question about bleach

does anyone wash their cage sets with bleach?

Nope! Well, not me anyway! xD I can't speak for everyone obviously, LOL!

I actually wash my fleece items with the special laundry detergents they have, the 'free and clear' stuff, it's scent and dye free. (I know 'All' brand makes one, I think a couple other brands are making some now too.) Usually for people with allergies. I always use that, I wash them and dry them and they turn out just fine! Keep in mind that some will last longer or die sooner depending on the quality of the stitching. I've seen some ebay ones just fall apart in the wash for some people. D:

But hey! Welcome to the forum! We look forward to having you here and helping out when we can!

thank you : ) im looking forward to being a new member. i just recently lost one of my gliders and am tryng to be sure it was noting that i did here at home. i did wash their cage set with some bleach for the first time,but im not sure if that could be a problem

Nibbler_&_Kadis_Mommy wrote:

thank you : ) im looking forward to being a new member. i just recently lost one of my gliders and am tryng to be sure it was noting that i did here at home. i did wash their cage set with some bleach for the first time,but im not sure if that could be a problem

I know it's best to avoid it, I only use vinegar, water and other very natural plant based things for cleaning, typically. I don't even use bleach to wash the cages or wheels or anything. I'm not sure if that could have been a problem though, it's hard to say since I have no experience with it. ): I'm very sorry for your loss though. If you have other gliders you can always have a vet run a few tests that can help to find common parasites or other problems to possibly catch them before they get too bad just incase it WAS something catchy. Hard to say for sure.. I know many gliders died from toxic PVC in some cages that were sold, so they are very sensitive to stuff that other larger animals(bigger animals in those same cages were just fine) don't seem to be affected by.

I hope your other glider(s) are doing alright. <3

i actually got NEW EVERYTHING this month so i am having a hard time knowing what it could be. i got a new cage,wheel,cage set,water bottles, travel carrier .. lol i went all out then all of a sudden we lost little kadi i wont use bleach ever again i just was trying to get the smell out. i hope that it wasn't anything i did. she was kinda old and VERY fat. who knows. maybe someone will know for sure. thank you so much for your advice. i do have one other glider and i hope she is doing well also. she had a vet visit today

Well the only problem with 'new' stuff was typically the PVC cages like the ones Pocket Pets sells. If you got a bird cage you should be just fine!

Also fleece! ALWAYS wash fleece before using it! They ship it with preservatives which are bad for our skin and for our fuzzy friends, too. I will make stuff before washing it but once it's sewn I toss it in the wash to be safe!

If she was old and overweight.. well, if she was on a bad diet before you got her, this happens a LOT, she could've already been pretty doomed, unfortunately.. Some of the diets the mills and other places suggest do so much internal damage we can never even see, they just don't live as full or long of a life because of it sadly. The only true way to be sure is a necro but I know how expensive those can be and how hard times are and how depressing it can be to deal with. Thats why I suggested a fecal, those are usually only 10-30 bucks or so and they can test for some pretty common problems, usually! I suggest new owners (I'm a breeder) get their gliders into the vet for a check up and fecal at least once a year just to be safe. (Many places say they NEVER need vet care but it's best to be safe, I say!)

Oh, and for the smell... the stuff I use, the All Free n Clear gets the smell out every time, they just don't smell overly 'flowery' afterword so there's no excess oils or scents or anything, but they DO smell fresh!

That's great that she had a vet visit today, hope she's well. Spend a lot of time with her if you can, many gliders will get very depressed from loosing a cagemate. If you need help trying to find her a friend when you're ready feel free to post in the forums or let one of us know, we may know someone in the area needing to rehome or even a breeder, who knows.

this is the cage i just got
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

the wheel is The Classic Raptor from this site
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

