Monthly Archives: September 2009

New guy in my life

Yes, I got a new guy in my life. He is round, got cute eyes, dreamy face, furry and hyper. Hahaha…. yes, a sugar glider, a male called Pugle.

I adopted Pugle from an advertisement on the Internet. It was from this guy, trying to sell him off coz the female ran away. Well, I just wanted to give a try and called this guy since the ad has been on the Internet for a week. I was surprised that it was still available since it was cheap at RM150. Ok I said, I’ll meet up and get him. Actually, I already have enough gliders but for some reason, I felt I had to call this guy up to adopt his glider.

Met the guy, nice guy who is a pet lover but unfortunately he has very little knowledge on gliders. I believe he bought them as joeys but didn’t tame them. Since the female ran away, the male was lonely. When I first saw Pugle, he wasn’t attractive. Crabby, he bites, a bit thin and had poor fur condition and he was really really STINKY! I dunno why, something made me take him home, guess I pitied this fellow alot. He crabbed all the way home in the car.

When I brought him back home, he was super scared, wild and bitey. I couldn’t even touch him. Even after a few days of leaving him alone in his new cage, he was quite wild. He loved Slurp immediately and he eats like he has never eaten anything before. Since he was so wild during his first few weeks, I couldn’t handle him, couldn’t get any photos nor weigh him properly.

But I’m glad patience and good food turned him around. Today he is as fit as a fiddle. Round and healthy. He already has a cage mate, Jessie. He now has gorgeous fur. I like his round face alot. Anyway, the best part now is that he is tame. I can handle him, bring him out to even free range in my living room. He doesn’t bite anymore nor crabs when I hold him. But he is not bonded to me yet. Hopefully he will soon. How old is he? I think he is about a year old. How long have I had him? Got him around the 3rd week of July. So that’s not bad, good progress.

Keera’s Joeys!

I’m so proud of my Keera. Well, she is my favourite glider among my 22 fellows. I adore her among all because she has got the most curious personality and the best temperament among all. As I mentioned before, she just had her 1st joeys which I am very fortunate and lucky to see them birth right in my palm.

Well, let me introduce her joeys here. Today is their day 2 of OOP. Since I gotten a request to make a daily journal and chart for some time, I thought I might as well start with Keera’s joeys.

Meet Chester. He is 10g.

Then this is Cherry. She is 9g.

I just hope both will turn out like their mom or dad, Kuno. For now Keera is doing a great job as a first time mom. She sings alot to them.

Oh, and for those who are curious as to how to see if a joey is a male or female, here are some pictures.

Male joey. You can see the little ball there.

This is the female joey. The pouch is that little ‘U’ shape opening.

Some replies to comments made

OK, time to reply to a few comments.

From niniek

hi :)
rambo does look so calm in the pics.
I’m just wondering, how make my suggie get use to my dog barking and be as calm as Rambo?, and how to make my dogs stop being so curious over her. because one of my dog is very busy body and always comes close to me when I’m bonding with my suggie. I’m quite scared that my dog would bite her as my dog bites when she’s excited.

My joeys and gliders are quite calm around the presense of dogs, but not all are calm when my dogs bark alot. Some would run up and down, well, I would say the newbies to my home are a bit scared of barking dogs but my resident gliders are pretty calm. It just takes time.

Dogs and cats are natural domestic predators to such a small animal like a glider. It really isn’t wise to leave a glider freely without a cage with a dog or cat. You can make your dog get used to gliders by letting your dog smell a used pouch or toy with your glider’s smell. If they try to bite the pouch or toy, scold your dog or let your dog know it is wrong. My 2 cavaliers are quite ok with gliders because I let them know what are gliders when they were puppies. So they very much leave my gliders alone. They do come up to sniff them but never lay a paw or tooth on them before.

If your dog is aggressive or bites, then the best advice is to not let your dog near your glider.

From Yogy:

hey…i bought a 2 months of age joey recently…she’s ok in the sense that she plays around well…but she seems to be very afraid of human presence…any suggestions to change that??i would really appreciate it…thanks!!

Your joey is stil new, and she has not learn to trust humans yet. It will take time. Just carry her around in your bonding pouch, do hand feeding and keep handling her often. You will see a difference in a week or 2. It may take you a month to fully bond with your joey if you practice taking her in a bonding pouch every where you go and hand feed every day. Some joeys take only a few days to trust their owners, some would take a month or 2. So be patient. Gentle handling and daily interaction would calm her down.

Back on track

Sorry guys for not updating lately. Bloody internet connection was down and it took a week for S****** to fix this. Why it took a week I have no idea.

Anyway, proud to say Keera’s joeys, which were born on the 3rd of July came out of pouch yesterday, 11/09/2009. I had wished it was 09/09/09 but then it just wasn’t meant to be.

Anyway, how I know Keera’s joeys were born on 03/07/09? She actually gave birth on my palm. I think she trusted me too much. First her water broke, I thought it was pee in my palm. So much liquid came out that I was at first shocked. I took a sniff and realize it wasn’t urine. Then she climbed up my neck. I noticed my shirt had a drop of blood so I took her in my hand and my eyes just grew wide when I saw a little pink blob coming out and trying to move up the pouch. Keera didn’t mind me at all and she just started licking a trail from up to her pouch for the joey to climb up. Well, quickly I just put her back in her pouch for her to finish in peace. Now, 2 joeys popped out. A male and female.

It was a magical moment for me to see this birthing process so up close. It was pure luck.

Will upload pictures soon.