Vacation Escapade

This has been a crazy six weeks.  Since the middle of July I have been gone two full weeks, and then last week M and I headed to northern Wisconsin to enjoy a week in the Northwoods with good friends of ours. I have had little time to blog about the gliders until now. As was the case last year, the gliders accompanied us on the trip up north. We were much better prepared this year and departure and travel went without out a hitch. We spent one night in a hotel, a La Quinta Inn, which are pet-friendly. It was clean, comfortable, and we all got a good night's rest, or play, in the case of the furry four.

During our week up north I tried to spend some time in the tent each night with them. They all were "sleeping in" during our week up north, and frequently were still asleep at 10:00 or 10:30 p.m.  Normally at home they are up and around sometime around 9:30 p.m. On Wednesday night we wrapped up play time and they all climbed into the pouch for the trip back to the cage. Their travel cage is a portable "pet playpen" with a top that zips on. I opened up the top an placed them on the floor. They all came out of the pouch, but Cirrus climbed back up my arm and didn't seem to want to get off. Finally, I coaxed her down and zipped the top closed.


Sometime around 4:00 a.m. M got up to use the restroom and on the way out the bedroom door heard barking coming from the tent. I left the tent up in a loft area in the cabin. It was out of the way and I didn't have to fold it up each night. Anyway, at first M didn't quite comprehend what she was hearing, as she was still sleepy and not expecting to hear barking from the tent. She checked it, and sure enough it turns out Foehn was in the tent. After a few minutes of coaxing she as finally able to gather Foehn up and bring her back to the cage. In the meantime I had awakened to M talking to Foehn, shocked that she was out. We thoroughly checked the cage to make sure that someone had not chewed through the screening or tunneled through the floor. Everything as intact as far as we could tell. What likely happened was that Foehn climbed out while I was dealing with Cirrus and I never noticed her leaving. They move so fast that she was probably out of sight before I finished with Cirrus. Fortunately, she chose to head at some point to the tent which was familiar to her. M thinks Foehn was barking to attract her attention. I couldn't believe I didn't see her leave.  There are a dozen other places she could have ended up in the cabin where we would have had a difficult time finding her, and possibly with a tragic outcome. Needless to say, from that point on I made sure to do a head count after things were all zipped up for the night. Other than that little incident, all of us had a relaxing time, and they are all back to their regular routine at home.

It's All in the Presentation

Sugar gliders are still relatively new in the pet world, in the last 10 years or so. Since they are an exotic and relatively new as pets, you can't go to your local pet superstore and buy a bag of glider chow.  Diets have been developed over the years to try and meet the nutritional needs of gliders. There must be a good balance of protein, vitamins and minerals. In particular there should be a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to phosphorus in their diet. Too little calcium or poor calcium uptake can result in several health issues, most notably Hind Leg Paralysis, of HLP. Most of the diets developed are a variation of the Leadbeaters Mix as a staple, and then additional fruits and vegetables. We use one called the Blended Diet, and our gliders have done very well on it. I wrote in an earlier post about how we started to see significant weight gain in the gliders when we had a feeding station for each of them. So, each night, M usually is the one who "plates" their dinner and places the glider kitchens in the cage while they are playing in the office or tent. Some owners just place the food, especially the fruits and vegetables, on the floor of the kitchen. The staple diet is liquid (about 1.5 teaspoons) and has to be in some sort of dish. Well, we found some nice "tasting plates" on clearance at a local Pier One Imports, and that's what we use for their fruits and vegetables.

Four dishes of Blended Mix Diet (top),
and the fruit (melon) and vegetable (bok choy) servings.

One dish of each is placed in a glider kitchen, and the kitchens are placed in the cage. Each kitchen (plastic storage containers we purchased)  has two 2.5 inch holes cut in the side for access.  Gliders like to play with their food, and they also tend to flick it around, so the kitchens contain the mess. They sure have made my life easier when it comes to cleaning the cage every week.

The kitchens are loaded and ready to be placed in the cage.

