A Happy End to a Long Road!

Once Flurry was accepted by CB and Sprite, we introduced him a couple of weeks later to Foehn and Rossby. It was another easy introduction, and we're sure Foehn was happy to have another man around.  All that was left was to get Foehn and Sprite on the same page if possible. We split Foehn off into the smaller cage about two weeks ago to give the other four time to acclimate to each other. We were also hoping that Foehn's yearning to be with the guys would distract her from her issues with Sprite.  After a week we tried getting them together using the bathtub to introduce them. They would cautiously approach each other to a point, and then one of them would move suddenly or crab, and they would stay away from each other. In the bathroom Foehn appears to be interested in checking Sprite out by some sniffing, but Sprite won't let her get very close. This is in contrast to when they are in the tent when Foehn aggressively chased Sprite and they would ball up if she caught her.

To me, at least, they seemed to have a mutual fear and distrust of each other, and neither would leave their guard down enough to find out differently. At one point in the past they got along fine. I thought if they both could learn that there was nothing to fear with the other then this reintroduction would have a chance. My thought was to try a method called wet introduction. For this each glider is wet down with warm water from a spray or being wiped down. When gliders are wet their main focus is grooming and they don't pay attention to much else.  M wasn't too sure about this, but my feeling is that we had nothing to lose at this point. If this did not work then they would never be together and one of them would have to live separately from the rest (or most likely two and three).

So, on Saturday with some trepidation and a lot of hope I wet both of them down with a spray bottle of warm water. They looked miserable, but both started to groom themselves. We placed them in a small cage together along with a clean (neutral) pouch. The stayed away from each other, but more importantly neither was interested in chasing the other. Foehn took up residence in the pouch, and Sprite would occasionally stop and think about trying to enter. They both crawled up and down and across the top of the cage, once in a while sniffing at each other (without incident) but then quickly moving on.  After a few hours we added a large fleece blanket so that if one of them would not enter the pouch with the other in it, they would have a place to sleep comfortably. We decided to stay up with them to be able to intervene if there were problems. I chased M to bed sometime after midnight and stayed out with them until about 4:00 a.m. (dozing off from time to time). There were no problems whatsoever although they still weren't sharing the pouch, but that was OK. I came out about 7:30 a.m. to check on them and thought the pouch (open style) looked to be hanging a little low. It was, because there were two gliders in it!

We moved them to a larger cage on Sunday, but not in with the boys. We wanted them to get more comfortable with each other before they joined CB, Rossby, and Flurry.  Here are the two of them having their yogurt on Monday morning.

Foehn (L) and Sprite (R) 36 hours into their "reunion" enjoying yogurt.

On Monday night I had all five in the tent for play time and it was more active and relaxed than it had been for some time.  All five are now together in the big cage. More on the reunion in another post 

Next task on the list - a family (colony) photo!

Another Visit to the Vet for Cirrus

We have been concerned about Cirrus' weight loss over the last six weeks. On November 17 she weighed 75 grams, and today she was at 61 grams. With her medical history in mind,last week we called to make an appointment with the vet to have Cirrus checked out.

Cirrus enjoying her morning yogurt last week.

Today was her appointment, and we were relieved to hear that other than the weight loss she is doing well. Her muscle tone was good as was her overall body condition. She is a very active glider. Out of all of the gliders she is the one that probably spends the most time on a wheel or the glider treadmill and she burns a lot of calories. It is probably more than a coincidence that her weight loss has occurred since we obtained Rossby and Sprite. The two attempts at introductions were stressful for all concerned, but perhaps more for Cirrus. During playtime in the office she spends much of her time "marking", which is something we have rarely seen from her before. This is even after almost two weeks of being separated from Rossby and Sprite.

Our vet does not want her weight to drop any further, and thought that reducing her anxiety might help improve her appetite. Cirrus is now on a low dose of Diazepam.  Of all the drug options for a glider, this is is probably the safest. It is often used post-surgery to keep gliders calm and prevent them from overgrooming and opening their incisions. We will see how this goes until Cirrus' next follow-up appointment sometime in February.

