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Posted by: sugarglidercutieI know it was awhile since i last posted an entry but anyways I am on to day 7 with my new fur ball she is less crabby and more adventurous now but she is still kinda scared so it's a good progress yay

Posted by: RChurchSo, those of you who know, Batman is NOT the kind of Suggie to defend his mealies from his one & only friend, Catwoman. He normally peels his mealies while she gulps her down and then rushes off to finish the half he's working on!

NOT ANYMORE! For the last 2 times, he strategically will eat his mealie off the wall of the cage (props to him for thinking ahead because she likes to sneak attack him from below if he's standing on a platform), but when she goes to steal it, he play bites at her mouth. Like, "BACK OFF, Woman! I mean it!" LMAO!

Well, this morning they've been extra hungry, so I thought I'd give them some treats. Those of you keeping up know that I've been careful about Catwoman's weight. She plumped out, then lost the weight to where she's just a LITTLE chunky but not bad...so 1 mealworm each is what I'm comfortable giving until she drops a little more weight. However, I was able to give Batman a pinenut and 2 yogies and I didn't want Babygirl (my nickname for Catwoman) to feel unloved, so I gave her some juicy honeydew. It was a BIG cube, too! She grabbed it with both hands (SO CUTE!) and was gnawing away at it happily...

...when lo and behold, who comes to steal but BATMAN!!! Batman has NEVER done anything so brazen! I feel kinda bad for Catwoman but karma is a wonderful teacher. I may let Batman steal a couple of more times so she knows what it feels like before I step in.

STILl, LMAO! What great progress they are both making! Batman especially. He is finally coming out to play more--and I don't mean just with us. I mean in general, because he never really played too much with his cagemate, either. At least, not until recently.

GREAT FUN!!!

Posted by: RChurchHere's the short version (I have to get ready for work soon):

Hubby had the day off so he spent tent time with the kids. (Pics to follow!) Catwoman lost some weight, but has far to go. They were both allowed 1 mealworm each this morning. And Batman moves with better ease now. :) I actually thought it was CATWOMAN in the wheel this morning, but on a double take, it was actually Batman. The fact that he is finally getting some exercise makes me sooo happy!

Oh, yeah, and they were both chirping to some food we hand fed them. GREAT progress, like I said. This is at the 5/6 months' stage for adult rehomes, btw. :)

Posted by: JerrycnhSo, in my continuing effort to make sure Serenity and Precious bond to one another as well as me, I had them both outside their cages yesterday mingling a little bit. They groomed each other, shared a nectarine, nothing too special... then, as both of them are wont to do, Precious crawled into the underbelly tray area of the Pocket Pets cage and started crawling around on the bars upside down, rubbing her body in Serenity's mess from the night before. :P Very silly habit, I think they use discarded mealworms and pellets as a backscratcher or something.

Anyway, Serenity hopped back in her cage to sniff at Precious some more, creating this neat "pond" effect with her mirroring Precious from above. Myself and two of the neighborhood kids watched this with interest for a few moments when one of them pointed at Precious and said, "What's that?"

Close examination revealed a small red dot on Precious' underside, just in front of the tail, where something seemed to be wiggling in and out a bit. Yup, you guessed it - turns out "she's" not a she. :P About two minutes of sheer disbelief and debate on the idea that HIS previous owner couldn't possibly have had him for two years without knowing his gender was put to rest when Precious hopped up into Serenity's cage and... well, and started to do what boy gliders do when there's a pretty girl around. :P Suddenly all my complaints about Precious' scent made more sense. ;)

On the one hand, I'm thrilled. I was hoping to be in this position someday - an unneutered male to go with my female so the colony can grow. I didn't really want to get here so quickly, though. :) I still barely know what I'm doing! I'm going to repeat this journal entry as a post so I can get some guidance for my short term questions. :) As for the long term - well, everything happens for a reason, right?

Posted by: RChurchI cannot believe I forgot to put this in our journal entry, but...the last time we had tent time, the kids actually sat in my hands! I cheated yet again: I held their blankie in my open hands and as it had their scent on it, they sat there for about half a minute each before taking off! Still, it gives me hope!!! :D

We haven't had tent time since, but we are looking forward to it soon. Hopefully today, barring any unforeseen appointments.

Posted by: RChurchSo, I goofed and Catwoman had gained a significant amount of weight in a mere 2 weeks! Overfed on her treats, especially nuts. I know I shouldn't have but I was so caught up in trying to get them to do forage that I didn't think about the repercussions until it was too late.

I stopped all treats altogether. I count my blessings that she is such an active glider. She LOVES her wheel, and she's always testing out her jumps from one object to the next, just taking my breath away with her crazy dexterity. It saddens me that while she used to be a ninja, she now thuds around. But in three days' time, I can already see improvement, so I know we are on the right track.

For bonding purposes, I've been hand feeding them fruits and veggies from their dinner plate, and adding egg white (no yolks) to increase their protein. They would have gotten added protein from their meal worms but they are currently cut off due to Catwoman being on a diet.

I feel horrible about having to do this Batman, who was never an over-eater. He, despite the many nuts to be foraged, only ate what was necessary and not a bite more. It's so strange that I always thought he would be the one to get tubby since he is ALWAYS in his pouch and seldom exercises.

There IS a bright side to all this. Now that she's gained some weight, she will actually let Batman on the wheel. Before, she used to hop over him, going so fast, that all he could do was hold on, and then as soon as she took a break, he'd get off and make a mad dash for his wheel. (I almost picture him saying, "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!" LOL) But since she no longer has the endurance to do that, he can actually work out for once. Maybe when she gets back in shape, the two of them together will be equally paired partners in the wheel. It seems he is moving with less stiffness in his joints now. (And he's also getting out of his cage more.)

