Please help! I caught the glider bug.
My family and I were a the mall when we came across the Pocket Pets kiosk. I saw these very tiny and very cute little things soaring threw the air, caught my attention instantly. The guy handed me a glider and my heart melted, the whole family loved them! We talked to the guy for about 20 minutes while we all held the glider and fed him a little bit, there opposable thumbs are so cute. He talked about how easy and low maintnence they are, I knew that was BS, ANY animal that you care for (especially exotic) require lots of cleaning, feeding, and money. Not to mention time, attention, and love. We were very tempted to buy a setup from them, but I always research anything before I buy it. Good thing too, found lots of info that makes me glad I didn't buy fom (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets.

I have cared for many different animals...geckos, dragons, snakes, tarantualas, scorpions, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, mice, squirrels, ferrets, dogs, cats and fish.
And I have figured out that none of them are anything like taking care of a glider. But after doing lots of research, I am still convinced we can provide a happy home for a pair of gliders. I think it would be very rewarding to earn the trust of a little glider, and have them want to socialize with me and the family. Plus I am nocternal myself, I am usually up till at least 1 in the morning, by myself, on the computer or watching TV. So I would love to have a little buddy to hang out with. It seems that you form a personal relationship with them, and have a strong bond. My dog is my best friend, he goes every where with me, loves all the same things I do, and only listens to me. I have worked very hard with him on his off the leash skills and the reward is a constant, trusting, companion. He is a family member, its just like having another kid. So hopefully the family and I can bond the same way with these cute little gliders. We are going to look at a pair tommorow, hopefully everything works out and we can soon adopt them into our family.

I have combed over all the glider forums and websites soaking up information on gliders and making my fever worse! Thank you guys for all the great info and advice.

welcome to glider central!

i'm so happy to hear you've done the responsible thing and did some research on these wonderful little animals before deciding to buy. there's a TON of information here, the people are great and very helpful when it comes to us newbies (myself included). =)

Welcome to GC!

Welcome!!! Glad you didn't impulse buy, but I understand how can you resist those cute little faces! I hope it works out for you to adpot a pair of them!

I always get a huge on my face when I hear that someone walked away from an impulse buy to research first!

I would encourage you to continue researching before you buy. Once you feel you know what is needed, then start out by purchasing their cage and several cage sets, toys, and wheels. After you have all of the necessities, then get your gliders.

Also, make sure you have everything you need for the diet you select. Most diets require you to make them at home, so have it prepared at least a day before you bring your new babies home. If you click on the word diet, it will take you to the database with numerous diets listed. This is where you can research them, and pick the one that you feel will work best for you and your gliders. Keep in mind that this is not an "approved" list, it is just a compiled list of various diets available. My personal recommendations are BML or the Original HPW. I do not recommend a pellet diet as my experience has shown them to not be very nutritional for gliders.

Please peruse GliderCENTRAL, and if you have any questions, please post them in the appropriate forum where you'll receive the best responses!

Good luck!!

They are finally here!
We adopted two suggies today. They are a bonded pair, and the female may be pregnant. They are 8 months old, and the cutest little things any of us have ever seen. They came with a descent size cage, about 2x2x4ft. And a bunch of hammocks, slings, pouches, and a wheel.

I mixed and diced up there fruits & veggies today, its fairly easy and actually enjoyable. I made a great smoothie with all the left over fruits. I bought a bunch of small containers from the dollar store, so i made enough fruits and veggies to last a week, frozen, 1 container of each per day. Plus I ordered some HPW that is sitting in an ice cube tray now. Hopefully they will like there new diet.

When I brought them home in the bonding pouch around my neck, my daughter took to them instantly. She has a low, soft voice. I think the gliders like her already. They would crab every time she peeked into the pouch though. She gave them small pieces of fruit and they stopped crabbing right away. For about an hour she bribed them out of the pouch a little to grab fruits and veggies. Overall I think it was a great introduction. They are sleeping in the cage now, hopefully they will feel like exploring tonight.

I switched out a couple of the existing pouches for new ones that we have. Cleaned the pull out tray with soap and hot water. There cage still smells pretty funky, so tommorrow I will take it outside and wash it down. I will save a couple of their exising things so that their scent will still be present. I will make a no sew cage cover soon to help with "overspray".

We are really excited to start bonding with them. One quick question though. Our kids, cat, and dog don't mess with our plants at all, so we have a lot, all over the house. I looked up most of the species, and most of them were toxic to gliders. So what did you all do with your plants? Move them to a non-glider area of the house? Or get rid of them entirely? We are usually very tidy with our house plants, and pick up any dead leaves right away. Plus we have little kids, so the floors are constantly vaccumed and swept. Would this be enough?

Thanks again for everyones help.

Congrats! sounds like things are going well already.

You can leave the plants where they are as long as the gliders aren't going to be roaming around in that area. Use a bathroom (no plants) or a tent for playtime. I believe you only have to worry about them ingesting the toxic plants, them being in the same room is fine.

We have started bonding with the gliders. The male is very easy going, he is definitly not shy, or scared of us. He will give a little nibble on my hands when i try to redirect him, I know that its just a disagreement nibble, he could bite me a lot worse if he wanted to. Hopefully as we handle him more the little nibbles will stop. He is very friendly and curious, I like him already.

