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PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA
10 Posts
Hey everyone! this is my first post here but I've been reading a lot over the past few days, and I have some simple questions, but ill start with our current progression. Day 1 - Extremely skittish, did not bite my hand when i grabbed her up, but didn't like me either. Did not eat or drink. Day 2 - Still skittish, using licky treats to associate my hand with pleasure, also petting her in her pouch while she sleeps, and putting slight pressure when I move around and she crabs, will bite if i put my hand in pouch, or come at her from a bitable angle (ie from the front). Ate and drank a little. Day 3 - Tolerates my hand in her cage and near her, bit me a few times, then stopped, now only nibbles initially when I put my hand in the cage, then only if she gets frustrated with my hand following her around, even then without too much crabbing. Heard her drink water, saw her food had been nibbled on. Bites hard and nonstop if I try to pick her up, probably 30 bites in 1 minute of me holding her, i was bleeding like crazy so I had to (calmly and slowly, the same way I handled all the bites) put her back down. Day 4 - Willingly, if while shaking up a storm and quietly crabbing, walked onto my hand, kept trying to glide through the cage door from my hand, and while trying over and over to escape unconsciously began to jump from hand to hand (once she remembered they were my hands that she was jumping around on she bit me for my trickery lol). Still only nibbles her food, drinks often. No progress in holding her. Day 5 - Is comfortable after some initial crabbing with both my hands in her cage, and again while shaking (but no longer crabbing) walks onto my palm with my other hand in sight, if only to walk up my arm towards the cage door. Has eaten a bit more of her food. She also has a funky sleep cycle, she seems to have a 30 hour cycle so far, meaning that every day she wakes up 4 hours later, and now shes awake during the day, as I type shes jumping around in her cage playing with the plethora of toys I've gotten her. Just tried to hold her again and she would have nothing of it, crabbed and bit like mad until I let her go. I can take a few bites, but the not stop ripping into my finger even with light pressure and a calm attitude results in me HAVING to put her down due to the amount of blood leaking from my shredded finger. I feel that due to my bleeding she has learned that she can bite me and ill put her down. Here are my questions: 1: How much does a 3 month old eat, cuz right now shes eating a heaping teaspoon of food per day, even though I give her a 2 heaping tablespoons (guesswork) 2: How is our progression so far? 3: How do I get her to not draw blood when I pick her up? The first day I got her she didn't bite meat all when I picked her up, yet now she bites down to the bone. I want her to know I'm the boss and let me pick her up out of her cage and carry her without a pouch whenever I so desire, that is my whole goal with a sugar glider, along with the bonding of course. I've read and some of you say that you have to accept that your glider doesn't like being held. Please refrain from such opinions here as I'm a little old fashioned. This might sound horrible, but I'm not interested in housing and feeding an animal that doesn't serve me in some way. I got a glider because I was told they would bond and eventually (I'm also patient, if someone gives me a method that takes a year, I'm okay with that) hang out in my hands and in my pocket or a pouch with me comfortably all the time. I want a great loving 15 year bonded relationship with my glider, I just need to know how to make her love me on my terms, not hers.
kare_1818 Glider USA 118 Posts 5 days isn't long enough for your sugar baby to get along with you. My sugar baby, Storm, bit me a lot when I first got her when I try to pick her up. Try holding your hand flat in front of her. If she bites or looks like she's going to bite move/wiggle your fingers around and evade the biting but move it right back to the position to where you have your hand before, kinda like playing thumb war with your sugar baby. If she licks your hand let her, or give a little love nibble let her but once she applies a little too much pressure for your comfort wiggle/move your hand and say "No Biting." Eventually she should understand that your hand isn't going anywhere. Try not to pick her up right away when you do this or enclose your hand over her keep your hand flat until she gets use to you. From time to time Storm bites me but I always say "No biting" and she'll back off a little. Also you can try to hold her while she's asleep in her pouch just so she can get use to your scent and touch when you pet her. If she wakes while you pet her just continue cautiously. It took me a while for Storm to accept being petted inside her pouch. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts I bought her a little of everything. The breeder told me to feed her chicken dogs and peas and fruit, so that's what I'm doing. Grapes, blueberries, bananas, everything you could think of, and she just nibbles. But shes pooping a lot and peeing a lot and shes active and grooming herself often. She might be taking a little longer to acclimate because my office is my bedroom and that's where she is, so shes near me all day and night almost. I was also told to not give her any freedom the first 2 weeks so that she bonds with me stronger and will stay on me instead of jumping down later. I was also told to squeeze the * out of her to make her feel safe, from several sources both online and in person. "The best way to make a baby become holding friendly is to pick it up and squeeze it tightly until it stops crabbing and goes to sleep, this associates your hand with the comfort and security of her mothers pouch". Except she doesn't go to sleep, she just squirms and bites until i let her go. If shes asleep in her pouch, as soon as she knows I'm holding it shell start squirm around and chew into it until i sit it back down. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts Also now she wont sleep in her pouch, and instead sleeps in the corner of her cage or in her wheel or her hamick. I have to coax her into her pouch and then she doesn't want to sleep. Candy Cuddle Bear FL, USA 8110 Posts OK, first order of business is to get her on a nourishing diet. Do NOT feed her chicken dogs. The spices, garlic and salt in them are very bad for your glider. Until you choose a diet for her, you can feed plain boiled chicken or plain scramble or boiled eggs for protein (abt 1 TBS) along with 1 TBS fresh or frozen vegetables (no onion, garlic, leeks,cocoa or chocolate) and 1 TBS fresh or frozen fruit. She needs a balanced diet that provides adequate protein and calcium along with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily. There are a number of recognized glider feeding plans you may want to look at to make a staple diet that will meet her needs for protein, calcium and vitamins. I have links on my web page to help you learn about the diets that most of us use. http://www.gliderkids.com/contact.html
My feeding plan is also on my web page. If you have not taken your glider to a vet for a well check up, that would also be a good step to take. If she has a parasite, she may be very irritable because she does not feel well.
