Meet MoMo!

This is MoMo!  He is more than I expected, sweet from the beginning.  The only one in our family he is not too happy with right now is our dog Ivory.  We went to pick him up last night around 5pm and aside from sleep time has been with us every second.  I gave him an apple and the Blended Diet last night before bed and he ate every bit.  Hungry boy!  He hung out with my husband and I mostly cautiously exploring and snuggling.  This morning when we got up he was "crabbing" at us from the cage, plastered to the front of it.  My husband went over and opened the door and with no hesitation he ran right into his hand and then didn't want to get down all morning.

"I'm eating my apple here mom!"Playtime !!

We have just really enjoyed him.  He is hanging out with me in his bonding pouch today with a slice of apple so he doesn't get dehydrated.  All I have been told says that the more you keep them with you during the day while they sleep in the bonding pouch the more used to you they get.  He seems awfully friendly already though!

This is the bonding pouch I chose, you will notice it is fleece and has a plastic mesh window so that I can peek in on him without waking him.  It is also a zipper closing pouch which I like because I feel sure that he cannot escape if I am not paying attention.

Now I just cant wait for our little girl to join us so I can see what an interesting dynamic they make up together!

Mood:  Thrilled!

Arrival day (Early Morning)

Ok, it is "S" Day Suggie day!  I finished up setting up the cage this morning.

And here is the cage!  Lets talk about the parts.  The pink thing on the side of the cage is the water bottle, make sure you fill it completely before putting the spout on to prevent leaking.  I positioned it low in the cage so the little guy can reach.  The blue ladder is there just for fun and is at this time the only toy in the cage.  It is made of plastic for easy cleaning.  We do not want to put too many toys in the cage just yet so that the baby is more inclined to hang out with us.

The blue "nest" in the front right corner of the cage is just about four square pieces of fleece bunched up together for bedding.  Fleece is the preferred choice for sugar gliders because it doesn't unravel causing little strings for the gliders to get tangled in.  Strings like this can be very dangerous for them.  I will be using a pouch later on to hang in the cage but until the babies are more comfortable with us I think it will be easier to pick them up from this sort of nest.

The plastic thing in the back left corner of the cage is the "Dining Room."  Sugar gliders can be quite messy while eating and this little do it yourself project is the best solution to this problem.

Simply make sure you have a food dish and a small tupperware container, cut a hole in one end and...

TADA!  The sugar glider can easily go through the hole and eat its food without splattering it around the cage!

Now I just have to wait until this evening to go pick him up.  Wish me luck.

Mood: Anxious

Hungry baby

So we pick up the little boy tomorrow who remains un-named. I dont want the poor little thing to go hungry! So I made up my first batch of The Blended Diet which was developed by Candace B. Otte and is being used by more and more USDA approved breeders and pet owners alike. Surprisingly.. it was really easy to make. They recommend using a blender but I dont have one just yet so I just used a big bowl and a my trusty beaters! I only ran into trouble when I had to add the egg... note to self, cut egg up fist! Giant chunk of scrambled egg + beaters = HUGE mess... oops. So here I am trying to fix my mistake by cutting up the pieces of egg after my blunder.

After fixing up the mixture you just put it in ice cube trays and freeze for easy feeding later on!

This is only a part of a sugar glider's diet.  They also need a variety of fruit and vegetables to be healthy.  If you would like the recipe for The Blended Diet just send me an email!

Suggie home sweet home... the build, dun dun dun

The cage finally arrived.... in many many pieces.  The construction is really pretty good, nice bar spacing with a good PVC coating on the bars which is very important for these little guys.  Powder coating is ok too NEVER galvanized, it can give the little ones bladder infections.. yikes.  This is a picture of me pretending to construct the cage.. I totally posed for this picture, my husband built it for me lol.

You can see the little clamps here that keep

the wire together.  You can also use special cage clamps for this.  The bar spacing on this cage is 1/2 inch by 1 inch which is perfect for the tiny little hands and feet of baby sugar gliders.

TADA!!!!  Finished product!  Well.. its built anyway, now to fill it....

Mood: Accomplished!!!

Visiting the Nursery!

Oh happy day!  I spent the morning visiting with the little ones this morning.  What sweeties.  Let me introduce you via pictures!  I had a great talk with their breeder about bonding and diet.  So much yet to learn! 

The first picture is our little girl and the second is of our little boy.  They were both so sweet and only the little boy crabbed at me and only once :)  Aren't they adorable?  I cannot wait for them to come home!

Mood: enamored!

Holy Loads of Bad Information Batman!

Well... I am sure glad I do not have my babies at home just yet.  Thank goodness I had an accidental encounter with a reputable breeder today.  Turns out much of the information that turns up towards the top of the search engines about sugar gliders is not the best.  (go figure eh?)  I am now beginning my information gathering stage all over again.  Unfortunately for me and my pocket book I may have purchased some things that are not only unnecessary but also unsafe for the babies.  *sigh*  Back to the drawing board!

Mood: Vexed!

Waiting... Impatiently

The purpose of this Blog is to follow in the life of my family and our soon to be new additions two baby sugar gliders. (joeys) One little girl and one little boy. No names yet! Waiting to see their personalities. I am so excited, we ordered the cage, food, heat rock water dish and are now just waiting on them in the mail, the accessories, not the babies :) We pick up our little boy on the 17th of April and our little girl on the 1st of May. Setting it up will be an adventure. There is so much to know about these little guys. I have been researching for two weeks now trying to weed through all of the nonsense on the Internet. I feel like I finally have a pretty good idea how to get started. Wish me luck!