Little Gremlin resided in my glider room with his mate Hydee along with 12 other pairs of gliders. He was one of sixteen Babies I purchased almost two years ago. I had dreamed of this day when I could breed Sugar Gliders for almost three years and it was beginning to come true. I sat in the middle of them for many hours and still do watching them for hours. There was one very large and scrawny looking baby among them and I named him Gremlin.<P>For several nights I could hear the babies crying for their mothers. Their soft shh shh cry would echo throughout the glider room and into our quiet house late at night. As the days and nights passed all settled in. In the evenings as I would open the kitchen door into the garage I could hear the
wheels spinning and the little gliders running on them. When I opened the door to the glider room everyone would stop and all was quiet. Sixteen pairs of eyes and ears would be watching and listening as to what I was doing. One little glider would always have his little face and hands poking out of the nest box every night as I would be passing out the dishes with the evening meal. I would stop and set my dishes down and open his door and with the Leadbeaters on my fingers he would gently lick them clean. <P> This was the begining of our relationship. He always waited for me evey single night peering out of his nest box with those tiny hands hanging out.<P>Cleaning cages and removing dishes were a real treat for Gremlin as he learned he could get past me whenever I opened his door to clean. He would boldly run up my arm and sit on my shoulder for hours. He was also quite social with everyone else in the glider room too. He would hop from one cage and visit a bit and continue on eventually returning to my shoulder.<P>As time flew by, Gremlin matured into a handsome little guy. By a year old he weighed 120 grams and he was very trim but mature looking. I paired him with an alpha female named Hydee since he was so passive. They made a perfect couple. They became good parents to their offspring too.<P>Late this summer I decided it was time to replace a few of the galvanized cages along with the others I felt now were too small as with babies in the cages I felt the the gliders needed more room. So, I purchased four cages and moved four pair of gliders. In doing so I discovered that moving gliders into different cages would create stress. I got through the crisis and a month later I moved four more pairs except this time I made sure the nest boxes were cleaned several days before the introduction into the larger cages. Gremlin and Hydee were among the second set.<P>About a week after the move, Gremlin and Hydee's baby came oop. What a cutie she was and within a week her bold little eyes were open and she had filled out into a little pudgy baby. Then something strange was about to happen.<P>One evening I noticed Hydee up sleeping in the Wodent wheel and with her was Gremlin. While passing the food dishes I could hear a shhh shhh of a little one crying. When I located the source it was Gremlin and Hydee's baby who was on the floor of the cage and she had a face pressed against the wire in a corner. I put her back into the little pouch I had made for them and then finally Gremlin came back to her.<P>Next morning picking up the food dishes I noticed Gremlin and Hydee back up in the wheel again and since I did not hear the little one I just assumed that she was up there to. Later in the evening when passing out the food dishes I saw the baby back on the floor and in the same corner again. Only this time I was too late. The little one had died and not too long ago as she was still somewhat soft. No bites or anything but her face looked a little strange as her little nose was black as well as her mouth. When I talked to my
vet about this he said the baby had become cold first and then died. With this in mind I new it was from the stress of the new cage and the parents had left her. But both parents were eating almost all of their feed so no need to worry about them.<P>Within a week I noticed something else was going on. Gremlin would be sitting on his water bottle whenever I entered the glider room and not in his usual spot of their nest box with Hydee still in the wheel. He had also taken on a rather un-groomed appearance. The cage area looked normal but then the nest box had some diarrhea on it. I cleaned up Gremlin along whith the nest box and then noticed he would not touch his food. I made up some Gliderade and another small dish of applejuice and diluted it with water. He was thirsty. His skin when pulled up stayed up which are classic signs of dehydration. Gave him a shot of fluids twice that night to rehydrate . I would take him to the
vet in the morning.<P>So, early Tuesday morning to the
vet we went, Gremlin, Hydee and me. Hydee checked out fine. The lab found nothing in the floats but normal bacteria. So the diagnoses was stress which the diarrhea was secondary. The only thing we could figure out that the stress was brought about by the changing of cages. I was given Baytril and an anti diarrhea medication and also instructed to let Gremlin have what ever he would eat and also to give him fluids every eight hours under his skin. He refused all foods except for the pears.<P>By Wednesday I was carrying Gremlin with me on my person. Hydee refused to let Gremlin inside of the nest box. He was so weak he wold not protest when she would crab at him and he would sheeplessly leave. I guess she new he was gravely ill and she for some reason wanted nothing to do with him. By late afternoon Gremlin was not doing well at all. While in the
