Is a Trio in the Works?

For the last two weeks Flurry's cage and CB and Sprite's cage have been within four inches of each other. In addition, we have been switching cages every night - they use each other's pouches, toys, and everything. Nobody has objected to being moved each night! Flurry has become more relaxed in general, and each night when CB and Sprite are returned to their cage all three are on the back of their respective cages checking each other out. There has been no crabbing or aggressive behavior.  In fact, we think Flurry really would like to join them if he could. We'll find out soon. Since their familiarization has gone so well we are going to try introductions for the three of them this weekend.

Flurry is calming down a lot. He loves to be with M. Most days after yogurt he climbs in her overshirt (a large shirt she wear over her regular top), makes his way to the back and spends his day sleeping there. He willing goes into his pouch if she needs him to. Flurry gets his allocation of mealworms at night, then goes to his cage. If all goes well this weekend he will start playtime with the other two next week. We are leaving Foehn and Rossby out of the equation right now.

Flurry enjoying a mealworm while sitting in M's shirt earlier this week.

Growing Up

Yesterday was Rossby's and Sprite's 2nd birthday. They came to us when they were seven months old and are terrific gliders. They are both have great personalities and are very social, other than Foehn and Sprite still having to work things out.  Foehn has become somewhat neurotic that past several month and we are not sure why. Rossby is pretty relaxed about things, and he must have the patience of a saint to put up with Foehn sometimes. Rossby loves to run and when he is in the tent he will race around the perimeter of the tent. We think that he may just like the sound of his feet on the plastic tarp floor.  Between that and the wheel he keeps moving most of the time, occasionally taking a break to climb up the front of my shirt to my shoulder where he will sit and survey the scene. Once in awhile he will nuzzle my cheek while he's up there. After a minute or two he is off again running around until the next time for a break.

Sprite is a little sweetheart, and has become my favorite, partly because she has been the odd one out for much of the last year.  Initially she and Foehn did not hit it off, but then they were OK and she and CB had differences.  When we were finally able to get Sprite and CB together, then she and Foehn were at odds (we are still working on it).  Sprite has decided my shoulder is her safe place and will head there when Foehn is after her. Sprite likes to be petted and will sit on my shoulder and let me pet her much longer than any of the others.  When it's time to go back to the cage from the tent I put her and CB in a pouch. She will stay in for a minute or so, but then her little head pops out to see what's going on. She often will climb out and on to my shoulder for the ride to her cage. I don't have to worry about her jumping off and going exploring. When we get to the cage she will climb down my arm into the cage and wait with CB for dinner to be served.

Flurry is a New Man

On Monday Flurry went in for his neuter. Everything went well and he didn't have any problems afterward at home. We have moved his cage from the laundry room and placed it near the other cages so he can start becoming familiar with the other gliders and they with him. Since we are not having much luck convincing Foehn to leave Sprite alone, we are going to try and introduce Flurry to CB and Sprite initially.  We have already started swapping pouch blankets, and in another week or so will start swapping pouches.

Flurry is starting to calm down a little. He takes mealworms from me, although sometimes he will take it and then tun to the back of the cage to eat it.  Other times, though, he will sit at the door of the cage, snarf down the mealworm I just gave him, and beg for more. He is still M's little guy and he spends most days with her in his pouch. He loves to come out and crawl into her overshirt to sleep.

Still Trying

We still have three cages of gliders at the time. CB and Sprite, Rossby and Foehn, and Flurry.  Flurry will be on his own for another month or two yet.  He is scheduled to be be neutered on April 1, and once he has recovered from the surgery we'll see about getting him together with one of the pairs, unless they are all together by then.

We have been trying different tactics to get Foehn and Sprite together for the last couple of months. The first thing we tried was taking the two of them into the bathroom to let them interact with each other. For brief moments things would seem OK, but then either Foehn would make a move at Sprite, or Sprite would start loudly crabbing. After that Foehn would stalk or chase Sprite, and she spent her time trying to stay as far away from Foehn as possible. Her first route of escape was to climb up the shpwer curtain and sit on the shower rod, watching Foehn from high ground.

Sprite sitting on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom.

Her other spot was on my shoulder, and if she was on the floor that was her first "go to" spot.

Sprite keeping an eye out for Foehn from her perch on my shoulder.

Eventually Foehn got brave and started climbing the shower curtain as well, so Sprite stayed on the move. When she wasn't chasing Sprite, Foehn was marking and chewing on things, and can't seem to just chill out.

The bathroom turned out to be just too big as they could easily avoid each other. So, the next step was to try the two of them in the tent. That ended up with Foehn chasing Sprite most of the time. They did ball up once in a while, but Sprite seems to be faster and more agile than Foehn and manages to stay ahead of her.

