In Reply to: Finally, a proud glider owner. But is she crabbing...? posted by Wesley on April 17, 2000 at 08:54:00:

It sounds like she was taken away from mom to soon, The owner didn't tell you how old she was? Is there any way that you can find out?
My babies make the same noise that you are describing when I take them away from mom and carry them with me for awhile. Keep her with you as much as you can and make sure that she is eating. She is not crabbing at you she just misses her mom and dad. My babies when they are young will only eat the leadbeaters and gliderade, you might try grapes as well. Good Luck!

: Today my girlfriend and I picked up our first sugar glider.
: We've been researching for months and were very excited.
: Our little girl's name is Maggie and she's adorable!
: However, she looks a good deal younger than I expected her to.
: The fur on her tail still conforms to the shape of her tail,
: which is one of the signs that a glider is too young to be
: taken from its mother, according to Caroline McPherson.
: Our breeder said that Maggie had been weaned from her mother
: only this morning. I myself didn't want to pay the $4 to get
: into the stupid pet show (four dollars!! can you imagine!?) so
: I didn't get to speak to this woman or see the glider before
: my girlfriend picked her up.
: To make a long story short, she makes a noise quite often that
: we thought was crabbing at first.. now we think it's barking,
: but we can't tell for sure. C.M.'s book suggests that "barking"
: is a calling out to other gliders to find their location. I
: hope this is the case and that she is only adjusting to her
: new and familiar surroundings after her first day away from mom.
: Worst case scenario -- my girlfriend proposed the idea, which will
: probably keep me up tonight, that it sounds disturbingly like
: the glider is having trouble breathing.. short, ragged, raspy
: breaths in her throat...she even seems to do it while sleeping.

: Please, any replies and advice would be appreciated..
: Thanks for putting up with the lengthy post.
: Happy to have joined the club.

: Wes, Gabrielle & Maggie

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