First my daughter's post on Luna's 1st tent time on 01/11/09:

Hi. I am Anita(Goldwinger's) 19 year old daughter, Kristin.Tonight, I decided to take Luna, the little girl sugar glider from my moms posts of "I know I shouldn't have But", into the tent that we have set up for the boy sugar gliders. I didn't know how it would go, seeing as she still isn't very friendly to us, and has NEVER been in any handling situation like that, at least that we know of. We decided that I should be the one to take her in there for the first time, since I am the one who has been hand feeding her the baby food with the straw for about the past week, and figured she might possibly respond better to me. When I took her pouch in there, I started by taking out her fleece blanket, and just sitting there. She was very nervous and unsure. Slowly she climbed out of the pouch onto her blanket. Finally, she was out. Then she found the empty tissue box. She was soooooo fixated on that box. haha. Then she began trying to jump on the sides of the tent. Since she has never been in there before, she didn't realize that there wasn't anything she could hold onto, and kept falling down. She eventually starting playing on the hanging ropes and the little ark boat that we have in there. And before we knew it she was running all over the place, and having a BLAST in there! She still is a little questioning of me, and all of us, but I was able to give her a few pets on her back whenever she would slow down and sit still long enough.(which wasn't often) LOL. And then, when we got her back in her pouch, and into her (CLEAN) cage, she immediately came out of her pouch, and started running around and playing with her new toys! Before she would only cling to the sides of her cage and look around, especially if we were in the room or anywhere in the surrounding room. But she just was hauling butt in the cage. It was SOOOOOO cute.

Hopefully this is something that will continue on, and improve. We are hoping very much that we will be able to introduce her to the boys and that will help show her that we aren't a threat to her. But as for right now, this step is ALOT more than we expected from her. It feels great, and we feel like we're actually doing what we're supposed to. I know, it's long......but we are so happy! LOL

So today Luna had her second tent time. She crawled all over my daughter and my husband played with her in there as well. She actually got in the wheel we have set up in there and she just ran and ran. She would get to going so fast that a few times she actually threw herself out of the wheel, did a sumersolt in the air and landed on her feet. She did this quite a few times. I think she figured out how to do it and started doing it on purpose. It's so wonderful seeing her come along. She still isn't eating much better but kristin continues to feed her baby food through a syringe, she gets a little Ensure every night and then we continue to put out her fruits/veggies and her BML mixture. I do have to say that she did take one night a few days ago and eat almost all her fruits and veggies but then last night did not touch them at all. I think this is progress that she is a least eating them some nights. I am so very proud of her as she seems to be working on her trust issue's and we are seeing progress with her. Baby steps and that's all you can ask.

This was my latest post about My Christmas Eve and my new little girl.

Well today has been quite a Christmas Eve. I set out this morning to purchase two shower curtains and a new toilet seat. My husband calls me around 11:30 a.m. and says the pet store has one glider, do you want to go get it for yourself as a Christmas present. Evidently he had called them. I told him NO because of the quarantine and illness and it being a girl (maybe this time), anyway I just didn't feel like it was a good idea. Well knowing this pet store like I do and the condition my boys were in when I purchased them I just couldn't resist going. I need mealies anyway (that was my excuse). I really had run out of them. Anywho, I went and of course my heart just broke. The cage was absolutely filthy, tiny and small, sitting on the floor underneath a shelf of other animals.It was on a cement floor this little cage with no wheels under it. Nothing in this filth except a pouch, some pellets and a water bottle. I was so angry I could barely restrain myself. I confronted them about this poor baby. Told them about this site and how much I have researched and learned from all the people here, talked them down in price and walked out with my new girl. I hated doing it as I know they will just get more and things will not change but it's Christmas Eve and I just couldn't bring myself to leave her there. I know it was wrong as I've read so many posts about not doing it but I did and so now I have this little girl.

I came home, threw her cage in the shower, cleaned the few things in the cage. put it back together, put in some new things I have here including a new pouch with some fleece and have now put her back in her clean cage. It's small but will have to do for the quarantine time.

After all that I realized I didn't get my mealies so my husband went back and got me a few until I get back out on Friday to buy somemore and I plan on getting a bag of dried ones too for scrambled eggs.

I plan on taking all of them to doctors after New Years because I want all of them to be checked for health and I need at least one neutered. She's not friendly at all and may never be but at least she won't die in that horrible place.

After posting this I had a decent night with her but she did bark all night long. I inquired about why she might be doing this. AngieH came back with she was possibly looking for her family. That hadn't even dawned on me and I remembered then that she had been dropped off by a man with two other gliders. They were her bonded family. The realization that was probably true just broke my heart. I mean I was just devastated by the thought. Imagine that happening to us. Being ripped away from your family and then my head and heart thought "she'll never see them again either". This is so very sad and disheartening.

I'm so happy even more now that I took the leap and got her away from that pet store and brought her home. I hope that she will bond with my boys and that will fill the hole she has from not being with her family anymore and that my boys will become her new FAMILY.

Whata wonderful time we are having with our babies. 10 more days until our 30 day anniversary. Who would have ever guessed. My heart is filled with such love for them. They ARE my little babies.

Our Luna is still crabby but she is getting better. When we first got her she would not come anywhere near us. Now we can put our hand in the cage and she comes up to our fingers, doesn't bite and will at least sniff us or take a treat from us. Tent time is comming around as well. She has actually climbed on us a little. She still pretty much just wants to hide under the blanket but I see a little improvement. She loves the new wheel we purchased and when her and Cosmo get inside it only one will run and the other will hang on for dear life. We have sat endlessly and just watched as one glider goes round and round, upside down, half hanging out of that wheel hole with tail waving in the wind. It is just to cute.