Back to Square One

While things went well during the afternoon, once they were up and out later Saturday night the reintroduction didn't go very well. There was a lot of chasing around the cage and a couple of ball-ups with lots of noise. The chasing wasn't so bad, except that the chaser and the chasee threw themselves around the cage and we were concerned that someone was going to get hurt. Since Foehn, Rossby, and Sprite were in one half of the cage, it didn't leave a lot of room for the chases. After careful observation it was clear that often Sprite was the one doing the chasing after oFoehn came up to check her out.  We ended up staying up most of the night to referee things. At 3:30 a.m. or so we headed to bed. After sunrise when I came out to check on them Sprite was still up while Foehn and Rossby were in one of the pouches.

On Sunday I removed the divider in the cage. The introduction of CB and Cirrus went OK, but Sprite hesitated a long time before going in to the pouch with the others. We had removed all other options for her.  We hoped Sunday night would be better, but it was not. They were quiet for awhile, but Sprite was not amenable to letting any of the other gliders except for Rossby near her. She would jump from the wheel after anyone, except for Rossby, who came near her. There would be a chase and once in a while a lot of noise. We were really hoping they would work it out, but it wasn't going that way. The only break was when the trio and Rossby went back to their pouch for a nap. At one point M noticed something on the white plastic of the wheel and on investigation it turned out to be blood. M checked Cirrus and I checked Sprite. At that point Cirrus was stalking Sprite and that resulted in a couple of chases and ball-ups. Sprite had an abrasion on her tail and while we were concerned, it did not seem to bother her and it had stopped bleeding. We suspect it occurred during one of her leaps from the wheel, but it's hard to say.What we were concerned about was further injuries to any of them. I finally went to bed about 5:00 a.m., and M made it in about 7:00 a.m. In the two hours she was watching them Cirrus had been ganged up on once, so M removed Cirrus from the cage after some morning yogurt and Cirrus spent the morning in her robe sleeve.

After two nights it was clear this was stressing out Sprite, and it was also stressing Cirrus. Cirrus has lost 10 grams in the past month and we are worried about her. The stress of having Sprite in the same cage is not what she needs. We decided to separate Sprite and Rossby from the trio again and they are now in two separate cages. The problem is definitely with  Sprite. She is scared of the other gliders. They come up to sniff her and she crabs at them, and then tries to stay away. I noticed that she also likes to test things with her teeth and occasionally lightly nipped one of the others. Of course, they do not like that and let her know.  It was definitely time to take a big step back with the introduction process. However, we're not sure what to do at this point.

Another Attempt at Introductions

For the last two weeks Rossby and Sprite have been living side by side with CB, Foehn, and Cirrus, but separate, in the large cage. In addition, we have been switching sides every night so that they have to live in each others "stuff". This has gone very well and none of them have had any problems sleeping in a pouch previously occupied by the others. Nights have been fairly quiet as well.

So we decided to try introductions again today. This time we introduced Sprite to Foehn, since they seemed to have the most problems last time. Into the bathtub they went. Sprite was very nervous at the start, and Foehn was nonchalant for the most part. Sprite crabbed a little as Foehn approached her, but I had my hand over her with a piece of fleece to keep her calm. For the most part they were OK with everything, but Sprite was looking for any way to get out of that tub, climbing on my arm every chance she could get. I removed all the fleece (save for one piece in case I had top break up anything) and left one pouch for them. Foehn crawled in readily - she wanted to sleep - but Sprite was hesitant. She poked her head in a few times, but would not go in. There were no fights or crabbing - she jsut did not want to get too close to Foehn.

I figured I'd wait her out. She would get tired soon enough and want to sleep, and that pouch was the only comfortable place for her. An hour later she was still running around the bathroom, having a great time climbing and jumping. At that point we figured we would bring Rossby into the picture. Perhaps Sprite would go into the pouch if he was there. I fetched Rossby from his nice warm pouch in the cage and brought him in. He readily crawled into the pouch with Foehn. Now Sprite was thinking a little more about going in. Although she briefly ventured in and then quickly out she still had no interest in settling in.

The tip of Sprite's tail is the only thing outside the pouch after
she decided to join Rossby and Foehn.

