Hello, colony friends!
It’s time for another update, and this is one of our most exciting yet!
Recently, a friend reached out to me about someone in the area looking to rehome a few gliders. Of course, my first reaction was that it’s probably some kind of scam. Lots of scammers like to pretend to sell gliders in order to steal money. When looking to buy a pet, ALWAYS be extra cautious and do your research on the seller! Thankfully, this person turned out to be legitimate.
We talked a bit about the situation. The important details here were that they had three girl gliders around 18 months old, and they were looking to find them a loving new home. We set up time to meet before making the final decision, and that meeting went very well. Just a few days later, the three girls moved on in with us!
Meet Spice, Bandit, and Sugar, the newest members of the colony!
The girls have only been here for a few days, and they are still settling in. Moving can be stressful, even though they are in the same cage as before, so they are staying in my office for now where it is nice and quite. For the first few days I’m not handling them beyond swapping out food and cleaning the cage. That’s why I don’t have terribly great pictures to share quite yet. Remi has been so curious and tries to sneak peeks in there to see them. He has been a very good boy about staying in the doorway and not getting close to the cage.
New though they may be, their personalities are already starting to show. Sugar has been the most curious and brave. When I opened the travel pouch she was the first to wander out and inspect their surroundings. She has even climbed on my arm already to check me out.
Bandit was the second to emerge and look around. She took probably twenty minutes or so to get up the courage, but once she was out she had a snack and settled in. She watches me closely when I am in there talking to them, but has yet to be brave enough to come up and say hello on her own. She happily accepts treats, though~
Spice has been the most cautious of all. It took her around forty-five minutes to leave the pouch on her own. She always runs and hides in a pouch as soon as she hears a noise or I open the office door. She reminds me of Yip, who still does the same thing at four years old. He loves to hide behind a toy and watch everyone with suspicion. I’m very curious to see how they will react to one another when that day comes!
A few days in and it still fascinates me how much these girls look like my boys. I feel like I’m talking to Rufus, Yip, and Zik when they were still babies! It will be interesting when they finally get together and I have to tell who is who.
That is a ways off, though. Once the girls adjust to the new house and new smells, then the next step is adjusting to and bonding with me. Since they’re no longer a few months out of pouch the bonding process can take more time and be a little tougher for some gliders. I’m glad that Sugar is already showing interest. That will be a big help to win over the others, if I can get her to accept me. Soon I will start keeping them on me throughout the days and eventually into the tent to play.
Once the girls have accepted me, then we start the process of introductions. that means swapping bedding every couple of days for a few weeks, trading out groups in the tent for play time so that they can smell each other’s scents, and way down the road they will finally get to meet face to face a bunch of times before we talk about moving into one cage.
This whole process can take months, but in the end will be worth every moment to have the full colony together.
I’m so excited for our new colony members, and look forward to getting to know the girls and watching their personalities shine!
Keep Gliding!
-V
Victoria Barr 