All Journals - View by date 

Posted by: HydirionSo, as we all know, my gliders have captured my heart. They were a 'rescue' because the previous owner got them from 'the mall.' They were so excited to see me and get out to play last night they almost forgot to eat. :)

I am working on a diet for them, so they get exactly what they need to eat. For now, it is a balancing act until I get a nutritional chart printed, but that requires a printer. I plan on pinning it up in my kitchen and using it for the human food too. I note my diet is far healthier since Appa and MoMo. (I spent my food budget for the month on them, so we share food, actually, it's less expensive too.) Gotta set them a vet visit up, they seem healthy, but you can't tell with little animals.

Looking forward to an off day so I can get them in their pouch and let them sleep with me while I unlax.

Posted by: KritterCareOk everyone, as promised, here is the tutorial on how to modify the guillotine doors on the popular ebay cage. Here is what the doors looked like originally (open).


The first thing that we did, was make the top door a hinge style door. To do this, pick the side that you want to be your hinge (we went with the left side) and bend the two hooks on that side around the outside bar of the door like so.


The door shuts better if you bend the bottom hook up and over the bar, as opposed to under.
Next, you are going to take the bottom hook on the other side of the door (our right side) and bend it so it point down, like a hook.


For the top, we used Kazko's method, which I'll describe because it took us forever to figure out what he did.
You are going to straighten the top hook out (the one that is not attached to the door) and cut it off. (Cutting it off was a personal choice, if you have no way to file the stub down, I do not recommend cutting it off).


After you have that filed down, you are going to to cut the outside bar of the door (the one closest to the side that you need the hooks on), you are then going to bend that bar over to make your hook. To do this without having a flappy door, you are going to wrap it around the next bar over like so:

(sorry it's blurry)

We used two zip ties to hold it in place, that way we wouldn't have to worry about it sliding. One at the top, to hold the hook in place, and one at the next horizontal bar on the door.


You are going to repeat the same process for the middle door.
For the bottom door, you are only going to do the hinges and the bottom hook. (You can also cut the top loop off on the hook side)
We opted to combine the middle and bottom doors into one big door that way cleaning would be easier, and we could get the wheels in and out of the cage with ease. To do this, we sawed the piece between the two doors out. We cut as close to the thick vertical bars as possible (this should be the bar that the doors originally would slide along to open).


Again, you are going to want to use a metal file to make the cut points nice and smooth.
After filing the edges on the cut out piece and the cage itself, we took the piece we had cut out, and used zip ties to secure it to the other doors. What we found to work best was to close the two doors first, the zip tie the top of the piece to the horizontal bar on the middle door (the one at the base of the small feeding door on the big door). We put the zip ties diagonally for a more secure hold. One at each side and one in the middle that holds the feeding door closed, as well as holding the cut out piece to the door.
Next secure the bottom of the cut out piece to the very top bar of the bottom door. We used the same theory with the zip ties (diagonal/one on each side and one in the middle). The door should look like this open.


To recap, this door should have only three hooks. One at the bottom of the bottom door, one at the bottom of the middle door, and one at the top of the middle door. We could not find a way to make a hook on the top of the bottom door because of the fact that the bar it would have hooked over had you used Kakzo's method is now cut off and zip tied to the door. This leaves a little bit of a gap in the middle. I use a small hair clip that looks like this:


I hook this to the top of the bottom door to right above where the top hook used to be so it doesn't slide. This holds the door shut nicely, eliminating that gap, without being a hassle to get on and off.
Here is my cage doors complete:


So far so good. No escapes and soooo much easier to use, though it did take some getting used too. My new Eco Raptor wheels fit easily through the bottom door, while I still have the smaller top door to use to get the girls in and out of the cage without providing them the HUGE escape option the bottom door presents.

Notes:
-We considered soldering/welding the pieces together instead of using zip ties, but did not want to melt the paint off. Also, we did not know if the metal that is used to do so would be harmful to them.
-We also tried to make a hook for the top of the bottom door by taking one of the decorative hearts off of one of the feeder doors. The wire the heart is made up of is flimsy and I did not trust it, especially after breaking it multiple times trying to secure the other end to the door itself.
-Be sure to use a metal file to file all cut points. Making sure to leave no rough barbs that could cut your baby.
-We gave the cage a good scrub down after we finished to make sure that there were no loose paint chips at bend/cut sites that the babies could ingest.

I think that's about all. If you have any questions please feel free to send me a PM, as I'm not sure that I will see comments on here. Best of luck!

Posted by: kazkoHere are some clips of animals, plants, butterflies and stuff coming to life from around my house.

Posted by: sillydashaI've had Dasha for almost five months now, and I'm just beginning to understand her. For the longest time I felt that my little suggie did not like me. Whenever I tried to play with her, all she would want to do is leap away from me. But lately I've noticed a pattern...

