Well, after Sketchi living here for a week, we've decided he might do well to have a little friend. Originally I was planning on getting him neutered and perhaps at some point in the future getting a breeding pair, after learning the ins-and-outs of parenting a glider. I've changed my mind though and decided he should have a friend to play with when we're not here. He's very rambunctious and let him out to play every evening for a couple hours, and in the morning while I'm getting ready for work. But still in the middle of the nite if I get up to go to the bathroom or get a drink he'll start barking to get me to come play with him. Last night I stayed up with him all nite (till about 3am) letting him run around, and then got up @6am and let him out to play again. This time when he was finished playing he got in bed and snuggled up with me (I am aware of the dangers of this, but I was awake most of this time reading and when I did fall asleep it was very light, aware that he was right there). It was so cute I ended up staying in bed until about noon and he's been sleeping in my pocket for the rest of the day. Anyway, since I can only do this on the weekend, I think he'd really like to have another friend to play with. He's still young, so I'd like to find a girl no older than 6 months, if anyone knows of any or has any babies that will be ready to leave soon.

My other question was regarding vets in the area. I have been recommended by other area vets that Pender in Fair Oaks deals with gliders. I am setting up an appointment to take him in next week, just for a checkup and to meet the doctor. I can't think of his name offhand but he apparently has gliders and is very knowledgeable about them. The only thing I wasn't sure about is they sounded kinda expensive, and as I couldn't find any other vets in the area that were experienced w/ gliders, I had no other 'scale' to compare it to. I don't have a problem financially taking care of him, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being robbed or something :-) The checkup is going to run close to $50, but when I had called about getting him neutered, the charge would be $150 (the good thing about it was they said most glider neuters(?) don't require stitches, which it sounds like a lot of gliders do get so I think they really do have advanced practices and really take care of the little guys). Another thing that made me wonder is when I called to schedule the appointment for his checkup I asked the girl I spoke with if she knew where I might find Brisky's and/or glideraide in the area and she said she hadn't heard of those and they probably wouldn't recommend them anyway. I asked her what they did recommend and she named some bird/parrot pellets that she claimed was a balanced diet. I didn't want to get into it on the phone, not knowing what these pellets were but I do know that birds and gliders have very different diets.

I've been stopping by the grocery store a couple nites a week and picking up fresh melons, kiwi, broccoli, cauliflower, hard-boiled eggs and a little cottage cheese and giving this to him, along with some yogurt w/ granola in it a couple nites sprinkled with Glider Booster calcium/phosphorous. I also give him a couple sunflower seeds for treats here and there. I went out and picked up some mealworms and crickets today, to see if he likes them. I've been worried about the lack of protein and am going to try those out. The guy I got him from had been feeding him a couple dry foods and a parrot fruit/nut mix. I continued on this the first couple days to help him adjust to the new surroundings, but wanted to get him on a better diet as soon as possible. Does this sound pretty complete or is there anything I may be missing?

Oh yeah, one other thing. I drink a lot of mountain dew and have twice now caught him drinking it from a glass on my desk. Other than it not being good nutritionally, is there anything "dangerous" about that like I should panic if I see it happen? It scared me the first time I saw it but it was so cute the second time I let him have a couple sips of it. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing that might cause health problems that showed up at some point in the future.

Sorry for the length of this, I prepared for almost a year before actually adopting my baby, but there's always things you can't prepare for. (I had found a vet in Alexandria in the ISGA vet list, but their website has been down recently so I haven't been able to find it)

TIA,
Chris

Follow Ups:

• Re: Looking for F glider in northern VA/MD/DC, also vet question for locals The Glider Fixx 15:32:00 1/26/100 (0)
• Re: Looking for F glider in northern VA/MD/DC, also vet question for locals Virginia 21:41:52 1/08/100 (1)
  • Re: Looking for F glider in northern VA/MD/DC, also vet question for locals Chris J 22:53:17 1/08/100 (0)