Ivy Covered Walls - A New Cage Set

If you have followed this blog you know that M has made a number of pouches and cage sets for the gliders. The cage sets are usually seasonal, such as on for autumn, the holidays, winter, etc.  Recently she completed a cage set for the summer, a Cubs baseball cage set. We bleed Cubbie blue here and M has been planning this for some time. I thought this would be a good time to introduce it, a day after the Cubs won their first three-game series of the season. (Sad, I know.)  The cage set consists of three sleeping pouches, the "diamond", a "press box", and a vine covered wall. There is also a baseball ball pit, and M is working on an idea for a hanging baseball themed toy for the cage.

There is also a large lightweight sleeping pouch (not shown), which they have been using a lot in the recent hot weather.

Top:  the diamond, small lightweight sleeping pouch.
Bottom: Small sleeping pouch, the press box

Baseballs in the ivy covered wall.

The "press box" and the sleeping pouch.

A baseball on the diamond.

Foehn enjoying the friendly confines of the press box!

I'll post updated photos when the baseball toy is complete

Checkup for the Youngsters

Yesterday was a scheduled wellness checkup for Foehn and CB. This was our second visit with Dr. Whitington at the U of I Small Animal Clinic - she saw Virga and Cirrus in February. The bottom line is that both gliders are healthy and doing well. Foehn behaved herself for the most part during the examination, which was a little surprising since she is the skittish one. CB was less than happy about the whole thing, probably because it was interfering with his sleep (and he does like his sleep). When his exam was finished and I tried to put him back in the pouch, he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else apparently. He sunk his teeth into my thumb, and not one of those gentle "don't bother me" bites. He did go into the pouch with some coaxing, and it took about 20 minutes for both of them to settle down. M took them home while I stopped up to pick up some fresh vegetables for their dinner. They joined Cirrus and Virga in their pouch once back in the cage.

Big Snack Attack

M has cut back on the gliders' afternoon snack time for a number of reasons, including her schedule. Mostly, though, they tend to wake up earlier in the evening because they have had a full day of uninterrupted sleep. So, we have taken to giving them their mealworm snack after they are up and have been active for a bit. M usually brings in the mealworms, and Virga and Cirrus run to the door to greet her because they know she has their snack! When it's time to hand them out, all four gliders are beside themselves with excitement, especially Virga and Cirrus. It's a challenge sometimes to make sure they all get their fair allotment. The first round is always the toughest because they all want one at the same time. Most of the time they are good about waiting their turn. The last couple of nights we have split handout duties, each of us taking two gliders. That  works a little better for them. Once in a while one glider will grab another's mealworm if they don't get theirs fast enough. They all relish their mealworms, holding the big ones in their hand eating it like a french fry.

Here are the four of them on my leg waiting for the next round of mealworms.

M passing out their mealworm snack. CB was on the tree waiting for his.

CB stretches from his post on the tree to get his mealworm.

Early Riser

Recently there was a little change in our evening routine initiated by the gliders. Normally I take the gliders into the office for their play time around 9:30 p.m., usually when they started to stir in the pouch. It was a bit before 9:00 p.m. and were watching TV when we heard a noise from the cage.  It was Virga running in the wheel.  She stopped running when we came up to the cage, looked at us as if to say "What are you waiting for?" and resumed running in the wheel. A few minutes later, Cirrus joined her sister in the cage We figured at that point it was time for the office. Virga readily climbs on our arms for the short trip to the office. Cirrus does sometimes, but usually we have to gather her up to bring her in. CB and Foehn like the old fashioned (and more comfortable) mode of transport - the pouch. Since that night, Virga is usually out of the pouch and ready for playtime any time between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Once in a while Cirrus is out first, but if not, she is not too far behind Virga. For a number of reasons M hasn't been giving them their afternoon snack, so uninterrupted sleep may have something to do with their earlier waking. One they are up and out I take a few minutes to get the room ready and get them some water. By that time they are all ready for 60 to 90 minutes of fun in the office.

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.