It took about 45 minutes before Sprite was visibly wearing out. She wanted to rest, and the only place was that pouch. She stood at the opening and sniffed around. Rossby poked his head out as if to reassure her, and to my surprise she crawled in and stayed. There was a little crabbing on her part, but nothing serious. It helped that Rossby was between her and Foehn. By the time I gave them mealworms a few minutes ago, they were all squished together in one corner of the pouch. We kept them in the pouch with us until I put them in the cage after mealworms.The three of them will be together in one side of the cage tonight and we'll see how it goes. If this looks like it's working, the next step will be to bring Cirrus and CB into the mix.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Reunion Day

For three nights we have had Virga and Cirrus in a separate cage in close proximity to the big cage where CB and Foehn are housed. Last night, we switched cages - CB and Foehn spent the night in the small cage, and Virga and Cirrus in the big cage. This was to get them familiar with each others scent again, because today we wanted to try and get them together for the first time since Virga and Cirrus had their surgery two weeks ago.

We wanted to reintroduce them in the bathroom again (similar to the original introductions), so after breakfast M thoroughly cleaned the bathroom and we laid an old comforter on the floor. We decided to get CB and Cirrus together first as they are the two most laid back of the four. We brought them into the bathroom along with an extra sleeping pouch, and set them free on the floor. I was standing by with a large piece of fleece in case I needed to intervene in an altercation.  However, it wasn't needed. True to their nature, CB and Cirrus crawled into a pouch together like they had never been apart! Well, that was easy. Since Cirrus and CB were successfully reunited, we thought we would try to bring in Foehn to join them. M went and fetched Foehn from the cage, and we set her on the floor in a pouch.  Cirrus wandered over and stuck her nose in the pouch, and within seconds both gliders were crabbing and Foehn grabbed Cirrus. Without thinking I tried to grab both gliders, one in each hand, and successfully got them apart, but not without Foehn chomping down hard on a finger. Both gliders were frightened, and a few additional approaches to each other resulted in more crabbing.  We collected Foehn, who seemed to be the instigator, and put her back in her cage so she and Cirrus could calm down. Once Cirrus calmed down, we brought Virga in to see if she would be OK with CB and Cirrus. She slowly approached the opening of the pouch CB and Cirrus were in, and after only a brief moment of hesitation crawled right in and curled up in the bottom. She needed her sleep and no one was going to deprive her of that!  M carried the three of them around in their sleeping pouch during the afternoon so I could clean the cages. Foehn spent the afternoon in the small cage while we tried to figure out what our next step was going to be.


4:30 p.m.

M suggested we try and get Foehn and Virga together next.  That meant fishing Virga out of the sleeping pouch she was sharing with CB and Cirrus, and she probably wasn't too happy about that. We brought Virga and Foehn into the bathroom and set them on the floor with no pouches on the floor for them to retreat to.  It took a few moments before they saw each other, and there was no immediate reaction. They eventually approached each other, and surprisingly it was Virga who took exception. She crabbed and went after Foehn, who scampered up M's leg to the safety of her shoulder. Poor Foehn was frightened and didn't know what to make of it all. It was clear this wasn't working too well, so about 15 minutes later I decided we should try getting them together in the bathtub where it is easier to contain them. Initially there was crabbing and frightened gliders. I cupped Virga beneath my hand and on a piece of fleece so she could see but not move easily (and it also provides security for her). I did the same for Foehn, and moved them closer together. After a few minutes they both seemed to relax, and best of all there was no crabbing. A few more minutes later, I placed one of the pouches in the tub and they both crawled in without incident. There was a little maneuvering and a few brief "tsks", but soon they settled in to sleep!


6:20 p.m.

I had just finished a shower after working out and was getting ready to make some dinner when M poked her out of my office and called me. Foehn had come out of the pouch to take care of "business", and when she crawled back into the pouch Virga crabbed and lunged at her. Virga continued to crab, even at me, and despite a couple of attempts and one near success, Virga was not happy having Foehn around. They are now sleeping in separate pouches, and we are trying to figure out next step.


8:30 p.m.

We thought we would try to get Foehn and Cirrus together in the same manner as we did with Virga. Interestingly, it was Foehn who went after Cirrus this time. This may be a dominance thing among the females - Virga/Foehn, and Foehn/Cirrus. At any rate, after 10 minutes or so Cirrus and Foehn were OK with each other and went into the pouch.  There was still some crabbing, so I went and got CB out of his slumber and had him join Foehn and Cirrus. That helped and they calmed down. I then went and got Virga from M and she crawled in as well.  Unfortunately, Foehn was interested in running and jumping, and not in sleep, so she came out. Virga crabbed and one in a while lunged when she tried to return to the pouch, so it appears their differences have not been worked out.


10:30 p.m.

