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Signs of depression? #562857
06/03/08 10:51 AM
06/03/08 10:51 AM

A
autumnpicklejar
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autumnpicklejar
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I was curious if anyone could let me know about the signs of depression in suggies. I have one baby and as much as I'd love to get another, my hubby is VERY hesitant to the idea and he says she's fine. Since I got her from the dreaded (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets, I stumbled on this forum trying to help out a friend and in the process my baby started getting sick (just when she ran out of her first year's supply of food (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets gave me). Turns out she's got Giardia, which she's being treated for. Hubby doesn't want to get a bigger cage because the one I got from (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets is the minimum required size. I added toys and pouches and boxes and such to her cage and she seems to be enjoying them, and she's got a very healthy diet on BML now and she's loving it.

I don't know what the signs of depression are, and I'd like to know a little bit about it so I can tell if she's already depressed or if she starts to get that way. This way I can act quickly to get her a friend, otherwise I probably won't be allowed to get another one.

Thanks!

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #562902
06/03/08 12:08 PM
06/03/08 12:08 PM

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Brittney
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I don't necessarily know of any specific signs of depression, other than you can just kind of tell. Unless you're spending at LEAST an hour of out of cage time at night every day with her, it's likely she is very bored/depressed. Can I ask why your hubby is against a better setup for her? I, too, hesitated getting a second suggie much like parents hesitate having a second child! I just couldn't image having two. However, I would NOT ever keep a single glider again if I could help it. You are a great companion I'm sure, but you don't speak her language, or groom her, or eat dinner with her, or watchout for her (in a natural, secure colony sort of way). You can really see the change come out in them with a buddy, though. And the way suggies just LOVE eachother - not to sound cheesey, but it's a beautiful thing. When they sleep and they get all super snuggled up with eachother - priceless. Or bark or chat to eachother. Regardless of whether or not your suggie is depressed now it will do wonders for her overall health to have a companion in my opinion. Plus it's really not any more work to have two vs one - the cleanup isn't that much different either. Plus, if you get a second baby you can get one from a reputable breeder as a joey which is SO fun! That's what I did with my second suggie (first was a (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets 3-time rehomed rescue) and let me tell you - I love them both to death, but my second girl is SO laid back and sweet and handleable!

A bigger cage kind of goes along with that. The minimum cage size is just that - minimum. They can live in whatever you've got but anything bigger is always better for them. Kind of like a dog's minimum space to survive is an apartment but if you really want a happy dog you should have a yard and a house.

HTH - good luck smile

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #562911
06/03/08 12:15 PM
06/03/08 12:15 PM

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ltlrdangel
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I have not had personal experience with glider depression. I can tell you that when I have had a glider by itself for a month or so, then I got it a friend, I saw a HUGE difference. She showed more activity, playing, better appetite, not to mention the fact that she was so happy to have him that she leeched onto him for hours just grooming and loving on him. It was so overwhelming for him the first night that he was actually a little skitish.
Gliders need to have a cage mate, male or female. They are very social creatures.
Now that I have said that, you cannot introduce another glider to her until she is completely well. Otherwise you will probably have two sick gliders instead of one.

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #562924
06/03/08 12:39 PM
06/03/08 12:39 PM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 777
Lecanto Florida
1daddyglider1 Offline
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1daddyglider1  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 777
Lecanto Florida
Change in eating habits, not happy looking at night, almost the same signs as a sick gliders attitude.

The biggest cage you can get is the best thing for your suggie. There are so many minimum cage standards out there, (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets is a 2 by2 by2 , Australia is what about 10 by 10 by8 high, i think. My min is 2 by 2 by4 high or 3 wide. So what is the min you are talking about as cage size?Height is always better and if you give a little on one side then make sure it is longer on the other side.

Tell your husband what I tell people that ask if one suggie is ok when we are out showing our gliders off:
I say well if the martians came down and took you back to mars and fed you great food and played with you all the time, carried you for hours, and loved on you and gave you a big house. Wouldn't at some point you would want to see another human being for companionship. Sugar gliders are a colony animal and live in big groups out in the wild.
It's not if your glider will survive, it's if you want your glider to thrive in their environment.
Maybe it will convince him if he got captured by aliens.
HTH
Art

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #562928
06/03/08 12:46 PM
06/03/08 12:46 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,843
Lisle, Illinois
SugareeErin Offline
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SugareeErin  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,843
Lisle, Illinois
The first glider I sold experienced depression because it was alone, and in a cage too small. He died on the vets examining table when they injected something into him. I would NEVER sell a glider to a single home, these people promised to get a second glider and never did. They also got the tiniest reptarium, even though they saw my 260 gal one. It was very sad.

Some symptoms of boreom and depression are:

Lack of appitite (some even stop eating)
Sleeping more than usual
Lack of energy(lethargy)
Running circles on the top of cage
Back flips
Hair loss
Ears down (like how they look when they first wake up)

That is all I can think of at the moment. Please don't wait until your glider starts to show these signs as you will need to quarintine the new glider at least a month, esp since yours is sick.





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Re: Signs of depression? [Re: SugareeErin] #563006
06/03/08 03:29 PM
06/03/08 03:29 PM

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bambi5826
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2 is no diffrent then 1. you are already making the food, you just add a little more at night! your glider will be MUCH happier with a friend. they are very social creatures.

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #563043
06/03/08 04:57 PM
06/03/08 04:57 PM

S
shann0n
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shann0n
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i had a single glider for about 3 months before I got another to go along with her, and she was depressed b/c I got really sick and couldn't play with her as much for about a week or so. The things I noticed about her is she was inactive, also her hair was kind of unkempt and would get food stuck in it which she made no attempt to remove. and she lost weight b/c she stopped eating. also she seemed like she had insomnia sort of... she stayed in the pouch a lot more than usual but when i would look in there she wasn't actually sleeping, just hanging out.
i kind of thought that she was going to die..

when i finally got behbet and her together, i noticed that she seemed a lot happier and more energetic.

Re: Signs of depression? [Re: ] #568503
06/12/08 08:24 AM
06/12/08 08:24 AM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 777
Lecanto Florida
1daddyglider1 Offline
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1daddyglider1  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 777
Lecanto Florida
I would say that running the same circle over and over at the top of the cage is a sign of stress or the same back flip over and over is also a sign of stress.
When we first took Sugie out of her 4 by 4 by7ft cage and put her in a small carrier(just large enough to go around large nest box). She immeadiately came out of her box with her little joeys on her back and started circling the top of the small cage. As soon as we put her back in her own environment(cage) she looked out of box and dropped joeys off and came out and sniffed around. She stopped the circling of her cage and hasn't carried her joeys since.


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