New To The Board... Definitely Not New To Gliders!

Hi There!
I'm Lauren Elizabeth and I am very happy to be here, I'm surprised I didn't find this forum earlier! I look forward to making new friends and exchanging Glider information. I am a mother to eight of these sweet, little creatures. I brought my first three girls home in May of 2007 and since then, we have definitely gained quite a few colony members! When I first got into Gliders, I was like many others, I didn't know the first thing about them! I got my girls, Bindi, Sheila and Stella Luna from a small-scale hobby breeder just north of my home in South Florida. Although she had gigantic cages with a million toys in each, her diet was less than satisfactory. She informed me that Gliders could live on a diet consisting of hotdogs, yogurt and corn. I had never owned Gliders before, but I had owned other exotic animals and this did not sound right to me.

I began wholeheartedly researching everything and anything about them. I wanted to give them the best possible quality of life that I could. I found a couple of forums, similar to this, and began a long, never-ending study on Sugar Glider care. I met several experienced owners who took me under their wing and taught me the ropes. I went from having several small cages to just a few enormous ones. Anyone who has seen my Glider room in person can not believe how spoiled rotten they are! Not only did the cages improve, so did the diet... I tried quite a few before finally settling on one that fit our lifestyle best, and I couldn't be happier!

Recently, I've had my hands full with my two "special needs" babies. Sheila and Stella, two of my very first Gliders, have been battling some nasty health concerns. Sheila, the older of the two, was diagnosed with Lymphoma back in November and will need continued medical treatment for the rest of her life. Stella, on the other hand, has been battling infection after infection as a result of a nasty dominance wound that she received back in October of last year. She has been through four invasive surgical procedures and has had to remain on a series of antibiotics and painkillers, many of which have to be given through sub-q injection. Let's just say, I'm not the naive owner I once was. Instead, I now try to educate other owners on proper Glider care.

You sound a lot like me- we even have the same topic title with my intro .

I'm so glad that your special needs (and not special needs) babies found their way to such a great Sugar Mommy.