Weighing in on the Weigh-In

We weigh each of the gliders every week to monitor their overall health. Drastic changes in weight can mean onset of a health problem, just like in humans. Cirrus was a wisp of a glider when she came to us, just 59 grams. Her small size, for a 7-year old glider, was a bit of concern. This past October she reached 70 grams, a milestone for her. This weekend, Cirrus was 85 grams for the second week in a row! Despite her weight, she still feels small when you pick her up.

All of the gliders have been slowly gaining weight. Virga actually was dropping weight early this winter, and was down to about 82 grams in January. She weighed in at 105 grams this week. CB is 97 grams, up from around 89 grams in January. Foehn is the only one who's weight has remained fairly steady, 82 grams at this week's weighing. In looking at their weight data, it appears the weight gain began about the time we started using four "glider kitchens" in the cage rather than two. That gives each glider an opportunity to claim their own feeding spot and lessens the chance that any of them get shut out of eating. Prior to that we had just put in two kitchens, but with enough food for four. We're not quite sure why Foehn isn't gaining much, but on the other hand she isn't losing weight, either.

This a graph of the 4-week moving average of Cirrus' weight. The 4-week average smooths out the week to week weight fluctuations and makes it easier to see a trend in the data.

Cruisin'

Sunday is weigh day, when we weigh each of the gliders and chart their weight.  So, today after breakfast I went to get things set up. Usually M coaxes them out of the pouch with some yogurt, and when they venture out I take them one by one in separate pouch to weigh them and then bring them back. When they all have been weighed, they get some mealworms and then head back to sleep.

The last step in prep is to get them from the cage.  Usually it's a matter of just unhooking the pouch they are sleeping in and bringing it in the office. There are currently three pouches in the cage, one large one and two smaller ones. I first checked the large pouch, and no gliders. OK, no problem...sometimes they split up and go in different pouches. I check the first of the two smaller pouches, and no gliders. I check the second, and it's empty. In a bit of panic I quickly check all the doors on the cage and thankfully they are closed. The only other place they could be is the boat on the bottom of the cage.  I reached in to check the boat and as soon as I touched it there was some crabbing. Sure enough, all four gliders were tucked back in the boat. This was a first for them - they always have slept in their pouch, or at least in a blanket on the floor of the cage.  So, I picked up the boat and brought it into the office. M called to them, and  four little heads peeked out to see what all the fuss was about.

The toy boat in the cage where I found them sleeping

Cirrus gets a few licks of yogurt while Foehn and CB peek out. Virga was hanging back.

Cheap Fun

A week on the road and a week battling the flu has kept me away from the blog lately. There are a few new things going on with the gliders. Two weeks ago M was at one of her favorite stores, Big Lots, and picked up a strange but cheap cat toy.  It consists of a 12" plastic "fishing pole", on which is tied an elastic string.  At the end of the string is something that looks like a rabbit's foot with a couple of ribbons hanging out the back.  We used to have a feather thing that the gliders liked to play with but they pulled the feathers out of it.

This inexpensive cat toy turns out to be way more fun.The three girls chase "it" around and wrestle it, but CB is the fun one to watch. He is the hunter. He doesn't chase it, he pounces on it from his "hidden" position! He grabs with his teeth and front paws and hangs on. When I pull pack he tries to dig his rear legs in and hold on.  He eventually lets go, I toss it back in his direction and we do it all over again. All four gliders enjoy this and it gives them more interaction  with us and something more to do than just climb and jump in the room.