When I take her out during the day, she is the sweetest thing. I'll pick her up and she'll just look at me with those big round eyes of hers. I usually end up spending about 20 minutes just petting her and telling her how cute she is. I can tell she loves it because she'll lean her head back and shut her eyes with what looks like a tiny grin on her face. Most of the time after I'm done petting her, she'll spend a good 10 minutes licking my fingers as if she's returning the favor. She'll sleep in my sweatpants pocket, and will crawl into her pouch as soon as she lays her eyes on it.

Then the moon climbs into the sky. And that's when Dasha begins her transformation to Ms. Hyde.

I swear, she does a complete 360! This alter-ego of hers never fails to shock me. What was once mommy's sweet angel becomes a pain in mommy's butt. Forget trying to hold her in that weird grip, she will just do everything in her power to escape, and that includes digging her sharp claws into my skin or gnawing on my finger, all the while squirming and struggling. So I'll release my gentle grip, allowing her to hop onto my shoulder, but only after she pees on my hand. I've learned to take that stunt as a compliment.

Staying put on my shoulder is never an option. Nighttime Dasha will retreat to my backside 90% of the time. My best guess as to why she does that is because she knows that I can't reach her from there. But it's no matter since she will either jump off or race down my body to get to the ground.

This glider goes wild! She reminds me of the Flash the way she speeds down my body. Maybe even a little too fast for her own good. Once she reaches the floor, she's gone within seconds. Her most clever trick is sprinting across the room and hiding under my dresser. If I'm lucky, I can coax her out with a string. If not, it's a waiting game. It's close to torture too. I get so nervous that she's going to get lost or hurt that sometimes her alter-ego makes it hard for me to be able to just let her do her thing and have fun.


I really need to either buy a tent, or make a sheet fort for us to play/bond in. That way she can have fun and I won't have to worry about her as much.

Posted by: alexf321Ok so I've been interested in getting gliders for a while now, and I'm going to get a pair, what do you recommend,I don't want them to breed so its either 2 males or 2 females, which is better??

Posted by: RChurchBatman's been on his wheel more, out and about in the cage more, and last night he even jumped! I am SO happy!

You can tell by looking at him that his coat is looking so much better and that his muscles are less atrophied from being in such a small cage for the first 2 years of his life. I love watching him hang upside down and stretch out his "wings". [LOL] (That's why I like to call his patagium.)

Posted by: RChurchI am pleased to say that the kids are getting up earlier now that the weather is warming up. We were in tent time at 9:30pm and they snoozed a little on me before the Bullet shot out like she wants to do and started annihilating all the crickets. [LOL]

Batman, too, came out, and on his own, much to my surprise. I didn't have to urge him out by turning the pouch slowly inside out on him. Will wonders never cease? He was also checking out all the toys, especially the new ferret tunnels we got! (I am happier knowing that the full set is on its way. Since the pieces that I got were such a hit, we went on Amazon and purchased the whole kit and kaboodle! We always planned on getting them but as it appears to be going out of stock, we put a little fire in our step and got in sooner rather than later.)

He's not doing too good on the hunting aspect of tent time, though. By the time he was nosing around, Catwoman aka Bullet had eaten every darn one! And then a few meal worms we had strategically placed in Easter eggs, etc. (It being Easter and all.)

BUT, he actually sat in my hand for longer intervals than usual, even taking a few cautious nips at my fingers. I couldn't help myself. I said, "Ow" each and every time and I know I startled him but it was a reflex, much like being tickled. He did not hurt me.

CATWOMAN, on the other hand, her "explorative nip" DID hurt. Still hurts today. For not making me bleed, she sure knows how to make me feel like she broke skin. Yowza! And my middle finger to boot! I am sure that part of this pain is due to the fact that I am a massage therapist by profession and therefore have EXTREMELY SENSITIVE fingers. Which is a good thing if you're feeling for a knot in someone's back and trying to get rid of it. BAD if you have nibbly little babies!

Also, I feel like I have to point out that even though we bring their food dish in with us, they didn't eat. Not their supplement, not the yummy fruits and veggies. Idk if they were just milking us for all the meal worms they could get (most likely) but it wasn't until 3 hours later when we put them up in their cage that they IMMEDIATELY came out to where their food dish normally could be found and THEN ate their HPW like it was going out of style and Catwoman ran to the water bottle and drank it like she wanted to empty it.

What's up with that? We had it in the tent with us, but they didn't touch it. I suppose they are like kids: too busy playing to know what they need? I don't know. I shall have to ponder this more later.

Today, I have a Gift Exchange to mail out, and then work on the designs of a new toy. Perhaps for Toy Tutorial #3? Well, I will make the toy and then see if the kids like it and THEN I will post it up on GG.

And of course, I am looking forward to tonight's tent time....I hope I don't get bit again but then again, knowing that that's how they show affection, I hope I only get bit LIGHTLY. I like knowing they love me. [:)]

Posted by: vns1glidersMy little guys are doing great. And when I say guys, I don't mean "guys" as in general. I apparently am the owner of two males.

