The Game is Afoot...

I was probably too optimistic to think that the displacement of the water bottle in their cage was just an "accident". On Sunday night I used a long twist tie to secure the tube to the side of the cage. The tube sits in a small holder from which extends a small trough that holds the water, and it fits in the holder pretty tight. That combined with the twist tie means it would take a pretty concerted effort to dislodge the tube. Well, this is what I found Sunday morning.

The yellow cap on the tube fits entirely in the yellow cup. They really had to work to lift the tube up out of the cup and off to the side.  The twist tie is the only thing that kept the tube from dropping to the bottom of the cage.  Of course, any water in the tube ended up in the cage tray. We have always had two water bottles in the cage, so they aren't in any danger of not having water. The other water bottle is the more conventional tube and ball type. If we want to keep using this style of water bottle, I'll have to figure out some way to mount the bottle on the outside of the cage. Kids.

Our curiosity is piqued, and now I really want to get the video camera set up to see what is going at at night.

Games Gliders Play

Well, finally...the first post of 2012. The last three weeks have been a little crazy around here, and on top of it all the furry four haven't been all too inspiring.

I wrote recently about how one or more gliders moved three small stuffed animals off of the top of their cage over the course of the night. Over the past two weeks I've had numerous occasions to be up in the middle of the night and pass their cage.  The times have ranged from around midnight to 4:00 a.m., and each time the stuffed animals were laying on the floor.  I started placing them back on the top of the cage at these times, and sure enough, in the morning they were on the floor again.  They must certainly enjoy the challenge of working the stuffed animals across the top and off onto the floor.

Now, we think they may be up to some new "tricks' in the cage.  About a week ago M found their water bottle knocked out of its holder and emptied. This is the type of water bottle that feeds a small trough that they can drink from. We figured that perhaps we didn't have the water container set in the holder adequately, although we have never had that problem before. Well, since then it has happened two more times, and now I'm thinking one of the gliders sees this as a new game. The next move on our part will be to further fasten the water tube to the side of the cage with a twist tie to prevent it from being easily knocked out of the holder. We'll see how that goes.

A Christmas Feast

Occasionally we give the gliders something special for dinner, like a boiled chicken drumette. They usually clean the whole bone and then some during the course of the night. For their Christmas dinner this year they each had their own large turkey leg bone. Included in the dinner guest list was Molly, our son's glider. Since he was going to be here for two days he brought Molly along, and she stayed in an extra cage,  M made a large quantity of turkey broth using turkey drumsticks. Once she removed most of the meat she set the bones aside for their dinner.

Molly went right to work on her bone. In addition to cleaning her turkey bone during the night, she also finished all of her other food (the standard diet we feed our gliders).  Our gliders didn't touch much of their other food, which was somewhat surprising since there was not much meat on the turkey bones. I guess between gnawing on the bones, playing, and the occasional nap they didn't have the inclination or time to eat their regular food.

Molly enjoying her Christmas turkey leg bone.

Deck the Halls

M puts a lot of time and effort into decorating the house for Christmas, and since we've had the gliders their cage is decorated too. M made all of the accessories with the exception of the sugar comb, which we purchased.

"The stockings were hung on the cage with care..."
We still need to get stockings up for Virga and Cirrus.

This is the Christmas Tree sleeping pouch, their favorite to sleep in.
The entrance to the pouch is between the two red hang tabs

This is their "Santa Pants" sleeping pouch. Each leg is somewhat of a
separate space by itself. When they use this pouch all four gliders
will usually be in one side or the other.

This is a Christmas tree "sugar comb"  A sugar comb is a
multi-level hammock for the gliders to climb on and in.
In the foreground is one of the braided fleece ropes
we have in the cage for them to climb on.

This is a candy cane climbing post.

Manic Mornings

With approach of the winter solstice and sunrise a little later each day, mornings are dark until around 7:00 a.m. or so, especially the cloudy mornings,  Lately the gliders have been far more active in the morning than at night. Our night sessions have consisted of us giving them their mealworms, then usually Foehn, CB, and sometimes Cirrus climbing into M's sweatshirt until she goes to get ready for bed. Virga is usually the only one who stays out and spends most of her time in the wheel, occasionally taking a break to come visit M or I before getting back to her exercise. So, nights for me have been, well, boring. The mornings usually begin with M bringing them into the office for yogurt between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m.  Virga and Cirrus are typically waiting for her, although Cirrus sometimes stays in the cage to snack in the kitchens for a bit. CB and Foehn are in the sleeping pouch, so they are an easy transport into the office. Once they are in the office, all of them will usually come out for their lick of yogurt, and then are off to the races. CB and Foehn run circuits around the room, climbing the tree, jumping to M's shoulder or lap, jumping to the floor. taking a few spins on the wheel, and doing it all over again. This can go on for 20 or 30 minutes or more. We've talked about possibly switching "official" play time from evenings to mornings, but in general the night sessions work better for us.

The Bear, the Pig, and the Tiger

Gliders are nocturnal animals, and without actually staying up all night of video recording them you really don't know what they are up to.  We know they eat, because their food is gone in the morning, and we know they sleep a lot even at night. They also play, and recent mornings has left evidence of their nighttime activities. Almost every morning for the last couple of weeks we have found this on the floor in front of the cage:

It's a bear, a pig, and a tiger. These are three small stuffed animals that we have on the top of the cage. Occasionally we have found the bear on the floor, but in the last week or two all three have been on the floor in the morning. And, I think it's becoming a game with them. We place the animals on top of the cage, and during the night they manage to work them across the top until they fall onto the floor - every morning. Early this year Cirrus and Virga managed to work a plastic bowl of toys across the top and onto the floor. We're not sure if it's just one or all of them working on this, but someone is having a good time at night. The next thing is to get the video camera set up again to catch them in the act.

The bear, the pig, and the tiger atop the cage.

C'mon You Guys...

Since the weather has turned colder M has been wearing a sweatshirt jacket during playtime in the office. Unfortunately, that  happens to be a very nice warm place for the gliders to curl up in, and it has meant a decrease in their activity.  All four of them are usually pretty lively when the mealworms are being handed out. Once that's over, however, CB, for one, usually makes his way over to M and climbs in her sweatshirt.  Foehn often decides to join him, and occasionally Cirrus. Virga usually spends her time in the wheel, stopping once in a while and climbing up M's leg to check on what the others are up to. In the meantime, I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs in the dark until M has to leave to put their food in the cage. Then I scoop them out of her sweatshirt and once out they will usually run and climb for a time. I can usually tell when they are ready to go back in the cage as they start slowing down.  I take one of their bonding pouched and shake it so the zipper rattles, then drop it to the floor.  Four gliders scurry from wherever they have been at and climb into the pouch, waiting for me to take them back to the cage and to dinner.