The female is a bit smaller than the male. When she crawls on the cage I can see two large pill shaped bulges on her stomach, I am fairly sure that they are joeys. Wow she is fast, and b/c she is pregnant I am very nervous handling her. She is very shy, and does NOT like being picked up or redirected. She gives me a little more than a nibble when she isn't happy with me. She will come out to take food, very gently, from my hand. So she can be bribed, hopefully with more interactions she will stop biting. I can only do pouch to pouch transfers with out getting nibbled on.

The previous owner said to be a little more dominate with her and she will do fine. When she handled the pair, they would crab at her, but didin't bite. So I think that with some more trust they will stop biting us. She had them on a pellet and dried fruit diet. They have been eating some of the fruits and veggies, and a little bit of the HPW, but they didn't dig in to it like I thought they would. They keep looking in the old bowl on the cage that had the pellets, I hope that they aren't hungry. They should get used to the new diet right? Hopefully the new diet will cut down on the smell some too, they are some stinky little buggers. Any other suggestions for the biting?

They'll get used to their diet. Give them a bit of time. It sometimes takes them a bit to get used to things, especially being in a new environment. Once they've been on their diet for a bit, their smell should decrease a considerable amount.

Not sure what you mean when the previous owner said to be more dominant but that's definitely not the way to earn their trust. In fact, you want to do the opposite - do things at HER pace, allow HER to tell you what she wants and when she wants to do it. As you give her more respect, she will begin to trust you more and more.

Is your male neutered or will he be soon? Keep in mind that once the joeys come OOP, Mom will get pregnant almost right away again.

DCMuffin-your glider room and cages are awesome! I plan on building them a cage when the funds are available. Thinly spaced closet maid shelving, it will be 20x40x6ft!

Thats what i figured, I don't want to be "dominate" and scare her away from me. Last night they woke me up at about 2 in the morning. They were barking very loud, when i came down downstairs and turned on a light they stopped. They were lookng at me like, um hello...did you hear me? I want out of this cage! So as soon as I opened the door, they both came right out and started crawling all over the cage. The male would come to me and crawl all over me. I cleared off the table and we played on there for a while. The male tryed to get off, but with a little redirection he stayed on the table. The female however, was bound and determined to explore everything but me. And did NOT like any redirection or handling, it took me a minute just to get her on the table. I tried to usher her into a pouch, or let her go into it herself, so I can move her around. But she wants no part of that either. It took 20 minutes just to get her back in the cage. I ended up gently picking her up and quickly putting her in the cage, I got a descent bite, but she didn't struggle too much. I will just continue to be patient and take the nibbles in stride.

I do plan on neutering the male soon. And it will help with the smell and scenting also right? Is it possible to bond more with the female when she has joeys out of the pouch? Or will she be too protective of them and not let us handle them? Hopefully she will come around before the joeys are out. She always comes out to take food, but then goes right back into the pouch or coconut house. They have only been here for 3 days, so time will tell.

My advice is not to let them out in an unsecured area just yet. Instead, do what many here do and use the bathroom for playtime or better yet, buy a tent. If she's running away or wanting to be other places, she's not ready yet to be out in an area so large. It's dangerous, there are too many variables and it is scary for her. If she's biting, there's a reason. And right now, just by what you're saying, she's telling you that you're moving too quickly for her. Work instead by giving treats while they're in the cage. Allow them to get used to you and your hands. Once they do, they'll begin to trust. Once they learn to trust, they'll want to come to you more and more. Baby steps is the name of the game, and very important if you want to strengthen the relationship you have with them.

Here are a couple of threads you may find helpful:

Into The Bonding Pit

Building A Relationship With Your Glider

Those are great threads, thanks.
I love the male, he is such a sweetheart. I think I will name him Romeo. He just woke up, I watched him pee, poop, and eat a little. Then he started barking at me! So I took him out and we went to the bathroom for a little 1 on 1 time. He ran around for a while, then stopped on my arm and let me pet him. I strached his head and talked soflty to him, when I put him up to my face he reached out with both hands grabbed my nose and licked me! I am so excited, I think he is bonding with me already. We had a great time, no biting at all. When it was time to go back in the cage, he did great.

I thought that I was excluding the female from outside time and bonding time, as she doesn't want much to do with me. I will just have to take it much slower with her. Tommorow I will just take out her cage pouch and put it around my neck while me and Romeo play. I just wish he didn't pee all over me. I think the smell is slightly improving though.

I am so surprised at how quick the male is coming around, for some reason I usually bond better with male animals? Baby steps will definitly be needed to get close to the female. What about my quetions with the joeys? Any experience with an unbonded mommy glider? I will need to check on them often when they are OOP, correct?

I feel so bad, the female is awake and running around the cage. When I come up to it she runs over to the door and looks like she wants out. But getting her to the bathroom, or even in a pouch is so stressful. And then putting her back in the cage is worse! Romeo is cuddled up on my chest under my shirt now, he has been out for almost 3 hours and has been a joy, except for peeing on me. I'll just have to get use to it I guess. Does neutering help with this?