Sugar glider information

Question
QUESTION: Hi Kaden,

I am going to adopt 3 female Sugar gliders today and have been doing a lot of research. The females are all adults, and sisters.
2 of them are 2yrs old and the third is 3. The situation is as follows, they belong to a pair of teenage brothers who have had gliders since they were 9 and 11 years old. Now being 15 and 17 high school is taking time away from when they can interact with them. I've read that bonding with adults can take longer and i'm fully prepared for it. That being said, when carrying them in a bonding pouch should I carry all 3 or some combination of 1 or 2. My feeling is all 3 but being a new parent I would like some advice. Also any advice on other areas would greatly be appreciated. Anything I can do to help transition the new members of my family with as little stress as possibly I'm willing to do.

Thank you in advance!
Chris

ANSWER: First of all much THANKS is in order for your willingness to adopt an older set of gliders.. unfortunately in my rescue service I run into a LOT of people who want that tiny little baby as their 1st pet.. and this is sad because aside from getting an already tamed / handled / conditioned adult,.. a little one will need much more training and handwork than an older glider will.. so to me it is creating much more work and much less quality bonding time.. :) and so I couldn't be happier when I meet someone such as yourself who is willing to take the time to work with an established set such as you are.. BRAVO!

What I would recommend is that firstly, you should ALWAYS go with your gut feeling.. :P
Bonding will happen whether you do 1 at a time or three at a time.. any glider you bond with will carry your scent into the pouch w/ the others in any regard.. so therefore if you did choose 1 over 3 then it would be a slower process in my opinion.. granted there will be some days where carrying a quite heavy packed pouch of 3 will pose as being bothersome.. most likely to your neck!..lol so on those days take 1 and another one another day.. as long as it is equal time you should have the same results :)

Hope this helps! & ENJOY your new kids <3

kaden O_o

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for such a quick response Kaden.
It was really late last night when we finally got them home. But we managed to get them in house with very little fuss! We quickly fix a small meal for them(scrambled egg, apple pieces, carrots and a couple red grapes cut in half). Within a few minutes the 3yr old(Sahara) took a piece of egg from my wife! An even bigger surprise was that she started chirping while eating it! Had to look up the meaning of the sound but was very pleased at the meaning. The twins where a little bit more cautious, the bigger of the two was crabbing quite a bit but eventually took a grape half from me between crabs! One thing I noticed was that part of the time it seemed like some of the crabbing was directed at the smaller twin, why do you think that is? After posting my original question I also realized that just carring one at a time would in fact carry my scent into their habitat. But thank you for backing that up for me! I'll will keep you posted!

Chris

ANSWER: Pouch mates usually grumble over space and or food at times.. no worries there
They are just like human siblings or housemates.. lol

Awesome News..!! That is a very promising start for you and your new glider family.. :)

Have Fun!


kaden O_o

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kaden,

Chris again, things are going good. Getting them more and more to take food from my hands. Some times they will hold on to my fingers while eating. That's a very cool feeling! I also have some news that really took me by suprise. The other day the smaller of the two twins looked like she had gotten her foot caught in her flight membrane some how and was haveing some trouble getting it loose, if that's even possible. So I thought well if this happens in the wild they have to figure it out for themselves, but my need to help her took over and i put a small fleece cloth over my hand and picked her up and wrapped her in it, one to lessen the chance of bitting me and two hoping she would be comfortable. my wife and myself turned her around and started to look her over and try to figure all of this out and where completely shocked to find that she was missing her left rear foot. There was no wound, swelling or anything. It was completely healed. It broke my heart to see it. The good thing is that it doesnt seem to affect her very much, she climbs, hangs and runs in the wheel with her sisters with minimal effort. Is it possible that she did this to herself?

Answer
Hello Chris,

In all actuality this seems like an injury which occurred when she was very very small.. who is to say of how or when exactly.. all we know for sure is that she is okay now..

I myself have a rescued female which is missing not only some digits on her feet and paws.. but also half of her tail and both ears.. she is quite something and gets around like any other glider would.. so rejoice in the fact she isn't mentally disabled.. :)

Injuries happen like this from one or more parents.. and or cage mates.. some of the time mothers and or cage mates cannibalize little babies which is unfortunate.. but also part of nature..

as far as he membrane is concerned.. use the exact method you used to inspect her.. but keep her little nail clipped on a regular basis... as well as her cage mates.. this keeps little things like this from happening and also keeps them from getting caught in their own bedding.. but be careful as well as when the nails have been trimmed they loose the power to grip as well as they could before..

Best Wishes

kaden O_o