There continues to be dust-ups between Virga and Foehn, somewhat less so with Foehn and Cirrus. For our own piece of mind and their safety, we are going to have them in separate cages tonight, and we'll see how they are during play time tomorrow.

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.

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.

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.

Everyone, to the Shirt!

The disadvantage to having playtime in the office is that the gliders can avoid us if they want as there are many places for them to curl up in. On some nights they run, climb, and jump all over the place, and other times they try and find a place to nap, especially CB and Foehn. When we are in the tent it's a more confined space and there are fewer places to hide.  Last fall and winter CB made a habit of climbing into my shirt and curling up for a 20 to 30 minute nap before he would come out and play. That's hard for him to do in the summer when I'm wearing t-shirt most of the time. With the recent cooler weather M has been wearing a sweatshirt in the office during playtime.  CB has found that is the perfect place for a nap, and now dives right in after meal worms have been served. Foehn sometimes joins him. Typically Virga and Cirrus spend their time being active - running in the wheel, chasing around the office, and like tonight, climbing on the window screen trying to get at a fly trapped on the other side. Last night we were both in here with the gliders.  M was browsing on the computer, and after a few minutes I noticed that it was very quiet - no wheel noise, no climbing on the screen, and no rapid patter of glider feet on the floor.  "How many do you have in your shirt?", I asked.  "Three.", said M. I grabbed the flashlight (red light) to look for the missing glider. I checked the climbing tree, behind the desk, in the extra pouches, and no glider.  "It's time for a head count", I said to M. She pulled down the zipper of the sweatshirt and we looked in where at first, there was just a ball of grey fur. Within a few seconds four pairs of dark eyes were looking up at us with that "What??" look. All gliders present and accounted for!

Only three are visible here - Foehn in the back, Virga middle, and Cirrus front.
CB is tucked in behind Foehn and probably still asleep.

Welcome to the Colony

For the last week or so the gliders have been giving M a lot of attention during their play time. Virga and Cirrus, and usually CB, have been spending  good amount of time grooming M's arm. In the past maybe one of the gliders would groom us, but to have three going at it was unusual. This wasn't just for a few seconds, either - they were very persistent and thorough. Most of the time they are licking her arm, but sometimes Virga gets a little too enthusiastic and starts using her teeth. M has to take her off and tell her "no". Her arm ended up with tiny bruises from Virga's nips.

 M is the Queen of Treats, the Mistress of Mealworms, so their attention to give M isn't hard to understand.  Virga and Cirrus, in particular, head to the door when she enters the room. Their grooming her is a sign of acceptance and trust. (Either that, or her arm tastes like yogurt or mealworms).

Virga (top), Cirrus, and CB (bottom) at work grooming M

M's Special Time

While we were away on vacation up north the gliders seemed to sense it was a time for relaxing as well. Most nights they slept until 10:00 p.m. or later, and I often had to take them into the tent and encourage them to come out so they could get some play time in. Since we have been home they have returned to their normal routine, especially Virga.  She is almost always the first one up at night, usually sometime around 9:30 or so.  Often our first sign that she is up is when we hear her in the wheel. As soon as Virga sees us she usually leaves the wheel and comes to the front of the cage waiting for her "ride" into the office. M is often the first to the cage, and Virga climbs on to her arm and stays on her arm or shoulder for the short trip to the office.  I think they both look forward to their little ritual.  Virga and M seem to have quite the bond between morning yogurt, the trip to playtime, and their meal worm snack. Lately Virga has been spending time grooming M's arm, essentially giving her arm a bath. Cirrus sometimes joins in as well, and as M says, it's hard to believe two little tongues can get you so wet.

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.

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.

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.

A Playful Night

The last several nights with the gliders during office playtime have been very low key. OK, almost boring. Tonight, however, was a refreshing change.  All the gliders have been having a great time running and climbing tonight, even Foehn.  Lately she has spent much of playtime in a corner grooming herself, or crawling into a blanket and resting. As I write this three gliders are in the wheel, and one is on my knee - can't tell who it is at the moment - getting ready to jump off to the tree. I can't quite explain all of energy and activity tonight, but they have been going full tilt for over an hour now. This week they have not been getting their afternoon snack because M has been occupied with our 1 1/2 year old grandson who is visiting and she hasn't had the time. So, they have been getting long days of uninterrupted sleep. That's been the case for the past four days, but this is the first night where they have been this playful. In fact, it has been a long time since they have all been this way.  I wish I knew why, but for now I'm just going to enjoy it.

