Last night, Catwoman came out to play on her wheel and I was able to take Batman out of the pouch. I snuggled him in our bedroom & he sat on my arm the entire time! I didn't even have to bribe him with mealies: he just sat there, content and he PURRED!

This morning, I gave a boatload of meal worms to all of my kids and there was so much that Catwoman let me pet her while she ate mealie after mealie. And she chirped, too! I never thought I'd hear that girlie chirp! Just when I think she doesn't like me...she does something to spark back up hope from dying embers. [:)] Girls! They are SO MOODY! [LOL]

I hope they get along well with the newcomers.

All three kids climbed into my shirt last night. Ivy was the first to groom me at the waist and later all three groomed me on the right boob at the same time! LOL! I am going to have some explaining to do at work today because the kids gave me a hickey! XD We spent about 2 hours in tent time last night but only Nightwing really did much exploring. I don't know if it's because there was a thunderstorm or what, but mostly, they just wanted to snuggle and sleep--which was fine by me. I eventually had to put them up because their sleepy energy was making ME want to go to sleep, which was not safe. They fussed a bit but they were very good when I put them up.

Hubby has them tonight. I think we may do tent time every night so long as the kids seem to want it. :)

Batman & Catwoman are being terrible sulkers. We try to up their treats and up their loving, but they are not having any of it. I've not seen them sulk like this since we had to drop them off at the sitters on our Moving Day. :/ Poor babies. They're acting so dejected. I hope that in a month, they will get over it, and be excited and happy when we bring the trio's cage into the bedroom.

And I am really looking forward to it, too, because I can't seem to stay away. Three nights in a row and at some point, I come out and sleep on the couch so I can be near them, just to make sure all is well.

I haven't heard any chatter between Colony 1 and Colony 2, though. I've been looking forward to it as I hear this is common. BUT...I suppose that at least they are not talking smack or otherwise arguing.

We named them Ivy, Nightwing & Robin to go with our Batman Theme! They are so very well behaved and so socialized, I really am speechless!

Dad took the new kids into tent time tonight (we had it thoroughly cleaned) and they all snuggled into his shirt.

Me, I took Batman & Catwoman in for bathroom time. Catwoman was a bit freaked out. I think the sound of other gliders in the house really distracted her. When I thought they were done, I was trying to put them back in their cage, Catwoman made a run for it! She bolted under the bedroom door and made it down the hall. I was scared she was going to break quarantine! I managed to corral her into the bathroom, where we just were, and was able to get her into their old, stinky pouch. Then, I put her back in with Batman. Gave me a heart attack!

"Quarantine FIRST, Catwoman, and THEN we do intros! You do NOT just go ahead and introduce YOURSELF!" [LOL] What a little trouble-maker she is!

...I am so nervous right now. Going to meet my potential future babies tonight. That's right: we may be adopting more sugar babies to spoil. I hope they like us and if we do get them, I hope all of my babies get along so we can have one big happy colony. If not...I'll have two happy colonies and I'll be alright with that.

So nervous. Been looking forward to this all week! Been praying over this, tormented over this for about a month now. I even dream of them at night! But I will repeat what I've been telling myself for awhile now: "If it is God's will, let it be. If not, give me the strength to let it go."

I find myself questioning myself in all areas. Am I a good enough mom? Am I lacking in any areas? How can I improve myself? I don't know if I am a good mom...but I do my best. I hope I am.

Well, those of you reading this: wish me luck. And if you love me, pray for me. Not that I get them, necessarily, but that they get the home that is best for them. (Although, if I am going to be honest with you as well as myself, I am hoping I am what's best for them. "Pick me! Pick me!" :D)

Five or six more hours to go....My heart is in my throat.

There is a bit of a back story I have to tell before getting to the huge progress so here it goes: Catwoman's meal worm thievery has gone from bad to worse. We try and be fair and leave an equal number of meal worms for each glider both in foraging and in hand delivery but no matter what, Catwoman will steal them right from under Batman's nose! It was really sad and irritating that she could be so greedy. Usually, we could get her to leave him alone with the meal worms that HE forages for: the ones in the tooth fairy treasure chests...but NO. She practically pulls them out of his mouth. It is just awful! Not only that, but in end result, she has gained BACK all the weight she just lost! (Because, remember, she is eating twice the amount of meal worms intended for her. She has no temperance. I believe if we left the whole tub of meal worms in the cage, they would be all gone. Batman, meanwhile, will eat until he is full and then yes, snub a meal worm! As we discover later.)

ANYWAY, so we debated whether or not we should even GIVE meal worms at all in the future. The thievery started a bunch of crabbing and lunges in the cage and I didn't want their relationship to suffer. We finally decided to take Batman out of the cage to feed him his meal worms. This would be tricky because as of yet, we have never been able to successfully pull a glider out without crabbing. So we had to be patient.

