I was curious about what do the inspectors approve as far as facility goes. Do you need to keep them in their own room, or can they be in your own room? Im building a 1/2" pvc cage that is. 7deepx7hx6'8"w, that will be built in my and bedroom, the cage will be on interlocking foam matts and my gliders will be kept inside 3hx2wx18"deep cage on a small stand. I only have two gliders, but wanted to see if the inspector.would approve of this if i ever decide to get 3 more females. The point of the bigger cage is to play with them in a safe closed in area.

I'm really curious as to what the usda inspectors look for too. I'm waiting on my drop in visit and it has me a nervous wreck. I have some cages in my glider room but I also have one of them in my bedroom....if they drop in mid morning and the bed is unmade and the room not completely picked up will I get in trouble for that? The glider room doesn't worry me at all because it's always clean and tidy and everything in it's place.

They are looking at the glider's environment. Is their cage clean and adequate in size. Do they have any toys. Is their food properly stored. Do they have fresh water. And is your paperwork all in order. (mostly the paperwork with some inspectors).

Why are inspectors coming to visit?

Usda inspector for usda license not that I'm applying for
It, just wondering.

I saw on one person's report that they cited the person for having clothes on the floor.

Now I am a neat freak and you won't see clothes on the floor at my house, but come on... many, many people take off a sweatshirt or a pair of pants and toss it on the floor. I was honestly surprised to see that in the inspection.

But from what I understand, a lot depends on the individual inspector. Some are stricter than others. I talked to one breeder who called the entire inspection "a joke," whereas once I joined this forum I learned that many breeders took pride in earning high marks from their anal-retentive USDA inspectors.

It depends on the inspector, so what they are looking for and at can range greatly.

A thorough inspector will be looking at the caging, to make sure it is large enough, that it is in a safe area, that it and the surrounding area is kept clean.

He/she will want to see your vet information and see that a vet inspection has been done and that you have an action plan in place to care for your gliders if there are health problems.

They may want to see your food and how you are storing it. As well as bedding and how you are storing it. Some want to know your cleaning schedule and how you go about cleaning your glider's things and living space.

They may want to know about the diet you are feeding.

Some will want to see each of the gliders (some won't).

Some will want to see your play area and know about the gliders play time/bonding schedule.

They aren't supposed to worry about your general living area as long as the glider area is kept clean. But as was mentioned above, that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to USDA inspectors.

Terry i'm waiting for a esda agent to stop by because i applied for the usda license and before getting it they make a drop in visit to check out your facilities.
I spent so many years doing licensed daycare with some of the licensinhg agents so strict if they saw a piece of food on the floor while the kids were eating lunch they wrote you up for it. I actually had one lady come in right when i got my kids all sitting down for lunch and we had corn and mashed potatos and the kids had dropped a few pieces of the corn on the floor and one had mashed potatos and gray and hamburger on the table next to their plate and she wrote me up for an unsantitary enviroment....the kids were 2 and 3. The rest of the house was spotless. I actually appealed her decision and took pictures of the entire house and the few pieces of corn on on the floor and the table. I was so mad. Now I am always scared of drop in visits from anyone.

I can only tell you the experience with my own USDA inspector but this is what he was interested in:

vet Records including vet inspection report, two important issues they want covering is emergency vet care and euthanisation.

Records of each and every glider and offspring and making sure any gliders homed had records kept on where they went to.

Cages are in good condition (size doesn't seem to be so much of an issue unfortunately)

ALL medications are dated and within the dates on them (this seemed like a very big deal with my inspector)

Food and diet is adequate and water supply

Hygeine, santitation and cleanliness

He wasn't so interested in seeing all the gliders, however that didn't stop me opening multiple cages for a show and tell and he made a comment about how unusually sweet and easy to handle they were .. seems both he and my vet are used to seeing gliders that cannot be handled!

I think the inspectors assume the vet takes personal care of the gliders so they show more interest in everything else. I've also heard any clutter on the floor can be an issue, not sure where I read it but I could have sworn I saw something about it somewhere.

He did ask a lot of questions and I talked his ear off, so I know there are things I'm forgetting as he was here for probably 2 hours and even wrote up his report in our kitchen.

My inspector told me that there have been MANY changes that are just being implemented recently. I don't mean to scare anyone unduely, but they said it's getting a lot stricter.

My inspector came out twice a month apart (a fraudulent claim against me was made). The first time, she didn't cite anything and had no complaints. Even though i couldn't find the program of veterinary care, she accepted the last report of my vet's inspection.

Then she came back a month later, and she brought a vet (we were still fighting the ick at that point). They had MUCH higher requirements than a month prior, and they said that the rules were getting stricter. They cited me for not having the program of veterinary care on hand, and they cited me because mt program of veterinary care did not include what my vet allows me to do. That vet who came out seemed like she wanted my vet to be in charge of the care of the animals and direct ME on what to do, instead of a help. They also cited me for having things "not related to care" in the area. There were clothes on the floor, and the gliders had switched diets since the vet had come (we were on BML when he came before, and back to Priscillas when they were here). They cited me for having the priscilla's vitamin, and for my vetericyn on hand. They stated that I should have a prescription for the vetericyn, or something stating that the vet is approving of the use of that, even though it was something I bought elsewhere.

My new program of vet care is 10 pages long... and as detailed as they are requesting. And I got my cage covers done, so my cages are more organized and easier to clean around.

Wow. I am glad the requirements are so strict but I can see how this can discourage people from applying. I know it has me worried. Ill have a lot of things to get in order before I apply. It will be a long time, for me anyways, but I appreaciate all the information.