I learned the hard way two nights ago that gliders are basically slightly tamed wild animals.

One of our males was out for a romp the other evening and I also had his mate Lucy out. Lucy is not tamed and requires some watching. While I was paying attention to her Marcus got into the room with the cages and started a fight with Myron. Myron was in his cage so as soon as a heard the noise I ran over and like many times before scooped Marcus off the outside of the cage. In the past he would immedialty calm down and accept being put back in his cage for fighting.

This time he held onto my ring fingertip with three paws and proceeded to knaw the heck out of my middle joint on my ring finger. I had to scruff him to get him to let go. He had gone into a fight mode that has served his species well in the wild and did not recognize me as a friend, just someone keeping him from his enemy.

Within a half hour he was back to normal and ready for a cuddle.

• Glider Adoptions and Rescue

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