In Reply to: Thanks, what about the diet???? posted by Scott Runnels on September 11, 1999 at 16:01:17:

: Well Scott, you are off to a good start! The thing about the citrus stuff is the citric acid. To much will give a glider diarrea. But, as long as you are not giving her huge quanities, it will be fine.
I don't know about that deli ham. That stuff has a lot of preservatives in it and I would imagine that it has salt and sugar as well. Not very good stuff for gliders. You should try other forms of protein such as the meat baby foods mixed with fruit flavors they sell, or maybe diced white meat chicken that has been boiled and skined. As far as the leadbeaters goes, all the ingrediants are pretty important, so try to make a new complete batch as soon as you can. The easiest way to do your egg shells is to put them in the blender or food processor first after you have boiled the egg. If they are put in there alone, they will turn to a fine powder that is much easier for the glider to eat. That is just a little tip. You learn a lot from trial and error, and I always try to pass stuff along so that the next person has an easier time of it. I hope this helped you out a little! I wish you continued good luck with your baby!

Happy Glider Chatter!!!
Lea

: : there is a couple of things, you are trying to teach her to trust you.. so you too must trust her to some extent. don't tie it off unless you absolutly have too. hang your shirt everyday that yuou wear and lay it on the top of her cage, or hang it right on the side by her pouch. As far as the capturing.. don't come in behind her like you are chasing her, come in to the front of her and lay your hand flat palm down close all your fingers together, spread your thumb out , lay your hand low and slide it in to her bottom feet right at the open Y between your thumb and index finger. So she can run right up your hand. you will teach her that you won't grab her, and in a sense make her think she came to you willingly. We call this interception, and it also gets her used to your face and hands as well. Gliders can be claustrophobic, and many don't like confinement, I know that the way you described it, it didn't seem like you were grabbing her tightly or anything, so don't get me wrong. But you do want her to THINK this is all her idea.

: : Good Luck

:
: Thanks for the advice. I try my best to approach her from the front, and I usually do just slide my hand under her. If shes in her cage, where ever is "ground" to her, I just put my hand down and kind of move it slowly. She'll usually grab my fingers, and watch them, then she'll scurry up. Sometimes she'll hang on by one foot to the cage, when she does that, I'll just tickle her foot with my pinkie and she'll let go. The only time, I try to pick her up from her back is if she's going somewhere that might hurt her. She's all mischief and I don't want her getting hurt. So I'll pick her up and with two fingers, making a ring and lifting her back onto my person.
: For the pouch, I have it sealed when I am outside. I would die if she popped out and went running away. Not because I lost her, but because she can't survive in the wild, and would get killed. So I'll put a small clamp. Sometimes she hates it. During the day though, she's just asleep. Any other tips? Thanks so much for telling me I'm doing well. The only other question is diet. I feed her Diced Apples, Diced Oranges, torn up deli ham, Pieces of Egg with the Shell, Leadbetters mix (made of 1/4th Honey, 1/4th Apple Juice, 1/8th Wheat Germ, 1 hard boiled egg with shell, 40-45 drops of Avitron Vitamin supplement, but I couldn't find the baby cereal so this batch doesn't have it {is that okay?}) and one cricket per day (Dead...shes a chicken!). On top of the food I sprinkle a glider-specific supplement, (I can't remember the exact name, but will send it later.), and
: I put it in the cage when I see she's awake. I'll let her eat without trying to play with her, and when shes done, we have a little play time usually about 2 to 3 hours. After she seems a little tired, I put her in her cage, and let her go back to sleep. Then I myself go to sleep. I leave the food in her cage, because she'll come out and eat more while I sleep. I remove the food when she's done. She doesn't eat it all, but she eats some of the fruit, veggies, and egg, all of the leadbetters, and all of the cricket. Does all of this sound okay.
: When it's written down...she's eating better than I am!

: Thanks,
: Scott Runnels

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