One night, Catwoman came out and was playing on her wheel. We acted swiftly and grabbed the pouch that Batman was still in. And we were able to feed him meal worms AND my husband was able to lift him out of the pouch without any problems. YAY! Not only that, but Batman sat on his hand the entire time. He ate maybe five meal worms and then he was done. We gave Catwoman meal worms, too but she gobbled them up so fast, she had plenty of time to distress herself by watching all the meal worms she could NOT steal. She foraged in all the usual places trying to find more meal worms but they were not there. I felt sort of bad for her but there was a part of me that thought, "Well, this is what you do to Batman all the time. How do you think HE feels when you are eating HIS treats?" Maybe a little adversity will do her character some good. She also noticed how he got doted on because he was sitting in my husband's hand.

Sure enough, Catwoman's behavior changed a bit. When given a meal worm, she used to snatch and run to the back of the cage to eat it "in safety", and we could not pet her. After this instance, she didn't run. She let us pet her while she ate.

Now, that was the night before last. LAST NIGHT we had yet another five star day! We heard someone was in the wheel and naturally thought it was Catwoman since she is the more active of the two. (Which is surprising, due to her weight issues but I am ever so grateful for her activity because now that she can no longer steal meal worms, I am counting on her exercise to help bring her weight down to a healthy and reasonable level.) Anyway, it wasn't Catwoman at all but Batman in the wheel!

What to do? Well, I handed my husband one of the many clean fleece blankets the kids have and said, "Maybe you can grab him and take him out of the cage." What do you know but that wasn't even necessary! The moment my husband showed him the blanket, Batman hopped right into his hand! And I used to say that my gliders didn't like being held! If this keeps up, I can say that this is no longer true!!! What a pleasant surprise!

And yes, again, the entire time we gave him meal worms, he sat in my husband's hand. We got to pet him to our heart's content and Batman was chirping away happily. Nothing stolen two nights in a row. He started to get a little scared at the end for being without a pouch but we successfully put him back in the cage without one.

What a wonderful last two nights!!

After spending exactly two nights away from our babies, we got them back and everything seems to be better than before.

The first night was the hardest. Neither kids seem to understand that we were not rehoming them. Despite how "pimped out" I had their 'hotel' cage, and snacks and etc., both seemed pretty freaked out, and depressed. Batman took it especially hard. He had this "I didn't do anything...why? Why again? I loved you...how could you..?"

Went home and packed up their huge cage and I broke the eff down. I don't think I have sobbed quite like that in a long while. Anyone walking in on me would have thought that my babies died or something. I was literally keening. It didn't matter what I looked at: their plate of eaten food, their yucky ball pit, the toys I made them. Thank God for my wonderful husband who took over and disassembled the cage as well as Lady Tiko/Sarah for taking such good care of our babies. (She even texted me a photo of Catwoman when she came out to play on the wheel.)

We moved and had the cage set up immediately. We would have loved to make the three hour drive back to get our babies that evening, but we were both dead tired at that point. The next day, we woke up with huge grins on our faces and a renewed skip in our step.

Boy, did we get snubbed by them, though! We picked them up and we could tell they knew they were coming home with us and immediately they perked up. But they would not be caught dead letting us off so easily. Meal worms were given to the extent that meal worms BECAME their dinner. (Yes, we offered them a nutritious dinner anyway, just in case, but who were we kidding?) Lots of head and ear pettings, cooing noises and I think they forgave us enough. They were still freaked out by the new apartment but luckily, the cage smelled enough like them (yes, I left it stinky when we moved it) that they settled down in time and played all night. We finally got a good night's rest, too because the lack of wheels turning, the lack of balls exploding from the ball pit, the lack of bells ringing in the middle of the night made it impossible for either of us to rest.

I never thought that silence could be so deafening...

And now that I know what it is like to be without them, even for two nights...I've decided that when we go on vacation, the kids are coming with us. I'll just be sure to call the hotel in advance and make the necessary arrangements.

Batman's been on his wheel more, out and about in the cage more, and last night he even jumped! I am SO happy!

You can tell by looking at him that his coat is looking so much better and that his muscles are less atrophied from being in such a small cage for the first 2 years of his life. I love watching him hang upside down and stretch out his "wings". [LOL] (That's why I like to call his patagium.)

I am pleased to say that the kids are getting up earlier now that the weather is warming up. We were in tent time at 9:30pm and they snoozed a little on me before the Bullet shot out like she wants to do and started annihilating all the crickets. [LOL]

Batman, too, came out, and on his own, much to my surprise. I didn't have to urge him out by turning the pouch slowly inside out on him. Will wonders never cease? He was also checking out all the toys, especially the new ferret tunnels we got! (I am happier knowing that the full set is on its way. Since the pieces that I got were such a hit, we went on Amazon and purchased the whole kit and kaboodle! We always planned on getting them but as it appears to be going out of stock, we put a little fire in our step and got in sooner rather than later.)

