In Reply to: You need to read bourbons page! posted by Mary on May 19, 2000 at 06:31:24:

Thank you for your input. I need all the advice I can get.
As far as the diet goes, I am not using Briskies. I opted for variety. Is there a better one? The pellets are labelled as "Hedgehog and Sugar Glider Diet". I got them to replace the "dog kibbles" or the "high quality cat food" in the modified Taronga/Leadbeater diet (from Ruth's page I think). I had read that the use of cat food was quite questionable, but I also had read that gliders need moist, semi-moist and dry food to keep healthy, and that it was good for them to have some pellets (addition of protein) available during the day. For dry food, I could think of nuts, seeds and cereal but most are fattening. So I got the glider mix but now that they don't like it (and as I question the fat content and calcium/phosphorus ratio), I thought of getting them some "Zoo Fare" which is a low fat/high protein for insectivores(7% fat as opposed to 18% in Cat Science-Diet dry food).
You are right: The articles on Bourbon's page are great. I have started prointing some so I can refer to them again and again (I get tired reading from the computer screen and am not as focussed).
Lilou and Pipa are getting more friendly. This morning, I opened the cage to look in their bag to see what they were fussing about (worried that Lilou's tail was getting chewed), Pipa came out of the bag, jumped on me and went straight into my T-shirt pocket, on her own. I guided her back into the pouch as, as it was still early, I was concerned that she was still too active to settle down and I am still to gliderproof my home, which is tricky while I'm building the cage). She went back into the bag without problems. I hope it wasn't just a fluke.
Lilou and Pipa are coming to the vet with me on Tuesday or Wednesday (Monday being a statutory holiday). Meanwhile, I gave them a wmall piece of plush in case they decide to chew on that instead of the tail. I hope it works. I still don't know where to look for constructive advice on self/cagemate mutilation.
Thanks for you help and feel free to comment on any of this.
I want lilou and Pipa to be very happy.

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