Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary

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Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary A rescue for Sugar Gliders located in East Tennessee. Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Glider Rescue came about as a fluke. Currently, in-house, I have 19.

A friend asked if I'd take in a Sugar Glider that one of his co-workers was having to give away. I'm allergic to cats and dogs, so this seemed a nice way to get an animal companion. The Glider was Fancy and I was told that she was about 6 months old when I got her in February of 2007. After doing some research and discovering that Gliders are "communal" (meaning they need to be in groups of at lea

st 2 or more), I bought Madeline from a breeder to keep Fancy company. After that, people started asking if I'd take in this Glider or that Glider that they knew of who needed a new home. So, in essence, I've become a Glider Rescue. To date, I've rescued 8 Gliders, bought 1 and those Gliders have had 14 joeys (baby Gliders). I hope to become a licensed breeder soon, but need to get the house organized first. It'll have to be inspected by both a veterinarian and a representative from National Wildlife. I've, also, thought of becoming an official non-profit Glider Rescue, but haven't decided on that yet. I plan on using this site to post stories from my Gliders point-of-view, pictures of them and insights into their behavior, eating habits, etc. If you like my page, please share it with your friends :)

Facts about Gliders:
1. Sugar Gliders are nocturnal. For those who don't know what that means: They sleep during the day and get up in the evening to play all night and then go to sleep in the morning. So, unless you're a night person, not necessarily a good pet for you.

2. Gliders are communal animals. This means they need to be in groups of at least two or more. It can be two males, two females or one of each. If you get just one Glider, you need to spend at least 10 hrs. per day with it. Single Gliders that don't get enough time with their owner will, literally, die of loneliness. So, it's best to buy Gliders in pairs.

3. Sugar Gliders are native to the rain forests of New Zealand and Australia.

4. In the wild, their life span is 3-4 years due to predators. In captivity, they've been known to live up to 15 yrs. So, if you plan on getting a Glider, plan on having it for a very long time.

5. Gliders are omnivores, meaning they eat fruits, vegetables and meats, just like we do. In the wild, their diet consists of the sap from Acacia and Eucalyptus trees, moths and hopping insects and the occasional bird or mouse. I feed mine meat, cheese, nuts, live mealworms, uncooked oatmeal, cherry/grape tomatoes and some green vegetables, grapes and other fresh fruits, and water. Meats containing nitrates or nitrites are bad. NEVER feed Gliders cat food or canned fruits.

6. Sugar Gliders are marsupials. For those who don't know what a marsupial is, it means they carry their young in a pouch. Within 24 hours of mating, they'll be pregnant. The baby grows in the uterus for 16 days. When it is about the size of an uncooked grain of rice, it will make it's way down the birth canal and to the pouch where it will grow for about another 8-10 weeks.

7. Gliders are "arboreal" creatures. This means they live in the canopy of the forest, that is, the tree tops. Because of this, they p*e and p**p as they walk along. This means that they can't be litter trained. It, also, means that they need to be let out of their cages for about 4 hrs per day so they can get out, run, jump and climb on things; basically, get the exercise they need to keep them healthy.

30/10/2023

Jacquotte wound up having to go the vet to get the abscess on the bottom of her jaw drained. She's on antibiotics for a few more days.

Vet said Mowgli had a scratch on his eye. So, he gets drops followed by a gel 5 minutes later three times a day. Mowgli is none-too-happy about this and has let me know by biting me several times, but just barely hard enough to break the skin.

TJ is most aggressive when the boys in the sewing room and the bedroom have run of their rooms. Luckily, that's the same day. So, on the day that the boys in those rooms are loose, TJ and Flash are spending their day in their cage in the living room. Since starting this new pattern, TJ comes to visit with me more often when he has run of the room.

14/10/2023

Update on gliders:

The morning before TJ got hold of Mowgli, he'd found Jacquotte in the living room. Not sure when she'd gotten out of the bedroom. Might have been when I was putting their food out, or could have been when I got up to go to the bathroom. Either way, I woke up to loud crabbing and found Jacquotte standing, tucked into a ball, and crabbing just as loud as she could, which I think scared TJ into not bothering her much. Don't think he was expecting something so loud and fierce out of someone so much smaller and older than he is. I scooped her up and took her back to the bedroom and laid down with her for a little while before getting up for work. She didn't look injured. Since then, her jaw has swollen. I've got her on antibiotics. If the swelling isn't gone by Monday, I'll take her to the vet. She's my oldest glider, having turned 11 yrs. old in September.

