The Glider Chronicles: A Little Bundle of Energy

Cirrus is the smallest of our four gliders, and Virga's sister. She was only 59 grams when she came to us. However, it was Cirrus who rushed in to make sure all was well when Virga would crab, and, Cirrus is the first to explore new spaces and things. She really surprised M when she taught Virga how to climb up the pedestal sink when we first started taking them out for play time. She is completely fearless. Cirrus was the first to climb up to the shower rod during introductions last July and glide off and to the floor (although I always caught her before she hit). Cirrus is pretty easygoing, and she was the one that came around the fastest. Until they "agreed" to live with Foehn and CB, Cirrus was the one who did all the socializing. Generally, Cirrus is the first one to stick her head up or out and see what is going on when we take the pouch out. She needs to see where she is going or who is talking to her. It is also obvious when she is sizing up her next attempted jump or glide. Even though she seems to be constantly on the move when she is awake, occasionally Cirrus likes to curl up in the crook of my leg when I'm sitting on the floor. Once she is done grooming and settled she will let me pick her up and hold her in my hand, where she will usually sleep for awhile.

One of Cirrus' first feats was to climb up this porcelain pedestal

Her favorite activity is running in the wheel. She is usually the first to jump in the wheel at play time, and the last to leave the wheel in the morning. I didn't realize how much fun she had in the wheel until the other night. She was in the wheel by herself, and was running at full speed. When the wheel was going as fast as she could get it spinning, she stopped and rode the wheel around and around until it slowed down. She then started running to get the wheel spinning, then stopped and rode it. Cirrus did this several times, only stopping when one of the other gliders hopped into the wheel. It was a hoot to watch!

Cirrus is not as dark as Virga, and in fact may even have a little tinge of cinnamon color in her coat. Her dorsal stripe is not as defined as that of Foehn and CB, so she is relatively easy to pick her out in the crowd. It used to be easy to tell her apart because of her size, but that has become a little harder. Her weight has increased a little over 20 percent in the past year, and she is consistently weighing in at or above 70 grams.She eats well as far as we can tell, and loves her yogurt and mealworms. As active as she is, she just probably burns off most of the calories she takes in.