Our Cosmo. What can I say about him. He is just a joy. He wants to be out of that cage and with us constantly. He doesn't like our pockets or our bras. He likes our sleeves. We pull our hand up in our long sleeve shirt or hoodies and he just crawls into it while our hand forms a tunnel allowing entrance. Then he just crawls up and down our arm in our sleeves. My husband got a surprise tonight as his shirt was Pee'd on by Cosmo during his parade in my hubby's sleeve. It was just to funny. He just looks at me, pulls on the underside of his sleeve and states "He just pee'd on me". just to cute as Cosmo peers out the end of the sleeve like "you talking bout me". Wish I'd had my camera ready.

What I once thought was the biggest mistake I ever made is beginning to be the best thing I ever did. I find myself spending as much time preparing their food as well as my own families but my oldest daughter, (she's 18) is chipping in and learning alongside of me. I would love to be able to go off with my husband this summer as we are both motorcycle riders (he has a 2003 Honda Goldwing and me a 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 900) and feel safe that my babies are in the confident care of my daughters. I talk to them about everything I read and learn on this site. My youngest has yet to get much more involved with them other than to try to bond with them in tent time but she is young and has many more interests at this time, (mostly boys) she's 13 going on 21. She is the president of the SCA at school, in band, on the newspaper commitee, a cheerleader, and taking all advanced classes and made honor roll last grading period. Her plate is pretty full.

Just as a ending note; we do have an additional member of this family even though he has not been mentioned but maybe once. He is our beautiful white and red eyed rabbit named Kenji. We've had him about 4 years and we love him with all our heart. We purchased him on Black Friday 4 years ago on a impulse and like our suggies was quite hard to get accustomed to having him here. He stays in another area of the house and is the king of the pet family. We let him out to run and play and he has yet to really discover we have suggie babies here though he might smell them as he has a keen sense of smell.

I really am blessed to have all the above including a loving husband who puts up with me and stays with me regardless of my impulse buying of such wonderful yet complcated animals. Thank you my darling.

About two weeks of being a sugarglider mommy and I have learned so much. Main thing I learned is that pet stores are stupid. They tell you to just to feed them Staple pellets, dried nuts and fruit and some worms. Well from my research on this website and forum that is far from the truth. You have to be very careful what and how much you feed them and they require alot of your time. Things I was never aware of. I will not let that discourage me and I will continue to learn and do good to them. I want to be as good as the people I see posting in here. It breaks my heart to hear about the condition of some of these gliders and how they are being mistreated if by nothing else but by ignorance. In these times where we have the internet to learn by they should be more knowlegable. I was (and still am but trying to learn) very ignorant but with countless hours of researching and reading I at least know what I'm up against and still Love and Want my babies. I look forward to the day that I feel confident in my care of them.

We have owned our new sugargliders for 1 week and 2 days. We bought our first girl on 11/11/08 and at first I was afraid I'd made a big mistake as she was young (12 weeks old) and terrified and I wasn't sure I could take care of her. Then on 11/16/08 we decided to purchase what we thought was another girl. Well the guy at the pet store wasn't very bright and we learned 2 days later it was a boy. Well now we know why they took to each other so quickly. We named our new family members Cosmo and Luna. Cosmo is such a wonderful sugarglider. He is friendly and active and fun and we enjoy our tent time with him tremendously. Luna our little one is still very shy but we managed to get her in the tent today and she has calmed down a little. We hope in time that she will love us as much as Cosmo does. I have not set up an apponitment to get my little guy neutered yet and hope until we do that Luna is to young to have babies but I firmly believe in never say never. This is the story about our new family and my daughters love them very much. Right now they are playing tent time with them. This is all so new to me and I've been reading as often as I can about sugargliders on the internet but am excited about being here to learn more first hand information from sugarglider families here.

   

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Goldwinger
Gender: Female
Occupation:Asst. Manager in Auto Parts
Member since: Nov 20, 2008
Posts: 1369 View my pictures!
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Motorcycle riding, Visiting the mountains of Blue Ridge and hiking, Horse Back riding, Playing with and enjoying our Rabbit and our Suggie babies Luna, Milk Dud, Lucas, Cosmo & Jack. My News
My husband bought me a 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic motorcycle, brand new and I just love it. I took the Motorcycle Riders Safety Class and I ACED it. Scored 100% and beat out every man in the class. I felt so proud when the instructor announced it to the class and surprised me with the news and my temporary liscense. Hubby and I have made quite a few road trips together, me on my Vulcan and him on his Goldwing. The feeling of the freedom that comes with riding is just so wonderful. This is my stress reliever and everyday I can't wait until the next time I can get on my bike and go. My Bio
I am 52 years old, have three children, have been married for 23 years to my wonderful husband Ed. I have a son who's 29 and lives in MA. I have two daughters 21 and 16 who are at home. I love to go motorcycle riding with my husband. We have a great time together and sometimes get away for a weekend here or there to try and rekindle some romance in our relationship. I'm an assistant delivery sales manager at an auto parts store. It can be very stressful and sometimes feel more like a babysitter than a boss. My favorite place to get away to is the mountains for some hiking, horseback riding or just some site seeing of the wildlife and scenery.

   

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