Strange Days

We're not sure if it's the changeable weather, the full moon, or what, but there have been some unusual behaviors with the gliders the last couple of days. On Sunday night I had the gliders in the tent instead of the office for a change of pace. It has been some time since they were in the tent  instead of the office. Depending on their mood, I don't get the same interaction with them in the office as I do in the tent where there aren't many places to hide and they have to be near me. So, the first tent time in a while was a little new to them, but they seemed to figure things out in short order. They certainly remembered what the tent zipper sound meant, and they were on my arm in a flash when they heard it! (It means I am getting the pouch to take them to their cage, for dinner).

On Monday when M came out for their morning time together, she found two of them in one pouch, another in a second pouch, and another in a third pouch. We have had two and two, and three and one, but never "two and one and one" sleeping arrangements.

Tuesday morning when M came out, she found three in one pouch, and Cirrus actually sleeping in the wheel. M had forgotten to hang one of the pouches in the cage, but there was still a second small pouch. So, it was still a little strange that Cirrus was sleeping in the wheel. When M tried to offer her the pouch so that she could take them in for their morning yogurt treat, Cirrus refused to go inside. She climbed up M's arm and rode into my office on her shoulder. Once in the office, Cirrus ate her fill, but the others refused to come out until she was finished. Then they each came out, one at a time, ate a little and quickly jumped up M's sleeve, sticking their heads out two at a time to finish up. Cirrus did not go into the sleeve until the others had finished settling down. On Wednesday, while M was carrying them around in their bonding pouch, Cirrus actually was making what sounded like soft little crying sounds. They were all asleep when she checked, but they were definitely little crying noises.  Although they were sleeping together, Cirrus seemed to be on the outs with the other three gliders to some extent. When I went to gather them up at the end of playtime, she approached the pouch, saw that the other three were already in it, and then run off to play some more. I thought it first just might be that she wanted more time to play, but after the third time this happened it seemed more apparent that she was avoiding the others. So, I took the other three to their cage and came back and got her.
       
Another unusual occurrence is the fact that they do not seem to be eating all their food the last few days. There is much of their blended mix leftover in the morning and at least two of the four kitchens have fruit and/or vegetables left in them, barely  touched.Other than the eating, things seemed to be back to normal the last two mornings, so we are at a loss to explain it. M believes it's because I had them in the tent on Sunday, but I don't think so as they seemed to get back into the swing of things after just a few minutes in the tent..

A Short Trip to G-town

While I was out of town on an overnight trip this week, M was on a little trip of her own - a guilt trip.  I did not get home until late Monday night, so M supervised the gliders' playtime.  Last night, however, she was pretty tired and decided to skip taking them into the office. Around 9:30 p.m. or so Virga climbed out of their sleeping pouch and was getting some exercise on the wheel. She heard M walk by the cage, and crawled back into the pouch. A few minutes later, Virga was back out on the wheel. When she heard M walking through the room, she ran back into the pouch. After this happened again a third time, M realized what was going on. When Virga heard her walking by the cage, she thought M was coming to take them out  for playtime and went back to the pouch for the normal trip to the office. M felt guilty, but the gliders did fine and they were very glad to have their playtime tonight

My Buddy

While the markings on our sugar glider are often the most direct way to tell who is who, it is also easy for us to tell them apart by their personalities. They are all very distinctive. This is the first of four posts in which I'll take a look at the personalities of each of our gliders.

I think CB and I had a bond from the moment we left for home after picking them up from the breeder. I'm sure he didn't feel that way toward me at that time, but I knew he and I would hit it off. The day we picked CB and his sister Foehn up was an unsettling time for them. Foehn crabbed off and on during the long ride home. CB couldn't care less, and he slept almost the whole trip.  His name "CB" is the abbreviation for a cumulonimbus cloud, or thunderstorm.  He isn't the "stormy" type, though. I liked CB's laid back personality.

CB hanging out in my pant leg during tent time

He likes his sleep, and he will go to lengths to find a comfortable place to curl up.  Usually that is in my shirt (or M's). After only several months with us, when they had becoming more trusting, CB would crawl into my shirt during tent time for a nap. He obviously wasn't quite ready to play. While Foehn (and later Virga and Cirrus) were running around the tent, CB was curled up in my shirt just above the belt getting some more rest. After 20 or 30 minutes  he would usually find his way out and play with the others.  Sometimes, I think he does this to get a break from the three females he lives with. 