He's not doing too good on the hunting aspect of tent time, though. By the time he was nosing around, Catwoman aka Bullet had eaten every darn one! And then a few meal worms we had strategically placed in Easter eggs, etc. (It being Easter and all.)

BUT, he actually sat in my hand for longer intervals than usual, even taking a few cautious nips at my fingers. I couldn't help myself. I said, "Ow" each and every time and I know I startled him but it was a reflex, much like being tickled. He did not hurt me.

CATWOMAN, on the other hand, her "explorative nip" DID hurt. Still hurts today. For not making me bleed, she sure knows how to make me feel like she broke skin. Yowza! And my middle finger to boot! I am sure that part of this pain is due to the fact that I am a massage therapist by profession and therefore have EXTREMELY SENSITIVE fingers. Which is a good thing if you're feeling for a knot in someone's back and trying to get rid of it. BAD if you have nibbly little babies!

Also, I feel like I have to point out that even though we bring their food dish in with us, they didn't eat. Not their supplement, not the yummy fruits and veggies. Idk if they were just milking us for all the meal worms they could get (most likely) but it wasn't until 3 hours later when we put them up in their cage that they IMMEDIATELY came out to where their food dish normally could be found and THEN ate their HPW like it was going out of style and Catwoman ran to the water bottle and drank it like she wanted to empty it.

What's up with that? We had it in the tent with us, but they didn't touch it. I suppose they are like kids: too busy playing to know what they need? I don't know. I shall have to ponder this more later.

Today, I have a Gift Exchange to mail out, and then work on the designs of a new toy. Perhaps for Toy Tutorial #3? Well, I will make the toy and then see if the kids like it and THEN I will post it up on GG.

And of course, I am looking forward to tonight's tent time....I hope I don't get bit again but then again, knowing that that's how they show affection, I hope I only get bit LIGHTLY. I like knowing they love me. [:)]

So far, we've had 4 consecutive nights of tent time, looking to be night #5 tonight. I am loving it! They both get crabby at around 10pm (I guess it's still too early for them) but as soon as they are out, they go NUTS looking for mealworms or hanging out and getting massaged by mommy. ;)

Catwoman loves to lick and nip at my ankles. Yowie, it tickles!!! We actually got some decent pics of her this time, too. She's still our Pet Bullet, but she condescended to have her photo taken for once. XD

I am realizing that we need a 3rd wheel--this time for the tent. We have 1 that's wall mounted and sits mid cage level, and then a floor one, but I think having one in the tent might give Babygirl her wheel fix. That's the first thing she runs to once we put them up.

They were making quite a ruckus last night after we went to bed. I don't know what that was all about but it sure sounded like they were throwing a huge party in their cage. So tired...but so worth it.

Gonna see about doing it again tonight. If nothing else, tent time from 10pm to midnight isn't so bad. Not for a work night. Gonna see about staying up later during our "weekend" (Sun & Mon night) and see if we can really plan something fun for the kids. :)

Tonight, I think we'll do crickets. We haven't done crickets in a while.

During last night's tent time, Batman got under my shirt but over my tank top. I don't know if he'll ever be a bra baby, though because for whatever reason, he likes to hang out near my arm pit or waist! But at least he's not sitting on my back anymore. I sometimes think he did that because I couldn't get to him there and he was still a bit distrustful of humans then. He's getting better. But, judging from his past, who could blame him?

Catwoman is still Catwoman--our pet bullet! We took the fleece off the the floor of the tent and no one seems to care. The crinkle noise apparently does not bother either of them. And you should have seen her! She was hopping over the little "speed bumps" on the bottom of the tent like she was a horse hopping over fences!!

We at least remembered to take their meal worms into the tent with us so we were able to bribe her back into her pouch. You could tell she was getting tired toward the end of tent time but she was still not wanting to quit. (Just like a kid, I SWEAR!)

Regarding said meal worms...she kept going to the container try to open it up! LOL! Funny little creature! She wants what she wants, huh? But we wouldn't let her have it til the end. Otherwise, how else would we bribe her back into the pouch? :)

   

Page: 1 2 3 of 3

RChurch
Gender: Female
Occupation:Licensed Massage Therapist
Member since: Sep 21, 2011
Posts: 1377 View my pictures!
My Hobbies
I enjoy making toys for gliders. Lots and lots of toys. I also write poetry, cook, watch movies and read books. But of course, if I have any time at all, it's given to my precious suggies. :) Favorite Quote
"But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it the most?" ~Mark Twain

   

Page: 1 2 3 of 3