I just wanted to bring up an emphasis on the importance of having safe travel cages for your gliders when transporting, whether it is a move from one place to the next, to the vet, to a glider gathering, to transport gliders in a railroad, etc. I just cannot put enough emphasis on the safety of our precious gliders.

Have any of you had any experience with gliders getting loose in the car while moving?

Have any of you had any experience of getting into a car accident with your gliders on board?

Please share your experiences with us.


Jen

I have not, but I know on the way home from the Northeast and Beyond get together last June, Kellie had some of her gliders get out while she was driving (an SUV mind you!) Thankfully everyone was fine, but from what she told me, it was a pretty interesting ride!

I had my gliders in a bonding pouch and didnt realize it was a tiny bit open still and all of a sudden i feel something and they each crawled on an arm. So I'm driving, thankfully it was on a deserted road, and I had a glider on each arm. Terrifying. I pulled over and unwillingly put them back in the pouch.

yes, travel cages are very important. If in an accident you must remember the impact of an airbag could be fatal to a glider. I did have one instance where a glider escaped from a travel cage (bird style w/ slide up doors) and it was summer time--therefore the windows were down--it could have been tragic but luckily I was able to get the windows up and capture her without harm. But she was freaked out and so was I...so also make sure you latches on your travel cages are secure!!!!

This is why I have stopped 'wearing' my gliders in the car. I put them in a carrier while in the car, then take the pouch out when we get out. Better safe than sorry!

This is an excellent topic and with vacation season coming up it's good to review this I've had gliders escape from bonding pouches while driving before They were zipper-style pouches and my gliders have figured out how to open zippers from the inside Needless to say, I no longer use zipper-style pouches at all Fortunately, on the occasion that DaisyMae escaped from her pouch while I was driving, my husband was traveling with me and he was able to "catch" her and return her to the pouch. Unfortunately, she was very mad and he had to literally hold the pouch closed for the remaining 5 hours of our 7 hour car ride Since then, we use travel cages for the gliders as much as feasible. If not feasible, then we use drawstring-style pouches that are then hung from the "granny bars" in the back seat...
One note on traveling with gliders though - if you have more than one colony you are traveling with, make sure you distance the colonies from each other as much as possible. Otherwise, you'll end up with a very smelly car ride as each colony tries to out-mark the others

I haven't had a problem with mine. I roll up the windows, and Keito takes his position on the wheel while Kat looks out the back window. They love it, and they have never been a distraction while I'm driving. Most of the time, however, they choose to stay under my shirt because the light is too bright.

I was in a wreak with Patches in my bra. I have no idea why my air bag did not come out but it didn't. I no longer carry my babies in my bra while driving. I have had escapees even from the travel cage. I think a toy got stuck on the slide door. SO the Klubertanz type are better than the small flight cages.

If I had taken Stormy and crew to the vet last week in the plastic container or day tripper like I had planned I am not sure what kind of cage they would have had for 2 nights at the vets. At least with the Klubertans travel cages (these are the ones Karin gave to the SGGA as centerpieces) they would not have had a wheel. I just got a jr stealth for that cage and put it in/ SO it was right there when I hit the door to the vets. Everything works out like it should SOMETIMES

Can you tell us more about the Klubertans travel cages? Size, cost, where to purchase one?

I have ten travel cages built with the pvc-coated wire from Klubertanz. I honestly believe the wire is the best wire all around. As a matter of fact, I just returned from Klubertanz today, with more pvc-coated wire, with intentions of building more cages for myself and a big one for a friend who had given me money for.

Rita, you can check out the website, www.klubertanz.com which is a cage supply store and you can request for a free catalog. I grabbed two catalogs today when I was there, lol, cuz I was always looking through them. Ask for Richard and he will be more than happy to help you get what you need. Richard had seen my gliders in the past and he understood why we needed the bar spacings of 1"x1/2" and the pvc coating of the wire. Richard has helped many, many glider owners in the past, so he is quite knowledgable about what we glider owners need.

Cyndie, thank you for sharing your scary experience. I am just thankful nobody was hurt, much less your Patches. Whew!

I just do not want anybody to get hurt nor do I want anybody to think, "Oh, it is not going to happen" before it is too late.

Think safety of the gliders!


Jen