Hook, Line, and Sinker

Three months ago we didn't know what a sugar glider was, and now we are less than two weeks from acquiring a pair.

I'm still finding it a little hard to believe. Our first exposure to the existence of sugar gliders was in June when a company called Pocket Pets had an exhibit at one of our local festivals. We happened by the booth, stopped only briefly to see what it was all about (more on this in a later post), and then didn't really give it much of a thought. That evening, we found out our son had purchased a sugar glider, and in fact, that we probably missed running in to him at the booth by 15-20 minutes. Well, that sent us scrambling to the web to find out more about them and what he might have gotten himself into. Our first stop was to the Pockets Pets web site, the company where he had obtained his glider from, but we later expanded our search to other web sites and forums.

Molly

The line was cast about a month ago when we cared for his glider Molly for a week when he went on vacation. We took our pet-sitting job seriously, and both enjoyed watching her and interacting with her. After a couple of days she took to us as well (she was in a new environment and was understandably a little uncertain about things). For me at least, I started to get hooked as I kept her in her pouch around my neck while working in the evening. She would pop out to look around, especially if I got up and walked around. One evening she sat near the top of the pouch and I rubbed between her ears, and she fell asleep. I stopped to type something on the keyboard, and look down to find her looking at me as if to say "Why did you stop?" I went back to rubbing and she went back to sleep. I began to get reeled in later in the week after I set up a small tent in our three-season room and let her run and play, with me in there of course. It was fascinating to watch her gradually explore, then go full bore climbing up the walls and jumping back down. At one point she had a thing going where she jumped on to my leg, then shoulder, then to my head, then to the top of the tent, jump down to the floor, and then do it all over again.

In the meantime, M started making her a sleeping pouch to hang in her cage. Before you know it we are buying more fleece to make a few extra pouches for Molly. At that point we started thinking about getting our own. Glider owners call it "glideritis".

I'm the practical one and don't like to rush into things. We did a lot more research (M did most of the searching), and we talked about whether or not we wanted to really do this. We've had pets in the past (turtles, hamster, anoles, etc., dogs when we were kids) but nothing quite like this. I like animals but have never been a big "pet person". However, I caught "glideritis" from the experience of caring for Molly for a week. She got me (and us) hook, line, and sinker. Even so, we weighed the pros and cons and let some time pass before making a final decision. Since then, more research, getting the necessary "stuff", and preparing for the day we get our gliders. If we are going to do this we want to do it right.

M here. I would just like to add that I knew he was bit after the first night we babysat Molly. He hadn't had "that" look on his face since our kids were born! Molly was obviously taken with my husband, too! She tolerated me, but was much more affectionate with him.