My dad (who had never seen a sugar glider or knew anything about them) was working a Coast Guard Auxillary booth at a boat show in Wichita, KS. The booth close to him was selling baby gliders to anyone they could. Since he knew my family was interested in adding gliders to our lives, he stopped to listen to the speal and find out where this guy was from. Since the guy with the gliders was from Texas, my father grabbed the info including a website to pass to me.

When my dad came down for a visit and to meet our new family members, he was surprised to see them in a large cage and he was especially surprised that I wasn't just grabbing them to put them back into their cage after our out of cage play time.

Now I don't know if I'm allowed to use any names of so-called breeders, so I won't until I hear otherwise. But I will share what information my dad told me the guy was telling people. This will help explain my dad's confusion as to the way we treat our new family members (Tarzan and Jane).

The guy selling gliders at the boat show was telling everyone that you don't really need that large of a cage. What really horrified me was that he was telling people to squeeze them. He kept telling everyone they liked to be kept in tight places and to squeeze them while they are being held.

Now I'm new to this, but I don't think squeezing gliders is the proper way to treat them. And I definetly don't think selling mass amounts of baby gliders from a booth at a boat show makes you a respectable breeder.

Was it Perfect Pocket Pets????? sounds like them

No. . it wasn't Perfect Pocket Pets.

They are out of Texas and are into selling animal cages.

I can not ever imagine squeezing a glider,,, it seems it would scare them imho.

My first gliders were a rescue,,, and the person I got them from told me to never grab them ,, to scoop them up gently and if they were crying to VERY lightly apply alittle pressure like a baby hug so they feel secure,,, that calmed the gliders very quickly ,,even now if they get spooked they will jump into my hands and I LIGHTLY hug them to me,,, I would never squeeze one,,, just seems ,, mean to me

you're correct that you shouldn't squeeze a glider - that's a good way to cause injuries and possibly kill them

The breeder has to be CCW (custom cage works), sadly just another mill breeder out to make a quick buck off the unsuspecting souls who fall in love with the itty bitty babies at the show

You are correct. . .CCW was the mill breeder. I'm new to this, so I didn't know if it was allowed to name them outrigh. I did want to make others aware of this persons practices and hunger for money over the glider's well being.

we have several threads going right now about mill breeders and the damage they cause

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/519948#Post519948

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/520190#Post520190

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/514797#Post514797

Thanks for the info on the sites. I was looking for info on how to help stop these mills and one of the sites had information.

glad I could help

How horrible - and at the same time talented. I couldn't "grasp" Carmella even if I wanted to give her a "hand hug"!! How cruel is that?? Suggies are SO tiny and frail! I am paranoid whenever I do have to restrain them somewhat to clip their nails - it just feels like too hard of a squeeze would smash their little bones!! I sure hope these MONSTERS (CCW, not the suggies ) can be stopped someday SOON!

I hate reading posts like this...lol...makes me go look up CCW and now I'm even more upset...and $25 to neuter gliders...that bother me too..how does anyone know that they know what they are doing? Makes me so sad for the little suggies.

Uh...the more I keep reading about them...I don't know whose worse...them or (PPP) Perfect Pocket Pets...they use cattle antibiotics!?!?! Is that safe at all?? Ok I am going to stop reading....

Ugh - I'd recognize that comment from CCW anywhere. Our little girl was "saved" from them by us - she's 8wks OOP and weighs 27g - yeah. She gained 2g in 4 days since we took her home - the vet says we are doing great with getting her back on track. On top of that - her sister died right away - I'm not even going to go there right now. But yeah - they promote squeezing, keeping reptile hot rocks in the cage, feeding only apples at night and their dry pellets 24/7...other comments directly from them, that I have to laugh at:
"They only go to the bathroom ONCE a day and it's right when they wake up."
"They don't smell at all..."
"You'll only spend under $10/month taking care of them..."
"They don't bite at all and IF they did, they'd never draw blood..."
"The "crabbing" noise they make means they want to be held even TIGHTER!"

Riiiiiiiiggghhht. We knew better...it's just a matter of trying to inform all the other poor people out there that get sucked into "how adorable" the suggies are...<sigh>

Were they TRYING to get people to squeeze their gliders to death??