Hi everyone!
this will be long....
I finally have a day off that doesn't include too much drama, a death in the family, a near record-breaking road trip, stupid yard work, surprise work shifts, car issues, a lost glider, or mental instability. Well I'm not 100% sure about the mental stability one but I shall sally forth.
Wendy is scampering around my room right now in almost pitch black. I can hear her and her curious little paws moving throughout the area I think she feels most comfortable in. It's filled with my furniture from all other parts of the house and drawers and boxes and clothes since I haven't been able to finish the remodel since golf season started. It's where she was kept in her tiny little cage for the first month or so that I got her and it's where we first practiced jumping and crawling (and falling). It's a nice feeling to have her come over periodically and check in with me. I like having her all over the place knowing that there isn't going to be a nibble or a bite, just scratches (from the nails I still can't cut) and moist nose tickles. Today while I'm finishing this she gave herself a long thourough bath in my lap then crawled into the pocket on my cargo shorts to fall asleep, she's never done that and I am just melting a little.
My present situation is as such. One madagascar cage containing wendy. One Congo cage containing Pricilla. and another cage of equal size containing George and Wheezy, an un-neutered breeding pair. (there is no actual issue of wheezing, it's from the Jeffersons)
Lucy, one of the original two gliders and the actual first glider I had, died in a bad accident in my home that was my fault. It was pretty traumatic and unfortunately is going to be something that I never forget as long as I live.
I panicked in the days following and jumped at the first reasonably close glider sale I could find. I should of known by the missed texts, and vague responses. I was promised
vet records, dob, etc and got nothing but two gliders in poor hygiene in the smelliest pouch ever. I obviously wasn't thinking right either. When I introduced Lucy and Wendy they were both so young and new to me and my house that they took to each other immediately. When I tried to introduce Wendy to the new couple it was an immediate and loud disaster. After weeks of switching
pouches and parking the cages close together I let Wendy run around the room and when she got close enough to the new female's cage, the new female reached out and grabbed her and held her. They were both crabbing more like shrieking and when I tried to separate them I got my first honest to goodness skin breaking, blood gushing bite. Funny thing is I think it was wendy who bit me but I'm not sure. I tried twice more but the same thing happened. Wendy would still like to keep trying, I guess she kind of has a thing for the male and of course if they are in the room together he splits his time between his mate and showing off his manliness to wendy. I eventually had to move them (the couple) to a different room so that everyone could relax and enjoy playtime.
So now I was worried again about having a single glider. I played with her every night and morning and we napped together and basically did as much as possible but I saw her change little by little. She began to chew on stuff and she seemed bored running around the room no matter how much I changed it.
About this time I read a post here from a lady in FLA that needed to re-home her glider Pricilla. Again, not really thinking straight I agreed to meet her half way in the hopes that Pricilla would make a suitable cage mate for wendy.
It was during a two week period when I only had one day off but I really wanted Wendy to be part of a happy pair.
Pricilla is five and wendy is just under a year. Lynn from florida is crazier about her gliders than I am and we both drove seven and a half hours to meet for ten minutes at a gas station to help this little fuzzbutt. We spoke on the phone a few times and It was so nice and refreshing to talk to another person who has gliders. I could of talked to her everyday. Lynn could probably be considered the most prepared glider owner ever. I had already ordered yet another cage and Lynn delivered every thing a glider slave could want and more. She basically filled my car up with
pouches, snacks, food, decorations, emergency supplies, trinkets, puzzels,
wheels etc. It would of taken me several years to amass such a collection. Not to mention that every piece of fleece was washed and folded neatly... and there were like a hundred of those.
Pricilla ended up being a real sweetheart. She was very afraid at first but by day two or three she was taking treat out of my hand and soon she was being let out of the cage and using me as her base of operations. I'm able to pet her now and she will come whenever I put my hand out but we are still not really
bonded.
Again I switched
pouches over and over, I even switched cages once. But when I let wendy out of her cage all she did was slink around and try to sneak up on pricilla. Wendy would spend all of her play time covering up wherever pricilla had been, either with body rubs, head rubs (which is weird because I don't think they have a scent gland there for girls) or saliva with chewing or slobbering on stuff. She would even emit the dreded skunk smell from time to time. Luckily I'm one of those weirdos that it doesn't bother me too much. Wendy would poke her head out of her pouch and just sit and watch pricilla go about her day. Pricilla really couldn't seem to care at all. When I let her out she would occasionally check out wendy's cage but wendy would chase her away from within. During these exchanges there were no crabbing noises at all just very focused chasing. Always little wendy chasing pricilla who was bigger and older.