Mowgli is feeling better. The light scratches on his back appear to have healed already. Swelling in his face has gone down, but his right eye still looks cloudy and dark red. He's still on antibiotics. My vet is on vacation this week. May take Mowgli back to see the vet when he gets back. Want to see if Mowgli's eye will recover, or if he's lost the site in it, which I suspect. He's been having some mobility issues since the fight. Those could be chalked up to his injured front paw, a problem with his vision, or both. The swelling in the paw has gone down, and he's using it like normal now.

Discovered TJ had some swelling around his right eye as well. Used the eye drops the vet sent home for Mowgli on TJ as well. Also gave him a few doses of antibiotics. Swelling around the eye has subsided.

Outside of that, everyone else is doing fine. Bambi and Flower have attempted forays out of the bedroom, but they don't get far. Mava is content to stay in the bedroom, but Nagaina is also wanting to go explore the hallway and living room. The girls in the sewing room are content to stay put, although Mesuah does make an occasional jaunt into the hallway when the door is left open. Grey Brother and Mowgli are still fussy with TJ through the screen door. However, Grey runs from TJ when they come face to face, and it's Mowgli who winds up rolling in a ball on the floor with TJ. Flash, at 9 yrs. old, is the oldest male and content to leave everyone else alone. He and TJ spend the afternoons napping in a wool sport coat on the top of the shelving unit in the hallway, and sleep in a pouch in their cage in the mornings. Flash hunts bugs around their cage, and seems rather happy with life despite all the changes he's seen.

14/10/2023
05/10/2023

Was headed to the bathroom last night when I discovered the sewing room door open and heard gliders fighting. Found TJ and Mowgli curled up into a ball going at each other. Used the lid from a plastic tub to tap on them until they split up. TJ jumped onto a roll of fabric in the closet, and Mowgli waddle/ran to the other side of the room.

Grabbed TJ and he looked okay. Put him into his cage in the living room and closed the doors on it.

Went back and grabbed Mowgli to check him out. He's missing large patches of fur on his back, his right eye was bloodshot and bulging, there were wounds around the eye and one of his hands was red and swollen. Checked my watch, and the vets office had closed about 5 minutes before I found the fighting gliders.

Gave Mowgli a dose of antibiotices and kept him with me for the rest of the night. Got him in to see the vet this afternoon. Vet gave me an anti-inflammatory (once a day), eye drops (3 times a day), and told me to give him a full .1 ml of SMZ (antibiotics twice a day). Vet said he was more worried about Mowgli's hand, which is now very swollen, than his eye since the eyes swelling has gone down quite a bit since last night.

Mentioned that I noticed that TJ's right eye looks like the lid might be swollen. He can't open it all the way. Vet said I could do the eye drops on him as well.

Went to see how TJ had gotten into the sewing room. I use earth magnets to keep the doors closed. Apparently, the sewing room's wooden screen door has warped enough that the only magnet that stays in touch with the door frame (yes, it's a steel door frame) is the one at the top. TJ was able to leverage the bottom corner against it to get it open. So, found a ponytail holder and have started using the hook latch again.

28/09/2023

Mava and Nagaina have now disabused me of the idea that it was primarily the male gliders who were going after the mice.

Like normal, I put their yogurt bowl on top of their food bowl so I could pull them out together. Dumped the soapy water from the moat plate into the collection jar. Glanced up at the old food bowl as I was sweeping off the shelf where their bowls sit inside the cage and realized I was looking as a little hand. Then I saw the tail, and then a little round ear. They had left a half-eaten mouse in their food bowl, and it was fresh.

Dead mouse is now in the food scrap bowl and on it's way outside. Guessing one of the possums will enjoy a nice snack this morning.

13/09/2023

Caramel is a wonderful, sweet dog. He showed up one day, and we all fell in love with him. Then he got hit by a car. His prognosis is not good… his right hip is basically shattered, which means he’s in pain constantly. We can barely afford his medication, let alone the surgery he needs. I’m ...

