Piper has glided from my heart to God's... joining her love Aerrow at the Rainbow Bridge, both waiting to join me after I've passed on.

Piper passed away lying next to her daughter Starling in their nest today at 4PM.

I had taken her to our exotic pet vet Dr. Paul Welch on Monday because she's lost a lot of weight, appetite seemed to have been diminished, and was worried about her... similar symptoms Aerrow, her mate who died on 9/18/23, had gone thru in his last few weeks. He said she seems healthy, but keep an eye on her weight. I ordered EmerAid Intensive Care Omnivore on Tuesday, after getting the prescription from the Doc.

Part probably due to her losing the will to live after losing her mate and part was just old age like Aerrow (both were probably 7-9 years old)... she was lethargic this morning, so I called the exotic pet vet who was out today, but able to see me and Piper in the morning at 11:30am which I was praying she's be OK until then. So, I syringe fed her some water, and place her next to Piper in the cube nest...

My Darling Starling her daughter, and Terrific Radarr her boyfriend, miss her the most... but I miss her so much as well:


Having fun in the glider tent with the rest of us ;-)

She's being cremated tomorrow at Angel's Pet Funeral Home and Crematory and then will be placed in Aerrow's urn, with her name and today's date engraved next to his.

A memorial will be set up soon afterwards and I'll copy here with it

Jaimie

My suggies are all named after the 'Storm Hawks' TV show about the Sky Knights. The Sky Knights drive motorcycles that they drive off of cliffs that then sprout wings and glide/fly. - remind you of sugar gliders?

The Sky Knights were almost wiped out by the evil Cyclonus and her minions led by the Dark Ace (a Sky Knight traitor). The place is Atmos, a planet where the occupiable land masses are these steep mountains rising up above the clouds while below are mysterious hostile creatures and lava beds. The Storm Hawks are led by Aerrow (who my male suggie that recently passed on was named after) - the lone surviving member from the war and still a young teen. He has recruited other teens to re-form the squadron. Piper (who my mama suggie is named after) is the high tech member, then there's Junko, Stark and Finn. Starling (who my baby girl is named after) is an adult Sky Knight from another squadron, only surviving member of that squadron, who gets the Storm Hawks to help her on special missions... Then there's Aerrow's copilot, Radarr, who rides in his cycle's sidecar and takes over the flying when Aerrow jumps out and fights the Dark Ace, etc.

Well, you guessed it - I call my new neutered male white faced sugar glider "Radarr" - newest member of my Sky Knight 'Storm Hawks' squadron of sugar gliders... "fly high, kiss the sky, gotta a mission to fight"!

He's fantastic - gotta get some pictures of him here soon!

Radarr fixin' to jump on my head

Radarr on the left - Starling in middle - Piper on right

He's a bit more silvery than the girls, and only weighs 75g (girls 150-155g) and is four years old like Starling. Kinda 'skiddish' and high strung, but may just be the move to the new family (was part of a quad colony). Seems to like broccoli-cheese quiche ;-)

he's lying on his side in my hand. so old and tired - his tremors have stopped. he jerks and stretches from time to time, off on his last glide into God's heart from mine. he was always the wisest and sweetest of the three - his mate, Piper, and baby girl Starling... he was probably father to his mate and many many others. his legacy living on in the white-faced clan of sugar gliders... fly high kiss the sky, my dearest of all Aerrow!

The first time I got winked at by one of my three sugar gliders, I instinctively winked back - it's now a part of our daily 'meet' ritual... usually when I 'visit' when they're 'up', I will stick my head into the cage and one by one each will come up to me and we touch noses. Then, some winking begins ~ seems to be a sign of being relaxed and cool with everything. They also seem to always leave me a part of their treat every morning, unspoilt and tasty! I think they think I'm one of them, just weird, and I'm thinking I am too ;-)

Sugar Glider Main Diet Recipe
• Makes a four day supply for three Sugar Gliders; or, twelve day supply for one (then freeze 2nd ½ of recipe)

Begin by getting Exotic Nutrition’s Glider Complete and its Instant HPW honey & Fruit…

In a small microwavable bowl put a “heaping” ounce of Complete. Add to that (1) tbs (tablespoonful) of whole grain rolled oats (aka 1-minute oatmeal) and about (½) ounce of honey. Finally put (1¾) ounce of filtered water – mix well and microwave high for 60 seconds.

Then prepare (¾) ounces of mixed vegetables (ie frozen mix of carrots, green peas, green beans, and corn microwaved to tenderize first) and use a fork to mush/squish up.

Then put (¾) ounce of cranberry sauce (w/real cranberries) into microwave for 30 sec.

