I bought a little girl yesterday morning (easter). The man I bought her from told me that she had bitten him and she went “flying across the room”. They have only had her 3 weeks, and she is a wild biter, I have many many punctures on my hands where I tried holding her yesterday. I do have two other gliders already and they are both very sweet. I have put this new girl in with them (I know I should have quarantined her, but I didnt, she really needed the companionship of other gliders). After keeping her in my bonding pouch all day and handling her numerous times througout the day she seems to have settled down a little, but does anyone have any suggestions for the long haul? She has a long way to go, and I’ve never had to try to recondition an abused baby before. She is only about 12 weeks old.
I do have experience with several gliders, and even with working with biters that havent been handled much. But never before with one that has had negative handling.
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Also, when I got this little girl, she was in a TINY bird cage, no toys, only a wash cloth to hide/sleep in and they were feeding her hamster/gerbil food. When looking at her face, it almost seems like the area around one of her eyes may be a little swollen, I hope not from an impact of any type. Makes me mad that people can treat these babies like this. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
One more thing about this little girl, she doesnt have a tail. I was told that she didnt have a tail when they bought her, and it doesnt look like it was a recent thing, so I’m assuming that it was done when she was very young if she was born with a tail at all.
Has anyone tried raising a glider without a tail, and will it cause any long term issues for her? Especially concerned with her balance?
First of all, thank you.
Thank you for being there to rescue that poor creature- you are a godsend to her and your knowledge and care has just saved her life!!!
The only recommendation i would make is to take her in to an exotics veterinarian who is experienced with sugar gliders and have him or her give your little girl a thorough examination to ensure she is healthy and is not suffering any physical damage from her abusive past. They are (as you know) very fragile creatures.
Despite her negative experiences, with time and constant gentle handling from you and bonding time with your other gliders, she should learn to trust again…even to the point of a full recovery. Spend as much time as you can with her, have her ride on you and in your pouch, offer her some favorite fruits as a treat from your hand, stroke her and speak softly to her. Bring your other gliders out too so they set the example of how to interact with a human.
You are doing everything right for your new baby. Give her some time to recover, and know that she will.
-RVT
(Registered Veterinary Technician)
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I don’t think her missing tail will be an issue (I’ve read about people with tail-less gliders, they get around, glide and balance fine), but that plus her slightly swollen looking face would be cause to take her to the vet for a checkup very soon, if you haven’t already. I had a girl who’s face almost looked swollen, but it wasnt, she was just a different shape
As for her trust/abuse issues, have you ever read anything by Bourbon? She is the “B” in the BML diet that is widely used for sugar gliders all over the US and UK. I had a girl who was absolutely terrified – she had never been mishandled like your girl, but she would NOT let me near her and I thought she was going to die from fright when I tried. After getting her a companion and working with her using Bourbon’s bonding method she is now a bra baby, sweet as can be. She still has trust issues but the difference is amazing. Here is the link: http://www.sugargliderinfo.com/Bonding/ .
Time and patients is key, as I’m sure you know. Since you have a background with your other gliders, you have an advantage over most people who adopt the wild biters…
It does make me sick though, how people can be so negligent and don’t even bother to make an effort at taking care of these creatures. I bought a baby once from a guy, the place and the cage were clean but he told me the baby was “tame”. I found out later that “tame” meant he let it run around the room, with open fish tanks and a cat. It had never seen the inside of a pouch, slept inside of a plastic container with no fleece, and had a nice big cage with no toys or anything. I couldn’t believe it, and the guy said if I didn’t buy him he’d sell him to a pet store… The things people will do for money… UGH!
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