the other things i got i don't think could have been the problem other than maybe the water bottle and i got them at walmart and washed before i used as well as the wheel. nibbler has always been healthy since i got her. the only vet visits were for nail trims and just check ups as you said. but this last month has been pure heck for me and the babies. i noticed a different sound coming from the cage,but i really just thought it was kadi. she came from a abusive home and has never been able to trust or love since i have had her. but anyways i just figured it was her yelling at nibbler for something. i finally realized it was nibbler so i then began to freak out.i took her to the vet.. both of the gliders actually just to change both and to a trim. the vet was awful and sent us home with meds for a week for nibbler for just in case she had a cold or something. the vet wouldn't do their nails nor would she touch kadi because she was afraid of her.anyways i give the meds for 7days and then i realize that she was constipated. doing that noise very often and not only while trying to poo. so i seek another vet and we get on something to move her bowels. they checked kadis poo and it was clear of anything bad. i had just gotten my new cage so i decided to split the girls up so i could monitor their poo and it took nibbler a good 3 days to ever have a bm. in the time after bringing them to the vet kadi started making this crazy sound like a "call" from the other cage all night. i put them back together the next day after being sure they both were indeed pooping. kadi made the sound the first night being back with nibbler and then it came to a stop. then a few days im not sure how many to be exact since its been such a blurr... notice kadi on the bottom of the cage with her legs out. my boyfriend had to get her because im deathly afraid of her. she bites to kill not just as a warning lol. but he got her and she crabbed at him and tried to bite him,but she was almost lifeless. she never crabbed after that and without going into more details of the passing she passed the next morning in my arms at 6am and that was this wednesday morning. i did not do the procedure to see her cause of death i just laid her to rest for my own personal reasons and beliefs. i had my mother take nibbler to the vet yesterday morning because i wanted her to get fully checked out and i noticed she didn't have a bm since she was alone in her cage ( so stressful ) the vets around this area don't know much or anything about gliders so little that i couldn't even get a 911 vet for kadi the night she was sick. even with a consult number from a specialist. but i had our new vet consut with dr bradley walsh in Oklahoma and they decided she has been on the right track with her meds but not to put her under to take a urine or fecal sample but to give a shot and another antibiotic to help her. so that's where we stand right now. i have just started to change their diet from finding that i was feeding to much protein and fat. which was chicken and corn . chicken evey night. i was not aware that was not healthy. so im now feeding fresh fruit and vegetables. if anyone has any input on diet id love to hear what you have to say. also i wanted to add nibbler is 72grams an kadi was 146grams used to nibbler was 90 grams and i didnt have a weight on kadi but she was smaller than nibbler

Lacy i don't think bleaching your cage caused kadi's death. I bleach my cages once every two months to kill anything that might be on them. After bleaching I hose them down very very well and let them air dry before returniong the glider to the cage. If you can still smell bleach go over it with a vinegar mix and rinse again. For pouched and toys I usually just use vinegar and water but sometinmes will use laundry detergent. I know how often all this is said to be bad and how sesitive gliders are but if things are washed and rinsed very well they should not cause a problem.
I wonder if Kadi may have had something along the same lines that was causing the problems for Nibbler. Another possibility is that Kadi became overstressed when seperated from Nibbler and that killed her. I had one glider die after I seperated her from her mate because he had a wound on his back that she kept grooming. Spice was fine but after 2 days of being seperated i went to get theit food dishes out in the morning and sugar was on the cage floor dead. I still swear she died of a broken heart. Nothing had been obviously wrong with her. WE had only had her for A few weeks when she died. Sad part was we had just paid $450 for her and only got to enjoy her for a few weeks. She is the only glider I have had die for unknown reasons. We lost one other but it was to cancer.
You need to stop blaming yourself for Kadi's death,. It was just her time to gto back with God and now it's your time to remember her with love and let her spirit go free.

you know it sure is nice to see someone not blame me for her passing. i guess with all the heck i have had lately i have not choice but to think it was my fault,but i really feel like i did all i could for her,but in the back of my mind i worry that it was something like the cage or the bleach. i did not use alot of bleach and i used detergent along with it. its just something new. i wont do it again to be on the safe side. im sorry for you having to loose a baby its awful. i also wonder is she may have had cancer. i didn't have any extreme tests ran on her since the vets thought it was bad idea. she used to be smaller than 90grams and was 140grams when she passed. nibbler was 90 and now is 70grams. all these things just scare me to death

Lacy it really worries me that nibbler is loosing weight too. Has she been tested for all parasites? Have you tried a different diet? With Lucky we had didn't recognize her cancer until it caused a growth on her foot. She had problems because of being almost starved to death in a former home. She had some major neurological damage already and it made it hard to tell when the cancer started attacking her. However she did loose weight and her fur started looking dull. We took her in to the vet several times but because we didn't have a glider specialist near us our vet didn't pick up on the cancer. Maybe she never had cancer until it showed on her foot but it seemed odd to me that it grew into her brain in about 2 1/2 weeks time.
If you are able to get nibbler into a glider specialist to have her checked out completely I really would get her in.