Mix contents so far together in the small microwavable bowl, and add (¾) ounce of filtered water – then microwave contents for 30 sec.

Add (1) ounce of HPW powder in small portions to small microwavable bowl, mixing-in between portions – mix will thicken-up.

Split contents of small microwavable bowl into four portions, and use one portion per day for three sugar gliders, or one portion per three days for one sugar glider.

• When ready to serve:

Mix (¾) ounce of filtered water with each portion.

Add pinch of Exotic Nutrition’s Glider-Cal to each portion and mix well.

Take drained/pressed firm TOFU and dice up into ¼-inch cubes - putting about 10-12 cubes in a portion. Mix very gently…

Then microwave portion for 30 sec and let cool to warm. Serve…

---

Serve full portion to three sugar gliders, or split portion into thirds for a single sugar glider - refrigerating unused part of portion and then microwaving for 30 sec. when needed.

Best to serve portion of main diet around 6-7 PM (sunset), then remove the next morning (sunrise) when sugar gliders are asleep. Recommend a small bowl of ‘treats’ be given around 3-5 AM, which can be removed around the 6-7 PM (sunset) feeding time…

All unused food/treats removed should be discarded and never reused. (I’ll sometimes snack on the unused non-insect treats, heh, heh – just make sure it hasn’t been peed/pooped on – yuck!)

Treat suggestion: small amount of sliced-up blueberries, or sliced up figs, or diced apple slices (no seeds), or pear preserves, etc. If sugar glider(s) begin to ignore main diet ~ hold off treat(s) for a night or two. Insect treats should be given in very small amount typically in early morning (wake sugar glider(s) up for this special treat), and treat only a couple of times a week with insects…

Weight of an adult sugar glider should average around 140 grams (115-160) for males, 115 grams (95-135) for females.
The three of mine weigh 155, 160, and 165 grams… they’re kinda fat ;-)

Glider Stats

MOM/Piper = 160 grams
DAUGHTER/Starling = 155 grams
DAD/Aerrow = 165 grams

Weight Notes: looks can indeed really be deceiving!
Now, Dad 'looks' smaller and lighter than the two girls, BUT he's actually heavier...
Then the daughter who 'looks' the heaviest (lots of young muscle there) is actually the lightest!?!
All three are on the 'heavy' end of Sugar Glider Weight. They are 'White-Faced Sugar Gliders', so this just may be typical of their type or something ;-)

* * * * * To Be Continued * * * * *

The hapless moth fluttered into the Sugar Glider cage and immediately got the attention of one of the Sugar Gliders. The Sugar Glider seemed to be triangulating on the moth with its ears as they flicked back and forth like some marsupial bat, and those wide open eyes were transfixed on the moth's every move as it tracked and zeroed-in on the hapless creature. Then in a lightning flash of movement, the Sugar glider lept into the air gliding easily to catch the moth in its front paws, while quickly zipping it into its waiting jowls just before it landed on the side of the cage. The moth was consumed in an instant and as fast as this all happened, all returned to normal as if nothing happened when the Sugar Glider gave a quick look around for more morsels, then continued its playing with the other two Sugar Gliders. Totally awesome! I had no idea they were that into living insects. Inpressive...

The tent playtime seems to definitely help with bonding to my little darlings.

I have this small 6'x6'x5' tent with a bottom in it, where I put an upside-down 5 gallon bucket covered by a pillow case inside it, that I next will capture my three Sugar Gliders, then put them all into it, with me, then zip it up tight and let 'em loose! My God this is so much FUN!!!

My little lovely boy Sugar Glider Aerrow will climb the covered bucket and jump to me - still trying to get the two girls to do it. He's so smart, and will climb up my back to my head and make a leap onto the cube nest/bed I use to capture them in, which is hanging from the peak of the tent. Starling, the daughter, likes to run laps around the tent - SO MUCH SPACE! The mom, Piper seems to go from corner to corner, where she'll back in as a defensive move. - she still has a feral streak in her that I'm still working on.

All three will let me handle them in the tent playground without my fleece gloves - just bare hands and no nips/bites. I usually treat them all afterwards to some canned insects (grasshopper, wax worm, superworm, etc.) for being so good! I have to wear a long sleeve shirt to avoid their tiny little claws when they climb... We carry on like this about once a week, after I slide the tent to a new location to avoid impacting the grass too much.

I don't even know where to start - everything's changed and yet nothing's changed...
_________________________________________________

FIRST - lots of edits to my photos and journals... postings too old to edit, so tailor them with this new paradigm information...

