SugarGlider.com

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Subject: My Opinion..
Posted by Bourbon on August 23, 1998 at 23:33:36:

In Reply to: For Bourbon posted by Melody on August 23, 1998 at 17:29:43:

I understand you so despretly want a glider, they are very easy to want. my last response to you cut from the middle was "If you want a glider to bond with, and you teach it to bond with a friend what is going to happen after a couple months with just that friend. The glider will get a tighter bond with your friend and you may break it's heart if you take it away from your friend. Bonding with a glider is a serious matter. You have to look at a glider as being and infant child, it has attention needs. If you give that glider lots of love and attention then "dump it" with a friend for a couple of months, you may get back a very different glider. This is my opinion only.. But I personally think that unless you make a 15 year commitment to that glider, you may need to wait awhile till you can. I know you are asking for advice, but the best advice I can give is to please wait untill you are ready for that kind of commitment. Maybe right now you are not able but you have plenty of time. " Why I didn't respond back was that I stood pretty firm on my opinion. I don't mean to sound rash, so if it comes across that way I am telling you now that is not my intention. I still stand on that opinion. Some people bond tightly with their gliders immediatly, some it takes weeks, months etc. some not at all. Let me see if I can't try this a different way with the same idea. Lets say you get a glider. You bond with it immediatly, you even introduce your friend to it and let her spend time bonding.. (this I never suggest by the way). You go to California.. The glider feels that you have deserted her, after all you WERE her best friend, You spent time with her, fed her and played with her.She trusted you to be her "safe zone". She loves you with her heart and soul. Now you are not around and the new person in her life picks up where you left off. Now SHE is bonding, feeding, playing, and becoming her best friend. You come back...you again are going to uproot her yet again.. You are wanting her to come back into your life as if you hadn't been the one to leave her. She was depressed and hurt when you left. and now she has someone else. You are going to yet again take her from someone she has grown to trust and love... Questions now... Will she trust you not to leave her again? will she even trust you again? what happened to her "safe zone" she built with you the first time? it was no longer safe. It cause her the feeling of emptiness and lonliness. Other things to consider.. What if something happens to her while you are gone?.. I would wait till you are able to provide a safe, trusting, and STABLE life for your glider. If you are afraid you may not want a glider in 3 more years then maybe 15 years of a commitment is too much..You are doing well to research and play what if's .. I highly suggest it.. but while you are playing that game.. go all the way.. what would you do if the glider was an infant child? and where you were going wouldn't allow infants. Would you be so willing to leave your child with someone for 2 or 3 months? I sure wouldn't.. but the advantage that you have is that you DON'T already have to make that decision. I again say.. I would suggest you wait until you are ABLE to make that 15 year commitment..


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