A post I read today reminded me of this, and I thought I would share it with you all, in hopes that no little glider will ever have to go through this again...
This semester I met a couple that surprisingly knew what a sugar glider was, because they have one of their own. Sugar Bear is a GORGEOUS little girl, a few years old, with very striking black markings. Sugar Bear is so lucky to be alive today...
I guess a couple of years ago, Sugar Bear was having playtime in the living room. She crawled into the sofa bed and wouldn't come out. Her mommy and daddy started to pull out the bed to try and get her out, not knowing that this would almost cost Sugar Bear her life. Sugar Bear's head got caught between two of the moving bars as they opened the sofa bed, and her skull was crushed. Her parents rushed her to the emergency
vet, who said he could do nothing for her (this was the first glider he had ever seen), but Sugar Bear's parents wouldn't give up, so the
vet kept her in an oxygen tank, and somehow saved her.
Sugar Bear is pretty much back to normal now; you can't tell by looking her that anything so devastating could have happened. She is a pretty happy girl, but her mate (who has since passed away) would not accept her when she returned to him, so they had to be separated. Now Sugar Bear is fine when she is in her cage, but if her mom takes her out to play, when Sugar Bear catches a new scent, she goes into seizures. She is still a healthy, happy girl, but it is very difficult to give her out of cage time, becuase she could climb up something high, have a seizure, and fall down, injuring herself. Her mommy is going to try out tent time, and see if Sugar Bear can't get used to that environment after a while...
Anyway...Please be careful around couch beds or anything with moving parts that could potentially be harmful to your glider. Sugar Bear was incredibly lucky, but I would hate for this to happen to another glider... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
