So for just over 2 weeks the 3 gliders left from the colony of 12 have been on BML and as if last night they started on HPW with the rest and I am more and more convinced that they are truly cinnamon colored gliders. Their color is very distinct and is not just the discolored look from a bad diet. Check out the photos below and let me know what you think. I have added a photo of Trekker to show the difference in the color and to show that it is not the camera.
Trekker

Rebi

Mezoti

Azan

I might be wrong, but I thought Cinnamon meant they had red toned markings and red through the coat and Lion referred more to the honey colored body? However, I find conflicting descriptions all over the place about the 'red' family. I am curious as well as one of my new boys looks the same:) I think I have one standard, one Black Beauty, and one Lion/cinnamon/buttercream...?.
These pages are interesting, but it seems to vary by breeder:
www.petsugargliders.com/sgcolor.php
www.chicagosugargliders.com/chicago-suggies-color-variations.html
www.thepetglider.com
www.freewebs.com/glidercraze/colorvariations.htm

I had heard the color could change based on diet? How do you know if this is the case?

Kai looks just like this one. My daughter gives him spray baths(dry shampoo for gliders) to try to get the stain off but it doesn't come off.

I do believe it is because of previous diet. They look just like my George did when I got him. It took quite a few months of being on a good diet before he finally was definately a grey. If they have been on a bad diet and their parents have always been on that same diet, then it truly does take time being on a good diet for their true color to come out.

i dont think its from bad diet because their fur isnt cracked, but i dont know everything.
i want one though! they are very cute!

If you study the images closely, you can see the grey fur patches peeking through on the glider in the third picture, he/she also has the dark, black markings showing through. I think the gliders in the 2nd picture and 5th picture are cinnamons, they have the red markings of a cinnamon. Not quite sure about the one in the fourth picture.

Definately have at two cinnamons, I'd say the other one is a standard grey with staining.

arent the 4th and 5th pictures both Azan?
I think Mezoti looks like a real one, but the others look stained. Just my opinion. But even on a good diet it can take a LONG time for the staining to go away.

I also see gray peeking through on a couple of the photos. You should take pics every few days of these guys in case that is what's happening. Would make for an interesting "documentary" of sorts.

I'd also love to see a series of photos to determine what the diet does for the coloration of the gliders.

Just two weeks doesn't really give a good diet that long to effect their fur and skin. But any changes should really start to show after two months or so.

They do all look happier than when you first took them in.

Not sure on colors but hey they are very very cute!!

id say the first is the standard grey but the other photos are def. cinnamon gliders. t hey look just like my male who is a cinnamon as well.

It can take months for coat condition to improve or change color from staining. I'd give it more time. Most of them still look stained to me. yellow bellies, patchy red tones instead of an even coloring.

I would wait at least 6 months with them on the new diet before you can tell for sure what their coloring is. ;)

OK...the verdict is in! They are cinnamon. I spoke to the previous owner and mentioned their color to her and wondered if they had been that color all along. She said, "Oh! Didn't I tell you? They are cinnamon. I have their pedigree and everything." This from a lady that gave them to me in shoe boxes and had no home to go to and no where to put the gliders. So she emailed me a copy of their pedigree and they are truly cinnamon. In fact, Rebi is 3rd generation which I guess accounts for the fact that she is so much lighter than Azan and Mezoti. Her stripe and markings are all a dark copper color. Mezoti is 2nd gen and Azan is 1st.
Azan also had a SG daddy (Rebi is her mom and Mezoti is unrelated) and she is only 6 months old.

I would of went.. Grey - Grey - Cinnamon - Cinnamon

Well, the first one IS gray. That's Trekker...just a photo for comparison taken at the same time with the same camera so that you can see that it's not the camera making them look like that .

So how does one tell the difference between coat staining from diet and a true Cinnamon or Lion Etc?

Well, the main difference that I see is that the stripe is actually a different color. It's not black...it's copper. The ones that I have had that I KNOW were stained still had a black stripe. These don't. And the belly isn't yellow like a stained glider...it's more red...copper. It's hard to explain, but they don't LOOK wrong. Every stained glider I have seen just looks dirty. These don't. In fact they look very healthy. The conclusions that I jumped to when I got them were because they were transported in a shoe box, were incredibly smelly and the girl didn't give any info on diet. I know now that she was seriously running from her boyfriend and basically grabbed them and ran and they were in that box for about 6 hours while she tried to find someone to take them. At least she didn't leave them behind and she made sure that they were being taken care of.

These are really bad pics but you get the idea. This is George when I first got him.






This was George later.




And this is George now.

George was around 6 when I got him and on a bad diet those first 6 years and now he's 11. The 2nd to the last pic was when he was 8 and the last one was taken last year.

When I got them I had no idea what diet they were on. Now that I have spoken to the previous owner they were actually well taken care of. She had them on HPW and I got vet records and pedigrees. Not so nervous about the joeys now because I know that this wasn't a mommy/son deal. She actually bred for the cinnamon and would never have given them up except that her boyfriend had beaten her up and threatened to kill her. She scooped the gliders and ran while he was asleep. So when I got them like 6-8 hours later they were completely stressed. Anyway, they are doing great and the mommies will be here until their babies are able to leave. Or they may stay with me...they are very sweet and able to be handled. They didn't even mind my poking around and checking the joeys.

Wow! you are doing something really right for George to be 11 so far. Many more years are wished for him.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by newby</i>
<br />George was around 6 when I got him and on a bad diet those first 6 years and now he's 11. The 2nd to the last pic was when he was 8 and the last one was taken last year.
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Thank you. He is my first and one of my most cherished babies!

Awe! How special George must be! =D Good Job!