CB climbing out of my shirt after a 30 minute nap

While CB has an easy personality, he doesn't just sit back and watch the world go by. He will be two years old in May, not quite an adolescent in glider years. When he isn't sleeping he is usually pretty active. On three occasions he has gotten away from us and gone exploring. These little adventures might have been fun for him, at least for awhile, but they were stressful on us. One of these in particular was scary for us, and probably for him as well by the time it ended after a couple of hours. He hasn't gone exploring since this summer, when I inadvertently left the cage door open. Part of that is we are more careful and part is that he is comfortable with us and isn't afraid of our hands. Given the opportunity, though, he will take off.  He, like Foehn, doesn't particularly like to be held, but during those times when he doesn't mind he will sit quietly and let you pet him between the ears. Eventually, though, he gets restless and is off looking for something to get into.

Early Morning Antics

I was just becoming conscious of the news on the radio when it went on shortly after 6:00 a.m. this morning and was in that fuzzy zone between being asleep and being awake. I heard a noise like something hitting the floor in the kitchen, but at that point wasn't sure if I was dreaming it or heard it for real. When I was finally awake a few moments later, I figured I had better go check just to be sure. As I stepped out of the bedroom a single bark came from the gliders' cage. I flipped on the red light near their cage to see what was going on. Cirrus heard me and jumped to the front of the cage. At my feet was an assortment of plastic toys and doodads that had been in a plastic bowl atop their cage. I then realized what I had heard - it was the bowl falling off of the top of the 5 ft high cage. Cirrus had managed to work the bowl along the top of the cage to the edge where it eventually fell off. All of the gliders love to play with stuff sitting on top of the cage - it's a challenge for them.  The openings in the wire are one inch by one half inch, so they have to work at getting at what is ever there. So, I picked up the mess, and in the meantime Cirrus retreated to their sleeping pouch.  M was due to give them their morning yogurt licks, so I headed back into the bedroom to get ready for work. M was up and getting ready to head out to them and I told her what I had found. We were both amused about what Cirrus manged to do.

After getting dressed I headed to my office to get my stuff for work. When I got to the cage the same bowl that I had picked up 30 minutes earlier was on the floor with its contact scattered all over. I figured maybe M had dropped it. When I asked her about it, she said "I thought you had left it on the floor."  "No," said I, " I picked it all up and put it back on the cage."  Well, it didn't take us long to figure that Cirrus, and apparently also Virga, had managed to work it to the edge and knock it off again. M said when she came out they were both on the front of the cage looking at her like "What? We didn't do anything..."  They had to have worked fast, because there wasn't more than about 10 minutes between the time I left them and the time M came out.  Unfortunately I didn't have the video camera set up, but I wish I had.  They were certainly enjoying themselves!

This is what greeted me when I came out the second time
this morning. The smaller items were in the plastic bowl,
and the bowl was on top of the cage.

Fun with Hearts

I didn't mean to go this long between blog posts, but what can I say?  Night playtime the last two weeks, with the exception of one night, has been in my office and not in the tent. All four gliders have a good time running and climbing. They can go an hour an a half like that on most nights. We also have a wheel in the room and it gets a good workout- three of them are spinning around in it right now.

This week they have enjoyed the challenge of playing "hearts", so to speak. M picked up some small heart-shaped plastic containers used for candy. She made a few small holes in the container lids. She has been filling them with about 6 meal worms each, and we put them out for the gang to try and open. It usually takes a while, but they eventually get them open for their reward. It is a hoot watching them try to get the containers open, wrestling it and pushing it around (as if that is going to get it open). When one glider is working on one, a second will often come over to help out.  When they do get it open, well, then often the others show up to enjoy the reward.

Tonight Virga was the persistent one. She stayed with it and eventually opened two of the containers. CB is usually the more adept one at opening them, but he wasn't very interested tonight. I did manage to get some video of Virga and Cirrus working hard to get one of the containers open. They eventually do, and either CB or Foehn (not sure which) joined them for a meal worm. We keep the light at a low level in the room, so the video is a little dark.

Virga works at getting a heart open for the meal worms inside