Well naive me thought that after a while an introduction was in order so I set it up in the nuetral bathroom and put out a clean pouch and picked a time when I knew both gliders were sleepy. At first I had hope they were each exploring the bathroom but not noticing each other, then wendy saw pricilla and as I tried my best to hold her back she got through and they litterally balled up on my shoulder and tumbled to the ground. This time there was plenty of crabbing and although I was pretty scared I let it go on for about three seconds hoping that it would just end and they would reconcile. That didn't happen and they were damn difficult to separate too. I finally got them apart and the only injury was a tiny scratch on pricillas ear. So now I have the couple (who are going in for a check up and a neutering on the fouth) and two ladies who don't get along. Not even a little bit.
So I guess I will be in the market for another glider or two as soon as everyone is
bonded nicely. I just don't know what to do sometimes. I am not sure about the final temperment of the breeding pair. I cleaned them up and fed them good fresh food and now they are much happier but we havent' had enough
bonding time so there is much work to be done there. I don't really want three different groups of gliders that need separate playtimes and rooms. But I don't see everyone getting along any time soon either.
Wendy is very attached to me and is very adament about marking me especially if I've played with other gliders or any animal for that matter. I guess that's where some of the hostility comes into play as she probably doesn't want to share me with another glider. Pricilla doesn't mark me at all but just hangs out and is still exploring the house and all it's wonders. I now wheel one cage out of the room and let the other glider have the run of the place for an hour or so. It seems to be less distracting but wendy is still concentrating on covering up instead of foraging or playing.
I think I have been pretty good about keeping the male away from the female when she is in heat but it seems that this cycle is either non-existent or late. The memorial day holiday was four days of open to close work so maybe I missed it, maybe she's already preggers, I don't know.
I also worry about wendy obsessing over new pricilla so much that she doesn't seem to eat as much. Pricilla eats like a tiny adorable horse mostly finishing off almost everything I give her. The couple are another story, their tastes seem to change day by day. I used to come home and greet them first with a bit of honey on a chop stick but they stopped showing interest in that, now it's a little yogurt treat. Pricilla is very fond of yogurt covered rasins I think, yogurt chips and dried meal worms. Wendy still loves her mealies and not much else.
The Pool Noodles aka Water pasta are still an ongoing favorite toy for everyone. They dig in and use all their strength to tear them apart and when I get the chance I will bury treats in the holes.
The meal worm farm was doing really well, then I knocked over the stack of boxes and ever since I rebuilt, it's difficult to say exactly where I am. Also I have gotten some really bad containers of regular mealies from the store as of late.
I got four plastic boxes with lids from big lots or a craft store I forget. the mealies went in one with about an inch of oats in the bottom. I put slices of carrot or potato in sporadically when ever the previous slice dried out. It' important that your feed is not too wet, freshly slice potatoes are so I stuck to carrots and sweet potatoes with the occasional experimenta addition of a random vegetable. The mealies eat and get big and plump, then they make a cocoon, when this happens they get moved, one by one to another container with another inch of oats in the bottom . This container however has a nice metal screen from a window on the bottom. Doesn't have to be metal. When the cocoon phase is done the beetle emerges and walks around looking for food and a mate.
I previously posted a long time ago about finding beetles in the bottom of my cages. This is just some lucky worm who landed in the right conditions and grew up.
These beetles can't fly but they do love to congregate around milk cartons and they eat a bit more than the worms. Although you can feed them the same stuff again as long as it isn't wet. You don't want moisture in there because it will grow mold and that will kill all your worm friends, it's happened to me a couple of times.
So the beetles will live their lives and lay eggs, lots of eggs. Once a day or two you have to pick the container up and give it a light shake back and forth like you were sifting flour. The stuff that falls out is poop, small bits of oats and eggs. This stuff goes into yet another container with oats and a lot less food. I didn't think anything was working until I took a maginfying glass and looked and low and behold there were hundreds of very tiny worms eating and growing. The first time I saw them they were litterally half the size of this letter i. they grow slowly and right now i think they are about twice the size of the I. eventually they will get big enough that the whole process will start over again. It takes a lot longer than I thought but I have made mistakes as well. You definitely want to keep them very warm.
All my indoor plants have died. I think I had a bout a dozen in the glider room but since there is an awning on the window they really don't get any sun. The two bushes I bought in bags as costco are growing nicely but they are still in the bag because like I said....memorial day..ugh.
I made it a point to keep up on all of the posts almost nightly, I just didn't have the heart to post myself.
And now to the best part, the end.
TL:DR I now have three cages with three gliders that do not get along. I do not know what to do next.
Should I let the glider couple breed and then give a baby to the other female gliders to take care of and raise?
Should I get some freshly OOP glider girls (from a reputable source this time) and see if the other girls accept them? Even though the girls don't get along, isn't the fact that they can see and smell each other go towards them not being totally alone ergo leading toward depression?
Sometimes I feel as though I should change clothes and wash up when going from cage to cage. Does that confuse gliders ? Does it affect the
bond they have with you?
Anyone have any experience here or advice?
Thanks everyone!
T'Pol, Elizabeth & Curzon 
TY, TJ, Light Fury, Madison & T'Pring 
