See PART ONE

Hi All, I am new to this forum... I am happy I found it, but not happy a sick glider brought me here.

I purchased 2 gliders from Pocket Pets the end of Feb this year. About 2 weeks ago one of my gliders started shaking so bad she was literally blurry. I took her to an emergency vet that had an exotic specialist who treats gliders. He diagnosed her with calcium deficiency and HLP from the poor diet given to me from Pocket Pets. She went back for a checkup 4 days later because I wasn't seeing an improvement and I thought she was having seizures. He assured me she was not, and that she needed more time on her new diet and meds. After a week of a marginal improvement, I sent an irate email to the Pocket Pets people. I was enraged because I thought a poor diet that I had fed her caused my poor critter to be in this horrible condition. I cry every day when I see her shake uncontrollably knowing there is nothing I can do for her. She is still about the same, although she was showing more energy this morning when I had her out. I have a follow up apt with my vet this Saturday with whom I will share the info about the poison cage. I haven’t decided if I want to do the treatment that is outlined by Pocket Pets, I want to discuss with a medical professional first.

When I spoke with Adam from Pocket Pets he gave me the whole story about the cage. This made me even more mad, because they knew there was something wrong and hadn’t notified me. I don’t know if anyone else received the “sick glider” email… but it was crazy, and full of far too much personal info. I ordered a new cage from http://www.sugar-glider-store.com/ because I don’t want to wait for them to get around to sending me a new one, nor do I want to chance the new one being contaminated too. In all honesty I wish I had never given Pocket Pets a dime in the first place, nor will I ever again. I do not regret getting my 2 babies, I just wish I had gotten them elsewhere.

I requested a FULL refund for EVERYTHING I ever purchased from Pocket Pets. I literally had to throw out a year’s supply of food after my vet told me how terrible their food is for my babies, now my cage is poison and I have an animal that is suffering and it is breaking mine, my son’s and my husband’s hearts to see her like this. On top of this I have already spent $400 in vet bills and $200 on a new cage, and am spending all of my free time attempting to nurse my sick glider to health. If Pocket Pets refuses to give me a refund (which is likely) I will be seeking legal counsel. Please let me know if anyone else is in my situation and wants to take action against them.

Good luck to all in this terrible situation, and I will certainly add any additional info I get. And will keep the board updated on my glider’s progress. I have managed to keep her going for 2 weeks, and the tip I can give to anyone with a sick glider is to get as much food/water into them as possible. I have been feeding a very varied range including HPW, baby food, baby cereal and straight Pedialyte.

I don't know how to explain this so people understand this problem is NOT a Pocket Pets, Martins, Klubertanz or individual issue.

This is faulty/toxic/poison wire from a wire manufacturer who MANY use for cage building and other things.

Most people inside the community know that we even have some top notch vendors here who use pvc coated wire for travel cages and other things that they sell to us.

Blaming any company for the wire being bad other than the wire manufacturer is silly.

Obviously PP has a less than stellar reputation but this could have well been our daytrippers that were bad, would we blame the maker for being sold dangerous wire without her having known that...NO. We would expect her to replace or refund those cages but it wouldn't be her fault that a wire manufacturer had sold her [censored] wire.

As much as anyone hates to admit it, this time Pocket Pets was the victim of the same wire that Martins and many private pet owners were. Placing the blame for this on them would be the same as me blaming any person here that bought bad wire and built their own cage.
I was buying wire to build/modify my cages due to having a sudden attack of glideritis.....so am I to blame for buying [censored] wire I THOUGHT was safe because it has been before?

I am one of those who has used this wire for years to make my own cages. I have had wire sent to my home to help locals/newbies make their own cages and am just sick about this. It is not my fault, but I can't help but feel responsible. I have notified everyone of the ongoing issue, and symptoms to watch for.

It has not yet been determined if this wire was manufactured/shipped since October 2010, or possibly was the subject of a previous recall and has been sitting "somewhere" since then. The manufacturer does not know me from Adam, and has no record of doing business with me. My only recourse would be to deal with the supplier of the wire, not necessarily to place blame, but because that is who I purchased the wire from. The supplier then can take the appropriate action against the manufacturer

And as much as anyone hates to admit it, it seems PP is stepping up (replacing cages and sadly gliders). I do feel though that they should also be responsible for the vet bills for those gliders too.

AND, I think that notification is the issue with this new person. If you know that something you sold is now dangerous and YOU DON'T warn the people who bought from you, it is your issue now. I would furious if I had a daytripper or a cage that I purchased and the person who made knew something was wrong and didn't tell me.

I am impressed that PP is recalling and reacting as quickly as they did. But they should also be notifying people, as should Martin's as should anyone who has this wire.

I believe that PP is emailing all their customers that they can.

Midien: SOME (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets cages have been affected. Maybe those cages have the odor too? OR... Did you detect this odor because the cage had never been washed? Or had/have you washed the cage and the odor remains? I'm trying to clarify all aspects.

Jill Marie: Your post as great. In all aspects. Thank you for clarifying for Ikeda the rapture portion of his post as well your opinion about housing gliders in cages that hold possible toxicity. I agree, 100%

MissSarah and FuzzierThanMost: I believe Ikeda use the rapture and vaccination 'points' wasn't to turn attention away from this cage issue. I believe he was sincerely was trying to prove his point. He just happened to be off base, at least in one of those aspects. Can't say for certain with the vaccination deal as nobody knows for certain.