09/09/2023

Leroy says Please VOTE for Critter Camp every & Share & Tag friends too!
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Only the top 13 will win and we are #6! Thank you!
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My sister's dog, Caramel, was hit by a car and she can't afford the surgery to repair his hip. If you can, please donat...
06/09/2023

My sister's dog, Caramel, was hit by a car and she can't afford the surgery to repair his hip. If you can, please donate to help her out. If you can't afford to donate, then please share her fundraiser. The gliders and I would greatly appreciate it

Caramel is a wonderful, sweet dog. He showed up one day, and we all fell in love with him. Then he got hit by a car. His prognosis is not good… his right hip is basically shattered, which means he’s in pain constantly. We can barely afford his medication, let alone the surgery he needs. I’m ...

17/08/2023

Took Mava to the vet this afternoon. She's been hissing like she's in heat when she p**ps. This is normal if it only happens occasionally because it can signify that they're a little constipated. She's doing it almost every time, and this isn't the first time I've taken her to the vet for this issue. Vet took an x-ray and checked her mouth. He didn't see anything that he thought would cause a problem. She weighed 80 grams. He wants me to bring her back in three weeks for a recheck.

Last time I had taken her in, she'd lost a major amount of weight, was lethargic, and the vet said she appeared to be deficient on calcium. He recommended I add Reptivite and Reptical to their diet, which I did. She's definitely more active than she was and he said her bones looked healthy this time. So, there's improvement over last time, but I still wonder about the hissing.

17/06/2023

Bambi is a mouser!

Was headed to bed this morning when I opened the bedroom door and saw Bambi sitting on the top edge of Mava and Nagaina's cage eating something. Didn't have my glasses on, but could tell it was larger than anything in their food bowls, and his groups food bowls are on the other side of the room. Got my glasses so I could make sure he wasn't eating something he shouldn't. Sure enough, it was a mouse, and he'd eaten more than half of it.

In other news, TJ has discovered that he can crawl inside my desk through the openings that are supposed to house desk extensions. Fancy and Madeline used to climb into the desk that way and nest in the different drawers at times. TJ is the first glider to venture into the office on his own in years. He comes in a couple of times during the afternoons to visit while I'm working, and just this week started making his way into the desk.

18/05/2023

Providing a safe, healthy, happy forever home to unadoptable exotic and unusual pets for 19 years

17/05/2023
04/05/2023

Early last week, TJ pushed out enough of the pet screen on the sewing room door to crawl through. He was chasing Mowgli, who is twice his size, and Grey Brother, who is only slightly bigger, around the room and attacking them. I pulled a yoga ball over next to the door and hammered in some nails to try to keep TJ, the burgeoning monster, out of the sewing room.

Friday, maybe Saturday, night, I heard fussing in the sewing room again and found TJ had pushed out more of the screen in one of the corners to get into the room. The girls had run of the room. When he wasn't terrorizing Mowgli and Grey, who were in a cage, he was chasing the girls. So, after removing him to a cage in the living room, I found a board outside that was about 2" wide and came about and 1.5" short on either side of going all the way across the bottom of the screen on the door. I was hoping that was enough to keep TJ out.

Today, I went out to run some errands and came home to the sounds of fighting from the sewing room. TJ had gotten in at the corner again, but this time he'd been in long enough to leave Mowgli with a bloodied face and missing patches of fur on his back. I've tossed TJ back into the cage in the living room.

Mowgli immediately got a dose of antibiotics. I found Grey about 5 minutes later hanging out at the top of the curtain on one of the sewing room windows. Looks like he escaped TJ's attacks. I tucked both Mowgli and Grey Brother into my tank top. Grey climbed out about an hour later and crawled into a small nest box. Mowgli has made no attempt to leave my shirt. I attempted to put some silvadene cream on his wounds, but he kept moving away from me. Will try again later.

In other news, Jacquotte, who will be 11 in October, is not showing any signs of slowing down, and she's keeping Bambi and Flower in their places. Bambi is about the same size as Mowgli, and is the only male glider in the house that scares TJ. He snuck out the other day when I woke up just long enough to go to the bathroom. When my alarm went off, I heard running in the living room and came out to find Bambi chasing TJ. Scooped him up and tossed him back into the bedroom.