I am also taking them off of HPW Complete. It appears it doesn't have the Wombaroo powder in it at all, despite its acronym, and only yields 14% protein. Thank God I was not shy on dishing out those mealies before!

We are going to try HPW Original first. That's the one hubby likes best. Me, I am seriously liking Val's Green Variety diet...but as it contains the bee pollen and lists High Protein Wombaroo powder as an optional addition, I think we might eventually try that. I, too, believe variety is the key to a successful diet.

My other choice is LGRS Suggie Soup but with the dried fly pupae...Man, we better NEVER use that blender for margaritas, that's all I've gotta say. That's a glider-only blender after that. Yuck. And then I'm thinking about the time I mistakenly tasted HPW Complete. I used a knife to pop out the cube of supplement out of the ice cube tray, and then used the same knife to cut up some honeydew. Then I decided I wanted some honeydew. And, of course, the knife still had some HPW Complete on it. Oops. Now, flash forward to what if that was Suggie Soup. OMG, I think I would vomit. LOL. Just gotta be sure to cut up fruit & veggies FIRST, I think.

Well, we are on the right track, I think. Catwoman's losing weight, and the snacks are off limits for the time being. When the time comes, I will research and see what an appropriate amount of snacks look like. I don't want to repeat this mistake! But I will cross that bridge if/when we get there.

Posted by: JerrycnhWow, been almost two weeks since I journaled. Okay, long story short, my finances took a hit so I wasn't able to get the two gliders I expected to get - which is really a shame, because it would have taught me exactly what I need to know right now, which is how two gliders normally interact with each other. :) Because I did get lucky and get one new glider, a 2 year old female named Precious (not my name for her, but I'm respecting her name from her previous owner).

Serenity and I have been having quite a lot of fun with her jumping abilities. :) She jumps from my hand to her cage, back to my other hand, runs around my shoulders to the first hand and repeats. Neither of us get tired of it, we easily go for half an hour that way. :) My room has become glider safe, I let each glider out for half the night to roam around the room and enjoy themselves and I hide a couple of little treats around - a nut here, a grape there - for them to enjoy finding during the night.

Precious and I are bonding slowly but surely. She lets me pick her up now without too much fuss, and will come to me for food and run around on me during out time. Not quite as trusting of me as Serenity yet, but it'll get there.

I've been letting the girls sniff each other through the bars during their individual out times for the last week or so, and yesterday I let them physically interact for the first time under my supervision. They seem to have a tendancy to trim each others' nails, which is good cause I still need to pick up my nail trimming wheel insert (Serenity's startin' to hurt me, so it's a priority, I'll probably pick it up tonight). But the adult will stretch her front paws over the baby like Superman-style, which I find a little concerning, and after awhile they do get into little fights, although neither is drawing blood so I assume that's a good thing. I think Precious might also just be annoyed at the length of Serenity's nails :) Anyone know where I can find some good vids of two gliders playing/interacting so I can know what's normal and what I should stop?

I'll have pics of the girls together soon. :)

Posted by: itsterimofozim really worried, its red but not wet or runny!! I've been feeding him watermelon could that be it?

Posted by: kazko

Posted by: kazko

Posted by: viciousencountersFor a while now I have heard rumors that glider kitchens effect eating habits. I know glider kitchens bring down the mess and protect the food from flying defecation bombs but I hadn't considered that it would effect eating habits. I have also heard the same about moon phases. On full moons or the night before or after many owners find plates completely full, as if they never touched it all night. I wonder if the nights they seem to have not been hungry correlate to the lunar phases.

Recently I got to lazy to clean my kitchens so they have been eating straight from the bowls. I have noticed two things, one they almost always eat all their food and two the drop pan is full littered with food. So my theory is that glider kitchen's hinder eating because the closed quarters create anxiety. Shortly, I will be designing an experiment that will test my hypothesis to check for it's validity but I want it to be as scientific as possible. Measurements, amounts, moon phases, temp, food items, and anything else I can think of should all be kept track of.

UPDATE 3/31/12:

So I have been keeping track of how much my girls have been eating by weight for the past 3 days now. I decided to go simple and only record the weight of the food before and after they eat it and whether or not it was served open or in a kitchen. I will be doing this for a month and I hope to see results to whether or not Glider Kitchens effect eating behavior. I hypothesize that the use of a glider kitchen hinders eating activities thus decreasing possible food intake.

Posted by: auctionenvyusI adobpted my little girl last August 2011 from a CoWorker who had brought her to work since she was just a little baby. Her daughter was accepted to an out of town college and they were worried about the love she needed. So they offered her to me. The best pet decision I ever made. We call her chitter, she's now 2 years and 3 mos old and I have bonded well with her and bonded her with my husband, daughter and cousin. One day I was walking past my son who was visiting and he is 27 and had shown no interest in bonding with her. She jumped off my shouldlder onto his and she decided to bond with him. He said ahh she is cute. She let's complete stranger pet her in public. She is the star everywhere I go and seems to love getting attention. Sugar Gliders sure do steal your heart. I make her a platter every night to include 4 Fruits, 4 veggies, and then alter cottage cheese, apple sauce, peanut butter and various baby foods and she seems so happy and healthy and lovable. My husband and I are discussing if we should or shouldn't try to locate a friend for her. She has been alone since birth and doesn't seem to have an issues with that at this point. Is there anyone out there who has raised a single suggie without any eventually lonelyness issues?

 

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