel she was dehydrated last night and any other symptoms or behavior changes ask for a fecal if the vet isn't sure what else to look for and your still concerned ask for baytril it's a broad spectrum antibiotic. This will "shotgun" for many different things even if the exact issue isn't diagnosed. The vet will likely not want to give you baytril, especially if the fecal comes up clean. If you still want the baytril, ask the vet if he/she can guarantee the glider doesn't have giardia. If he/she can't guarantee that then you want the baytril. ** NO vet will guarantee the glider doesn't have giardia even if the fecal is clean.

I don't quite have the supplies on hand right now to do sub q at home or else I would have last night. I might have to pick some more up in case of emergencies like this.

As for what it could be, I'll list a few things going on and perhaps you might have some insight.

She's gotten agressive since I started bonding with her. She was the shyest of the bunch and it got to the point I had to wear long sleeves and gloves while feeding because she would attack, latch on, and never want to let go.

Their original owner never used water bottles, claiming gliders don't know how to drink from them (to which I gave her some really strange looks). They have water dishes that I have to clean out multiple times a day to make sure they have clean water. Drinking water with poop or pee in it may have caused some issues. Idk. I want to switch them to bottles but am afraid they won't know how to use it. Any tips for that? Because now I know I need to do that now.

No injuries, changes to diet or things in the cage, poop and urine normal.

Their diet usually consists of a mixture of a variety of fruits and veggies (sugar snap peas, carrots, bell pepper, blueberry, mango, kiwi, strawberry, melons, and grapes are their personal favorites) topped with hpw mix. The first owner always had them on an all fruit and veggie diet with the hpw mix so that's what I've stuck with so far. I've looked into other diets, read about staple foods, and I have a friend in town who does the pelleted, gravy, and vitamin diet from pocket pets who swears hes had no problems with it in the years he's used it. I'm not sure if I should be changing their diet or not, although I know how to properly switch over or add food slowly.

They also are usually given monkey biscuits at meal time (oh, they've only ever been fed once a day, have water access 24/7 but once the food is out it's out til the next feeding, which I think isn't good, the more I've been researching the more I think I've actually rescued these poor guys from the last owner). The biscuits are soaked for a few min in water or juice to make them soggy before being fed. I'm almost out so I haven't fed them as many each day until my order for more comes in (luckily I had a few complete ones last night to soak in gatorafe), so I'm worried this was also on my fault because those biscuits have a lot of liquid in them and they haven't had as much in the last couple of days.

I also was late feeding them Friday, and discovered after I had taken my bedtime sleeping medications so I couldn't drive, that I was out of fruit (roommates made fruit smoothies, I now have a drawer in the fridge labled glider foods with an inventory list after restocking in everything). I thought one night without fruit wouldn't hurt if I gave them move veggies (heck, I have a very very picky boy who doesn't like any fruit or the hpw mix so I have to mash it all together to make him eat it but he does fine without and my local glider vet has done checkups on him and said he's doing great), but the more I think about it, the more I realize the fruit has a higher water content.

So I am super upset with myself that this might be all my fault. I will still take them all in to the vet for a throughout checkup.

First let me say, don't be so hard on yourself your doing a great job! one night of no fruit isn't detrimental and you were very observant on the behavior difference so that is always a plus...

There is a lot to address here and I can barely keep my eyes open so I'm going take a nap and then respond to everything when I can think more clearly so it makes sense when it comes out but I didn't want you to sit here kicking yourself for something that's not your fault, I don't judge anyone, we all make mistakes at some point, I know I have made many. Take a breath, it's ok. I'll be back in an hour or so

Enjoy your nap! The last 24 hours have been hectic for me so I kinda just needed to be told to take a breather. I finished my work shift and headed home to check them out. Oh, and stopped for orange gatorade (although they do seem to like the grape).

I checked out all my gliders to make sure they're all doing okay. I discovered stuff about one that raises more questions, but first Arya update.

Her crabs are much stronger today than last night and she tried to bite me again. I'll take it as a good sign that she's got energy again. She still seems a bit lethargic today, but nuch better, and I used the dropper to give her some gatorade. Slow progress but progress.

So now my other concerns. My boy, Seze, also seems a bit out of sorts. He succeeded the tent test so I don't think it's that, but he's just acting odd. Like idk how to describe it. I found a small scab on a foot, and noticed at the scent gland on his head, he had poop stuck in the fur. So he's not grooming himself properly? And if so, how do I get him clean? I know they can't swim so will a gentle wipe down with a baby wipe do it?

ok I'm not sure whats going on with her aggression towards you. Do you use a bonding bag? what are your "bonding" methods?

water bottles, gliders are very smart lil critters, capable of learning how to drink from water bottles, it is much cleaner yes since pee and poo can't lay in it. Another option that maybe better for your gliders is a water silo. It's a water bottle with a trough instead of a tube and ball. The water stays clean like in a traditional water bottle but they can drink out of it like they would a bowl. You can usually find them at walmart, target, petsmart, ebay, amazon just type in water silo in the search bar, or look in the bird aisle.


These are really handy to have if your glider ever needs to be put in an e collar. We use them for food and water so the glider can still access both by themselves so we don't have to hand feed them.

I commend you for being diligent enough to clean the water bowl several times a day but I'm sure you won't miss doing it
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The new concerns are going to require some pics, this is easier done in instant messenger do you use facebook? my profile is https://www.facebook.com/carla.sloan.1?fref=ts if you'd send me a friend request it will be easier to chat and share pictures there, then if need be I can also put a team together for him. Not grooming himself is a bit of a concern. The others in the colony not helping him groom is also a bit of a concern...

I do have a bonding bag. I carry them around (one at a time of course) in the pouch, mesh side facing me. I have fleece blankets and somwtimes hold them in the blankets for just a few minutes instead of bothering to transfer them to the pouch and back. The blankets in their pouch I'll rub on me, keep with my laundry, sleep with, etc so they get my scent while they sleep. They also are kept in my bedroom so they hear, see, smell me often. I try to hand feed them a piece of food every night (Seze gobbles it right up looking for more from my hands before going to the dish), and gently pet their backs so they get used to me touching them. I've even worn two shirts and tuck them in and place them between the shirts like a giant pouch. I have a tiny kids play tent that I sit in there with them, or the bathtub (no water running and the drain plugged of course!). The problem is the first few days she was calm, and now she's attacking me every chance she can, including bonding and feeding times. I've got a couple of bruises and cuts on me at current from her.