-------------------------------------------------
The RE-NAMING

Been awhile, and been getting more familiar with my three wonderful little Sugar Gliders as time goes on. Finally able to handle them more as they've become more comfortable with me. Playing in the tents really helps ;-)

Seems I've been a bit confused - I assumed the two bigger Sugar Gliders were the mom and dad, and the smaller one the daughter - but apparently I was wrong... The two bigger ones are both females with pouches, and the smaller one is actually a neutered male.

The one I assumed to be the mom, 'Piper', seems to be the 'dominant' one who does all the initial 'growling' (aka 'crabbing') when disturbed. But, she only does this when she's in one of the beddings/nests, and these two female Sugar Gliders stop when I run them out of their bedding/nest. The other female who joins-in as support - and whom I've mistaken for the 'dad' and been calling 'Aerrow' - is the daughter? Why is she so big compared to the smaller male 'dad' that I've been calling 'Starling' - mature male Sugar Gliders can be much smaller than mature female Sugar Gliders? WOW! I guess I don't really know how old any of these three are anyway. I now presume the 'child' Sugar Glider is over a year or two old, so she's rather 'grown' and no longer a 'baby girl'... she's very mature, but not 'dominant' like mom. And the neutered male, the 'dad', never joins in when the 'growling' starts up by the two females... I had assumed he was the 'baby' and just more timid - wild!

SO, while 'Piper' will remain being called 'Piper' (ie "pipe-down Piper"), the other female I've been calling 'Aerrow', I'm re-naming 'Starling', but will not refer to her as the 'baby girl' since she's quite mature and an adolescent female - however I will retain the 'Darling Starling' nickname for her as she was always just so very friendly, which I assumed it was because of her being a neutered male, but it's actually because she was just younger than the other two (even been calling her my new boyfriend as she was so friendly - have to start calling her my new girlfriend!).

Then, the male will no longer be called a 'baby girl' (probably pissing him off without knowing it, but then again being neutered he's probably not that offended either, heh, heh...). He'll no longer be 'Starling', and so shall be re-named 'Aerrow' ... and change his nickname from 'Hello Aerrow' to 'My Lovely Aerrow'... he's just so little, cute, and adorable!

Paradigm shift to say the least!!!

....... I am standing beside myself :-O

Her name is Starling and she's daughter to my mom and pop Sugar Gliders. Got to use bonding pouch earlier this week with Starling, and able to finally (for a short time) handle her outside the cage and pouch just sitting in my open hand (with fleece glove) munching on wax worms... got to rub her cheeks and forehead, and caress her back. Such a tender yet strong adolescent girl Glider, and quite charming :-)

Yesterday I bonded again with Piper. Used bonding pouch, and just like Starling I was able to finally (for a short time) handle her outside the cage and pouch just sitting in my open hand (with fleece glove) munching on wax worms... she still managed to give me a small nip getting her to that point, but didn't hurt. Took some patience waiting out the growling tantrums, but in-between got some good petting in. Actually able to get some purr-like sounds out of her as she would finally surrender to my caresses. Afterwards, she seems more tame - she will still throw a growling tantrum, but only for a few seconds rather than the usual several minutes (until I dump her out of the nest where she'd stop - lingering nest protection mode...). However even the tantrums seem to occur less frequent. What a lady!

Then there's Aerrow, my girlfriend's pop... my lovely Aerrow - he bonds with me daily, loving to be caressed and always looking for me when I enter the room (and such stirrings usually sets off Piper if they're in the same nest). Compared to the other two females who are also beautiful mature vibrant Sugar Gliders, he's very much the gentleman - more hesitant yet adventurous...

   

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BatGirl
Gender: Female
Occupation:Disabled/Retired Deputy Georgia State Fire Marshals
Member since: Oct 20, 2019
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Fire Modeling - Marksmanship - Video Gamer - Supporting TRUMP 2020 & 2024 Recent Fire Model: goto => drive.google.com/file/d/0B3JMVj8Xjlg3MnNPTXBZdFFMekk/edit?usp=sharing My News
Had left lung collapse in June 2007 when I left State Fire Marshal's, then right one later in Dec. 2011 - both got VATS. Also, in June 2011 diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis - then classified as disabled w/SSDI. In 2018 had surgery to remove cancer of the ileum - then 6 mos chemo. In remission now... Favorite Quote
We find consultations, we learn tricks with which we deceive ourselves, but the essential thing - the way - we do not find. Listen to the river... My Bio
Georgia Registered Professional Engineer (PE) practicing in Fire Protection Engineering Served as a Deputy with the Georgia State Fire Marshals Contractor - Code Consultant - Authority Having Jurisdiction - Expert Witness (Georgia Supreme Court)

   

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