Last but not least, as has been stated before, we all know how we feel about (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets. It's not the best opinion we have on them, though we have good reason to feel the way we do. BUT... They ARE stepping up to the plate on this one (so far) and they DO deserve kudos for that.

Just to note: My intent was NOT to stir a pot whether it be religious, suggie related, etc. (I just used examples easily at hand). My only intent was to get the community to realize that there were no results yet people were posting some very pointed comments that were not backed by any sort of evidence.

I'm sorry to those I may have offended as I've been a member of this community just like ya'll. I would have posted this in the other post but it's locked and frankly I want it on the table. I'm REALLY not a bad person and I feel like I've been demonized for my point of view.

Megs: *shrug* They're both washed, but I can't say I know for sure if mine were affected, because I pulled my baby before he got sick. Not sure what it might mean, OR if it might be helpful, but I figured it couldn't hurt to pass along in the event it might be useful to someone. It's really the only observation I can contribute, until there's a way to test our cages or somethin'.

Mel2mdl - You are correct. Apparently Pocket Pets had been doing testing for MONTHS (well before I purchased my pair from them) on mysterious illnesses with gliders. Had I known what to be looking out for from the start, my girl could be much farther along to the path to recovery instead of wasting time being treated for an illness she doesn't have. They only communicated with me after I came forward with a serious issue.

That coupled with my feelings of being completely misled by the organization in terms of proper nutrition/care have me feeling seriously wronged.

PS - there was absolutley no odor to my cage.

Don't hurt at all to pass on any info we can get.

And if anyone happens to KNOW FOR SURE a safe material for me to use that is not the stinky plastic hardware cloth for my cage needs that would be super helpful. I really need to do some cage mods yesterday but at this point I trust NO coated wire mesh.(and they are in the middle of my home so pretty helps. LOL)

This is FALSE. They have NOT been testing for Months. Although there have been tests done prior to the first case (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets had. There were SEVERAL cases prior to (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets ever having their first case come forward.

That is what Adam himself told me.

Testing in general has been done for months.

Ok. Just wanted to clarify.
Well then your observation might actually have something to offer. It seems rather valid.. IMO anyway.
I think it's great you pulled them from the cage. Better safe than sorry.

Sari, I believe the new cages are deemed safe because there have been no reports of gliders becoming ill while in them as opposed to those cages from a different manufacturer. Does that make sense?

A major advantage (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets has is that it deals with a large number of cages/gliders and they are in a good position to know which of the two manufacturers they use has cages not making their gliders ill, and therefore we may be able to find out where this wire originated. At this time, I would not use PVC wire cages with the exception of the ones that (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets knows are not making gliders ill.

There are a number of tests that have been performed. Mainly for heavy metals such as iron and zinc. So far nothing has been identified as the culprit as far as I know, so testing continues.

Ok so does anyone know what wire IS safe? What about the wire bought just a few months ago? How are they saying any wire is safe if they dont know what is the facter in the sick gliders?

honestly trigger, I'm not trying to direct this towards you in an offensive way in ANY way.. but really you probably aren't the one who would know, or decide who gets to "foot" the bill on the blame here legally. It would best be decided by legal council. Maybe PP is the victim here, but legally in the business world somebody's gotta pay money here. If people want to group together a class action deal they would do that. It happens.

I'm not going to give out the total $ amount of my vet bills for Splinter but let's just say it's A LOT.

and who pays for that? I did, all of it.

Herme please contact me via private message about your post, I am interested.

btw Hermes.. I agree.. the email was VERY weird.. and very akward.. talking about weddings and family issues and stuff.. i'm very thrown off by it.

Sari the wire i gave you is safe wire (to the best of my knowledge..)

came from totally different manufactures.. also the wire yu have came from rolls bought over a year ago..

**removed sizes and gauges as it seems to be manufacture specific ***

When was this determined? Are the Pocket Pets and Martin's cages 14 gauge? Most of us who make cages use the thinner 1/2"x1" 16 gauge wire.

Not a cage, but .. the pvc coated mesh...

The Magnum wheel uses pvc coated wire for the track. I believe that the Custom Cruiser does, as well.

Should those of us who use wheels with pvc coated wire be concerned?


Whoops, just saw Sari's question on the wheels.
Still - I'm wondering if I should pull the Magnum wheel from my cage. Not sure if this is the kind that's affected - it has 1/4 inch holes, and I just got it in March.

no i would be be concerned at least about the cruiser and probably not the magnum, our wire lasts us a long long time. I know I got my wire early last year.. and i use a different manufacturer than both of them

nancy i am double checking that.. awaiting a reply on the wire gauge..

Thanks Lori! I thought it was the different size, but also thought it was a good idea to ask it out loud
Please do not take offense that I asked (as I'm sure you didn't). I want to make sure it's OK to ship the ones I currently have here
Sara... all wheels are made with 'square' holed mesh. From what I am reading all the mesh being questioned is 'rectangular' holed mesh. But... just to make sure, that's exactly why I asked as well.

correct sari

I want to retract the gauge of wire that may be affected.. as gauge and size isn't specific

Okay, thanks Bourbon.

I was told on LGG that the tracks use a completely different coating than the cages do.. Not sure if that's true, just what I was told. So I guess I don't need to worry.

I sent an email to Anita just to be sure.