I was told I had a girl.

So, I was just watching them in the cage when I noticed--wait, what? That can't be... two poms? Whaaaat?
I took one out, and yes, there was a pom.
The other one had a pom, too.
Crap.

So, should I neuter? It's 55 dollars each. O.o They live in a medium sized cage. I probably won't really mind the smell... or would I? Is it bad?

D:

Posted by: JerrycnhSo things have generally been awesome with my dear suggies, which now number 3 (I'm not sure if I talked about Ren before, he's a new addition to the colony and, yes, capable of creating new Joeys some day with the girls :) I feel really silly about ever thinking Precious could have been a boy, now that I've seen a real one. No way in heck anyone misses THAT)

Generally, the relationship has been they sleep in the cage while I'm at work and get the run of my room all night from the time I get home til I wake up. They even basically put themselves "away" in the morning, I always find all three in their hanging pouch in the cage when I wake up. :) On weekends and days off I take them with me in pouch wherever I go, which they generally enjoy. Two of the three, my boy and my baby, have very docile, agreeable personalities, they generally know when I want them to come to me and when to go in cage and so on and they NEVER try to leave my room. Ren even slips into my clothes in the night and curls up in the spot between my neck and shoulder, SOOO cute. :) But Precious, well, I'm considering renaming her Houdini. ;) Because she LOVES to escape out of my room whenever I give her a chance, which is whenever there is no towel under the door on the ROOM side, which is either because I've left the room to do something else for a bit or because I forgot to put one down before going to sleep. There's a towel under the door on the /other/ side, but she's gotten adept at pushing that one out of the way and getting out. ;) Thankfully my cats are always out at night these days, so there's been no danger of a Casey-style "lion incident", I actually think it's kinda cute that she does that. But it highlights her personality as a very strong-willed glider, which came into play the other day when we had "the incident". :)

Long story short, I stop breathing in my sleep. It's a very dangerous, life threatening thing, and even if it wasn't it causes a lot of fatigue when I wake up, so I have a CPAP breathing machine I'm supposed to wear to keep my airways open at night. Since getting the gliders, I haven't really used it as I've been basically playing with them til I pass out from the fun. ;) But the other day I decided it was time to get back into the habit of using it, figuring the gliders would probably have fun crawling over the tubing but otherwise it wouldn't make much difference.

Well, apparently, the gliders decided that the CPAP machine was trying to kill me. :) I woke up to Ren sitting on top of the mask running his nose over the airholes, Serenity trying to squeeze inside the mask under the seal, and Precious biting me on the side of the neck trying to wake me up so I could escape the evil machine. :) Of course, because the machine was /working/, I was in a deeper sleep than normal (from their perspective) so it took that much longer to wake me, and I swear they were in full on attack mode. They didn't even stop when I pulled the mask off, they didn't calm down until I was standing up and near their cage again.

Ever since then, Precious has been /extra/ rebellious, she doesn't seem to want me to sleep at all and bites on me whenever I try. Last couple of days I've had to lock her back up before going to sleep, which is a shame cause I know she values her run around time (not to mention I know Serenity's a little miffed at being denied access to the wheel).

Gliders are so complicated. :)

Posted by: googley eyesHELP!!! My glider, Sugey, is 4 and has been with me for a year.He still bites me and hasn't bonded. I really want a good relationship with him but I think he misses his old owner. He doesn't let me hold him or get him out of his cage. Any suggestions on how we can FINALLY bond?

Posted by: marissa1987we got ta da today 10 am rissa was with use i think tada heard rissa chatting but ta da stood quiet the entire way home. tada hasn't wooken up all day. I have been trying to get rissa into my hand instead of holding her in her blanky. i hope my babies get along. We got thier HPW diet today, and thoer wheel and i put rissa in it and she loves it, the big cage is comming tuesday cant wait! i alrady feel that ta da and I are going to get along. ta da is a bit bigger then rissa. ta da's nose is more present then rissa i can tell them apart. they wont meet for anouth 30 days but they can talk to each other. aww

Posted by: LHillI'm one month in with my little Apple and last night my son was holding her in his shirt doing his homework and she decided to go for a walk. As always he was in a closed room with the door shut but he alerted me because he was concerned. I quietly entered the room and when I spoke her name and rang her favorite bell she looked for me and can running.. YEAH!! (he was so jealous, I was secretly doing a HAPPY DANCE!!) Awe making progress!! She still gets really jumpy if you go to pet her quickly she prefers the back of your hand and very slow motions. Later in the evening she and I had fun again, I was arranging her nightly toys and she had awoken early to investigate, as I hung the monkeys or tied up pieces of fleece she would knock them down or hang upside down on them. She would sneak over and bump my arm or hand, nibble my finger and then jump away... :) Great night!

 

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 of 145