The latest variation, which we just started a few days ago, is to bring the boys (CB and Rossby) in the tent as well. Foehn is somewhat more distracted with them present, but still takes every opportunity to chase down Sprite. At this point we're not sure what it's going to take to break this stalemate,

A Little Less Crabby

Flurry has been with us a week now.  He has calmed down some and will let us pet and handle him, but he still a nervous and at times scared glider. M has been carrying him a bonding pouch every day and he does pretty well. He crabs a little, but he is also curious and will pop his head to to check things out. M has been taking him in our small bathroom for his morning yogurt and a chance to run around and he seems to enjoy that.

For some reason he is particularly skittish and nervous when he is in his cage. We wonder if he had a bad experience in a cage in one of his earlier homes.  The owner we obtained him from purchased him at a local pet store because he was by himself and didn't look very good. He had been purchased previously by someone else but they brought him back. You don't normally see sugar gliders in pet stores. Apparently one of the employees there had sugar gliders of her own and they had joeys, and then tried to sell them through the pet store. So, there is no telling what he might have been through before his last owner.  He probably has been by himself for most of his life. It's also possible that he was ignored and not socialized a great deal, if not mistreated, at some point. We inadvertently freaked him out a little this weekend when we cleaned his cage and washed his toys. He did not know what to make out of all the new smells and lack of familiar smells.

We are not sure how old he is, but he is probably close to a year. He has been eating very well his first week here which is good to see.  Flurry tipped the scale at 100 grams at the weekly weigh-in yesterday, which is as much as CB and Rossby. 

Meet Flurry, Our Newest Addition

Long time, no posts!  With the holidays and some other things going on here in the household blogging hasn't been a the top of the list - just not enough time. That, and there haven't been a lot of new developments to report. CB and Sprite, and Rossby and Foehn are still getting along as pairs. We've recently started efforts to get Foehn and Sprite reacquainted, but more on that in a future post.

Yesterday we brought home a new glider. M checks out the local Craigslist listings occasionally just to see if there are any gliders posted. In the first week of January she pointed out an ad from someone who had a single glider they were trying to rehome. It was like other ads of that type, but there were a few photos of the little guy. She made vague probes about what I thought but I didn't bite. With everything that has been going on (not necessarily with the gliders) it was the last thing I was going to worry about.

Yesterday she noticed that the ad had been reposted with a little more info, including the rehoming fee. He was a lone glider, and the owner could not devote the time to him between working and caring for a new baby. After some discussion M emailed the owner and asked if the glider was still available. He was, and she was willing to take a lower fee since we were going to have to take him to the vet for a check and to get him neutered.  So later in the afternoon we drove over and picked him up. The owners liked the fact we had gliders already. They were intent on finding a good home for him, even having turned down an offer from someone they didn't feel good about. We left with Flurry, a pouch, and some of his toys.

Flurry, our new arrival. The spot on his head is his scent gland. That will gradually disappear one he is neutered.

Once home we placed him in the cage we had set up (the cage we got with Virga and Cirrus). He was a scared little guy and has done a lot of crabbing the last 24 hours letting us know that. He's getting better about it, though, and we have been talking to him and trying to reassure him.  He ate well last night, and ended up sleeping in the pouch we placed in the cage for him. I just went to put his dinner in the cage and he was peeking out at me from the pouch with only a bit of crabbing. Flurry is doing pretty well so far. He's been though a lot in his short life so we hope he will thrive in a more stable setting. I'll have more on his background in the next post.

Flurry shortly after he was placed in his new cage.

Maybe There is Light at the End of the Tunnel

CB and Sprite have been getting along great the last several weeks and have really bonded. We have been switching cages between the pairs every week and that has generated some interesting behavior. Sprite lived alone in the smaller cage for several months and it was her domain. Once she and CB paired up and we started switching cages, she has behaved somewhat the same as Foehn when she was camping out at one end of the big cage to watch Sprite. When she is in the big cage Sprite goes to the end near the smaller cage and makes a low crabbing sound at Foehn in the smaller cage. I wasn't quite sure what this was about at first but I think she is trying to let Foehn know that the small cage was her territory and not Foehn's. She isn't nearly obsessive about as Foehn was when she is in the big cage. As they have all gotten more used to the arrangement even Foehn seems to have mellowed out a bit and doesn't spend as much time checking on Sprite and Rossby.

For the first time in over a month we reunited Rossby with Sprite and CB today. M carried them around in a pouch all day, and I had them in the tent together tonight. I'll probably take Foehn, Rossby, and CB tomorrow night and see how that goes. M said Foehn stuck her nose in the trio pouch today while giving them yogurt, but did not go after anyone. That's a small but good sign. Maybe we'll be able to get all four together yet.

This evening M was giving Sprite (and then Rossby) a drink of cranberry juice. They really like it (actually all of them do) and they will readily climb out for a drink. I took this photo of them while they were out getting their drink tonight.

Sprite and Rossby having some cranberry juice.