vets office I noticed Gremlin was washing himself a lot but passed it off. After we got home I had to give him fluids again under the skin and for some reason he turned over and then I saw his little pom poms were bright red and stripped of hair. It was 6 p.m. so I called the
vet again. She said to bring him in right away and she would make an e-collar for him. The e-collar did the trick as he no longer could get to himself. The irritation was caused by his constant cleaning. Later that night I could not stand the e-collar any longer on him. Gremlin's little hands had a grip on the collar and he wrestled with it constantly. So I removed it.<P>By Thursday afternoon things were changing and I had a terrible ache to have him put to sleep. But once at the clinic the
vet encouraged me to hang in there with Gremlin. I asked the
vet to give Gremlin more fluids and also for some smaller gauge needles as I knew Gremlin's body must have been feeling like a pin cushion by now. I mentioned about the change in color in his little hands and feet as to me they were somewhat of an yellow tinge. But the
vet passed it off or else he did not want to tell me why the yellow color as I am sure he knew I knew why the bad color. The
vet was concerned about the twitching behavior and also how hyper this sick glider was. So now I am told to administer the fluids every two hours, hold the Baytril for 24 hours. Gremlin got a shot of Ritalin to help slow him down along with his digestive track. This meant no food, not that he was eating anything because he wasn't. I was force feeding pears with a little chicken mixed in with it. All food to be held for six hours.<P>I would say about two hours later Gremlin became lethargic looking and couldn't even hold his head up. His little hands were drawn up into little fists as well as his back feet. He could not walk. In a panic I called the
vet. He thought it was from lack of sugar. So back to clinic for a shot for hypoglycemia and one for Calcium. Within an hour of being home Gremlin perked up. His little body was able to relax as his little hands and feet were able to grip even though he was so weak. But the twitching never did stop. He had developed classic signs of lack of calcium but it was not from calcium. It was from lack of protein. I knew it was going to be a very long night as Gremlin had now hit bottom and I was grief stricken. At 11 p.m. I called my
vet at his home as the fluids were now leaking out of Gremlins body. I was constantly drying him and changing his pouch for a clean one because it would become wet. Gremlin could not regulate his body temperature and I needed to keep him warm and dry. I had a hospital tank set up with a heating pad under it but Gremlin would panic when placed inside of it. He was scared and did not want to be left alone. I tried to busy myself with other things in order not to dwell on the outcome. I tried several glider chat boards but most people were in bed. I sent out a couple of posts looking for Bourbon. Finally, a couple of people sent me her phone number. I waited to call......but finally at 3 a.m. I called her. We went over everything that had been done for Gremlin and it was determined all that could be possibly be done had indeed been tried. Bourbon told me to be prepared for the worse and I knew in my heart that it was true.<P>About 6 a.m. and no sleep for 48 hours Gremlin and I snuggled on the couch. He hopped out and with his frail little body scampered up my arm to my shoulder. Within seconds he was purring in my ear. He was so sick but yet so content. What a silly little guy I thought. I gently picked him up and placed him in his little pouch and laid him on my chest and his little face was peaking out at me. Then I covered us up with a blanket as the air was cool in the room. Within minutes we drifted off to sleep on the couch in the den. I awoke a couple of hours later and Gremlin was still in his pouch and on my chest. Then I realized with tears in my eyes, he had left me. Saddened, I thought to myself of what a gift Gremlin and been. Oh, what a treasure he was....and I will miss him dearly.<P>**Little Gremlin had the best of
vet care. Had I paid a little more attention I might have noticed sooner. With the first set of gliders moved one pair went off their feed. No diarrhea. But with the second set of gliders moved I knew Gremlin and Hydee were stressed but the danger signs were well masked in the beginning. Hydee for one, was eating Gremlins share of the food when he became ill. And I did not pick up on it until it was too late. Gremlin went from a healthy 120 grams down to a sickly 45 grams within a couple of weeks. A large amount of the weight loss was contributed to dehydration with ther remainder of the weight loss from lack of eating. As for the Protein loss if I had fource feed the leadbeaters after he was ill perhaps things would have been different. He would have gotten the required amount of protein needed when ill.<P>Sugar Gliders do not handle stress very well. And like my little Gremlin, some not at all.<P>Sincerly, Judie Hausmann<P><p>[This message has been edited by Judie (edited 11-20-2000).]