Thunder from Down Under

I'll be blunt...Taz is a chunk. At his last vet visit, he weighed in at a hefty 221 grams. Sydney's weight is a very typical 151 grams and although we don't have the exact weight of Bruce, he and Sydney are pretty close in size. Just as when adults are overweight, it can lead to health problems, sugar gliders are no different. After spending some time with Taz, we think we've figured out the two major culprits of his large size, addiction to a sweet treat called Gliderade and lack of exercise. I'm not sure the lack of exercise is a personality thing yet or a direct result of his size. It's tough to lug that extra mass around!

Gliderade is one of those well meaning products that is fine for some, but is considered by most experienced owners to be a very occasional treat. Taz and Sydney's former vet was unaware of the latest consensus of this fact and recommended it as a daily supplement to their diet. With Sydney it doesn't seem to have been a problem, but Taz LOVES the stuff. He will run to the bottle and drink like a junkie with his stash.

For being so big, he is still pretty agile. He can climb around the cage, even hanging upside down. He just moves slower. We also haven't seen him jump or attempt to glide yet. (Probably is nearly impossible for him right now.)

SO...it's diet time for Taz. Our first step will be to wean him off the Gliderade. I don't want to shock him by completely taking it away cold-turkey, but we'll dilute it with water and keep doing so until his bottle only contains regular water. Hopefully this will help him from having too many empty calories. Second, we are going to switch both him and Sydney to the BML diet that Bruce is currently on. We are also going to try to increase Taz's exercise during tent time. Hopefully we'll see the weight start coming off!

Bonding Adventures

As mentioned in the introduction post, our suggies Sydney and Taz came to us very recently. Although they had been well fed and had accommodations that most gliders only dream of having, they had little socialization with humans since they were fostered 7 years ago. Their foster mom warned us that Taz was quite crabby and would bite if handled. Sydney wasn't as vocal about her dislike of attention and she would sometimes come out and be a little curious during feeding time. With 10 guinea pigs, a bunny and a cat to also care for, there just wasn't a lot of time left over for the large amount of time necessary to bond with these two. We can tell though that their former family that had to give them up did spend time with them, but it's just been a while. We have now set out on the adventure to encourage Sydney and Taz to enjoy contact with us and hopefully become tame and sweet pets.

Most glider owners purchase their pets as joeys and begin bonding right away. Bruce was raised in this manner. Bonding with older gliders is a similar process, but can take longer because of ingrained habits. We are pretty sure that we can get Sydney and Taz used to humans again, but know it is going to be a long journey. A really good series of articles about bonding with gliders can be found here. It's a 6 part series from the folks at Sun Coast Sugar Gliders, one of a few reputable stores and breeders we have discovered.

So now we start the adventure. The first night Sydney and Taz were with us, we only took them out in their sleeping pouch for about 5 minutes. Taz crabbed most of the time, but Sydney was quiet. We decided on a plan of action to take them out and get them in individual bonding pouches (shown on the right) each night while we watched our TV shows. We placed a small bit of apple in each pouch as a calming and positive treat. Also, on the days I am home all day, I will carry the duo (or each individually) around for a few hours each day in the pouch. This will get them used to our scent and sound of our voice in a non-threatening way. The 2nd night Sydney and Taz were with us, we tried this technique. Taz was NOT a happy boy at first. He was very vocal and crabbed a lot. After about 15 minutes though, he calmed down and relaxed with Jay. I had Sydney and she was a sweetie. She, however, got restless after a while and was trying very hard to find a way out of the pouch. (Based on the weight difference between the two of them and the behaviors we've observed so far, she is a VERY active little gal, so we may have to do a lot of the pouch bonding with her during the day when she's sleepy.)

Introductions

Guess a first blog post should introduce everyone around here. I'm Suzy (posting as Queen Ladybug), mom to currently 3 sugar gliders. Occasionally posting will be Jay (Elemental Jay), the glider daddy. I wanted to set up a blog so our friends and other sugar glider owners/prospective owners could get a glimpse into the world of raising these adorable little marsupials.

Our suggies!

Bruce
Jay got Bruce in the summer of 2008 as a joey. He's a very happy guy who is very tame from plenty of attention. He enjoys cuddling in pockets and running around Jay's shoulders. His favorite treats are Fruit Loops, meal worms, bread and tiny bits of cheese.

Bruce has been raised as a single glider and although he is very content, we are currently investigating finding him a friend of his very own.

Sydney and Taz
This bonded pair came to us just this week. They have been fostered for nearly 7 years by a couple who has devoted themselves to guinea pig rescue. The couple found out we had a glider and we arranged to have the pair come live with us. Sydney and Taz have been taken care of very well, but their foster family wasn't able to spend a lot of time socializing with them. At the moment, they are a bit skittish around us humans. We are currently working with them daily to adjust them to us and eventually we hope to let them meet Bruce as well. Sydney is a little less fearful of us, but Taz is a very vocal and crabby guy right now. We hope to change that over the next month or so. Taz is also quite a bit overweight. We think he liked his glideraid and treats just a bit too much the past few years.

Our household also consists of one full time teenager, 5 other part time kids ages 7-16, a basset hound named Buddy and a cat named Molly. I'm sure each of them will occasionally show up in this blog as well!

Over time, I hope this blog will not only share information about our gliders, but information that will be helpful to other owners. There is a lot of conflicting information about the care of sugar gliders on the internet and I'd like to share some of the "good" information I've found, as well as warnings about some stuff out there that can be potentially harmful to these pets.