kare_1818 Glider USA 118 Posts Try throwing a shirt with your scent over the cage just so she can get use to your smell for several days and take one of her pouches and carry it on you for a day or two after that hang it in her cage and repeat several time. Bonding takes a lot of time. As for food, are the amounts you put in her cage at night the same amount the next morning? If not then she's eating at night while you're asleep and that's why she poops and pees a lot. But you may have to check with a vet just to be double sure. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts As I said I didn't hear the squeezing method from 1 person randomly, try googling it, its everywhere, even on this site. Youtube videos of people doing it to calm their sugar glider down and make it feel safe. Regardless I couldn't do it, at least not as tight as all the sources are saying to. It freaked me out because her breath became short and accented as opposed to normal big clean breaths. The breeder told me she had just had her 3 month checkup before I got her, and around here there is only 1 vet that handles gliders, and hes been doing it for 20+ years, and owns several himself. As I type shes eating more from her bowl. I might be just freaking out because in the end I REALLY want to be one of those success stories, so I try too hard. petluv15 Fuzzy Wuzzy 1500 Posts quote: Originally posted by PsychaGlider
As I said I didn't hear the squeezing method from 1 person randomly, try googling it, its everywhere, even on this site. Youtube videos of people doing it to calm their sugar glider down and make it feel safe. Regardless I couldn't do it, at least not as tight as all the sources are saying to. It freaked me out because her breath became short and accented as opposed to normal big clean breaths. The breeder told me she had just had her 3 month checkup before I got her, and around here there is only 1 vet that handles gliders, and hes been doing it for 20+ years, and owns several himself. As I type shes eating more from her bowl. I might be just freaking out because in the end I REALLY want to be one of those success stories, so I try too hard.
its generally the mill breeders/brokers saying that - there is a LOT of contradictory information out there, but a 100+ lb person squeezing a 60 to 200 gram animal probably is going to cause harm... If you let us know where you are, I'm sure we can help you locate other vet options :) PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts I forgot to mention I bought mealworms and made a mealworm farm, which will be her new source of protein. the only problem is the only pet store around here only had 30, so i want them to hatch into beetles and lay 1000 eggs before I start using them, that way the food source will be constant. kare_1818 Glider USA 118 Posts 30 is not quite enough to start a mealworm farm as you're feeding you glider as you go along with the time it takes for the worms to turn into beetles and wait for the mealworms to grow to a size where you can see them. I started my mealworm farm in late March and have baby mealworms about .05 cm it can take up to 10 weeks or more and sometimes the pupa turn black/brown and dies. If you bought your mealworms from either petco/petsmart they sometime feed the mealworms something that makes them not develop into pupa form and die (not how true it is, I just remember reading it from an articles somewhere). I suggest buying more mealworms from www.exoticnutrition.com
(that's where i get a lot of my sugar babies food/treats) I started mine off with 1000 at $13 + tax and shipping. Don't worry to much about other people success stories, you'll gradually find your own since every glider is different and has their own unique personalities. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts I Spend 20+ hours a day in this room, so giving her surplus attention isnt hard. Also playing with her little feet puts her to sleep in seconds, how adorable!!! She was sleepin in her cage but i think its cuz her pouch needs washing as shes defacated in it a few times. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts Its confusing, shes Okay with me to play with her feet, but as soon as I go to pick her up she crabs and lunges and bites. I can only get her like that in her pouch or while reaching into her cage. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts Just to give you guys an update, shes eating and shes very active and were moving right along to her completely trusting me. She crabs when shes in her pouch and i mess with her, but she shuts up as soon as I get my hand in there and start petting her (goes right to sleep when i rub her little hands). She hates her bonding pouch, so I end up using her sleeping pouch for bonding. In a few days once I teach her to stay in my hands while I carry her around Ill start doing tent time. PsychaGlider Joey FL, USA 10 Posts I'm slowly teaching her that the way outside of her cage is through sitting in my hand, I can get her a good 3 feet away from the cage before she tries to wiggle out of my cupped palms, and I have to put her back in her cage, eventually ill just be able to carry her around in my shirt pocket where she can chill out and explore with me :)
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