Now that I've started sprinkling a mix of Repti-cal and Repti-vit onto the gliders food, Flower, Mava, and Flash have become a bit more active. Flash, who is 9 this year, gets up in the early afternoon to make his way to the hallway where he bunks down to sleep. Doesn't get up again until somewhere between 9 and midnight when he does a little exploring before going back to the pouch in the cage to nap until their fresh food is out. Everyone else is still getting along well.

Now, to go find a way to plug that hole in the screen...

04/03/2023

More good news! Mava and Nagaina got run of the bedroom around 3:30 this morning. I got up at 8:00 because of an appointment. Went back to the bedroom several times during the day to check on the girls. Around 1 pm, opened the nest box to see if Mava was there, or if she'd climbed out again. No one was in the nest box. Nagaina showed up a few minutes later, and I looked around for Mava, but didn't find her. Went back in somewhere around 3 or 4, still no one in the nest box. I found Nagaina a coat pocket in the closet, but no Mava. Got a little panicky, did a more thorough search of the room, but didn't find her. Went in about 15 minutes ago, put my hand in the nest box and both girls were there. Normally when I do this, Mava starts crabbing and I get bitten at least once. This time, no one made a sound and I was able to pet them for a moment without getting bitten!!! Yay! Progress!

Also went to check on Mowgli and he was sitting on the food shelf staring out the cage door. He wanted to go run around for a bit, but he'll get out later when I change up their food. Discovered earlier in the day that I'd forgotten to close the lower cage door after trying to coax one of the girls out this morning. Mowgli and Grey Brother had left the cage. Mowgli was in the hammock that hangs on the outside of the cage. Grey was in the large nest box in the top of the closet with his little sister Raksha. Oh, not sure who did it, but one of Mowgli's crew took out another mouse. It had been dead long enough for the blood to dry, but no one had started eating it yet. I took it outside where nature could more easily take its course.

01/03/2023

Happy news! I now have evidence that Mava is feeling better!

Mava and Nagaina have run of my bedroom right now. When I woke up this morning, in the dim light from the windows noticed a glider sitting in the floor in front of their cage, but I thought it looked a little small for Nagaina. As I was putting my feet in my slippers, Nagaina came running from the screen door, crossed in front of Mava, and went under the cage before circling back to the door. I walked over and Mava sat still for a moment. When I bent down to pet her, she scampered over toward the hinge side of the door when she felt my finger on her back. This is the first time in months I've seen her outside of her cage. Yay!

01/03/2023

Some possible good news.
I'd already started dusting the gliders food with calcium power in order to possibly help Mowgli and Mava, neither of whom have been moving much. Vet recommended adding some Reptivite as well. Late last week, Mowgli had moved out of the nest box and into a pouch, but his claws caught in the fabric and trapped him there until I found him several hours later. Trimmed his claws a little. Now, two days later, he climbed from the nest box on the food shelf in the closet to the folded hammock on the side of the cage currently occupied by the girls. Not once, but twice today, he's made that journey. Now, if only I could get evidence that Mava is doing better.

26/02/2023

At 10:49 pm, Morganna drew her last breath. She has crossed the Rainbow Bridge 😭😭😭

26/02/2023

It's been two hours since Morganna came out of her pouch. She lapped a little yogurt drink about an hour ago, but has shown no interest in any food. She's still breathing, but no longer has the strength to move. She would have been 11 yrs old in July, and is the last of Madeline's line. 😭

26/02/2023

I think I'm about to lose Morganna. Was sitting on the couch eating when she came out of her pouch and fell to the bottom of the cage. I picked her up and she's barely able to crawl. She threw up clear fluid a couple of times. Once she stooped. I put her on the shelf with her food and she went to drink some of their yogurt and glideraid smoothie. Mowgli was in a pouch around my neck, and I took him back to his cage. When I got back to the living room, Morganna had climbed back to her pouch, but hadn't made it inside yet. I picked her up and she's barely moving. I recognize the look in her eyes. Every glider I've held as they passed has had it. Not sure she will make it through the night.🥺

Edit: She's crawling on me some. She moves about 6"-8" and stops. I've tried to get her to eat a mealworm, but she's not interested :(

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