family family

My cousin's daughter spent the summer with us and fell in love with the joeys. I'm sure they miss her now that she is gone. My 17 year old kitty died this summer as well. Two family members are missing from the household. I know the gliders have noticed the missing clan members.

I moved their habitat into the empty back bedroom in expectation of a new kitten we will be introducing to the family tomorrow. The thought of an overly curious kitten's claws catching one of the baby's through the cage bars terrifies me and made me resolve to keep them in a separate room until the kitten can be declawed.

Now however, after a ton of reading, I wonder if it's as scary and dangerous as what I was imagining it to be. Perhaps the kitten won't have to be declawed to exist in the same room as the glider's habitat.

I've read lots about cats being introduced to gliders with the bars of the habitat between them and the stories are encouraging. I suppose I will make the call as I diligently watch over everyone.

oh those sweet babies

They are about 6 months old now and sweet as ever. They don't grumble at me when I pick them up in their sleeping pouch. They tend to become wide awake and peek out (usually upside-down which is SO cute!) before venturing out of the pouch to climb into my sleeve. They let me stroke their face's with a finger and have become very gentle as they "groom" my hands. They always pay special attention to the tender skin around and under my fingernails so I am VERY glad they have grown out of that nipping stage… it hurt!.

They sleep most of the day and are awake most of the night. I love those sweet little possums. :)

desktop joeys

new toys!

A big thank you to Shelly at Doodlebugs Treasures for creating a beautiful custom orange tunnel and hammock for the joeys. :) Below are some daytime pics (being nocturnal, they are SO SLEEPY) from their first encounter with the tunnel. I removed older toys to make room to hang it inside the habitat. They ♥ new things to explore and play!

adventures of a sleepy day

I couldn't sleep last Sunday night and so thought I would play with the joeys for a little while, which would make sleeping the rest of the night easy. It didn't work out that way when Jäger got past me AGAIN. She is such a little escape artist! Fooks immediately started barking for her to come back. Jäger was full of energy (it was only 4-something:am so the sun was a long way off). Cro got up since there was all sorts of barking and lights and scuffling going on. :( oops

Jäger got out into the main area of the house since one of the boxes I had placed to block any escapees had moved just enough for a joey to wiggle through. I found her shuffling down the hall (hardwood floors don't give a little semi-winged beastie much traction when waddle-walking on all fours). She turned and went between my feet when she saw I was after her. I finally caught up with her went she climbed under the easy-chair rocker in the dining room. I used Cro's bat-catching-net to scoop her up gently so we could deposit her safely back into the habitat. It was about 5am when the house settled down and I could let Buddy Cat come back upstairs.

I slept very well for the rest of the night (which was only a couple of hours after all of that). Poor Cro had a sleepy day at work!

two little furry babies in their sleeping pouch

a jumble of feet

big fun

I decided to play with the joeys at 5ish this morning. They were hopping with excitement, knowing that I was about to open the door to play before I'd even donned the sweater sleeves that I wear to keep their sharp little toes from digging into my skin.

I sat on the ottoman in front of their habitat and started to open the door when immediately Jägerbär launched out and onto my shoulder. At the same time, Fuchsbau climbed onto the arm that I was beginning to extend into the cage. Grrr. With one determined-not-to-let-go joey on my arm and the other headed down my back I wasn't able to keep Jäger from climbing to the floor and away.

As soon as I could disengage from Fooks I shut the habitat door, picked up Buddy (our cat) and made the rounds to shut the doors to the bathroom, extra bedroom and to downstairs. I set Buddy down on the other side of the door to the stairs before returning to look for the escaped joey. Jäger did not want to be caught and returned to the habitat!

Cro got up and together we waited and listened. She was clearly projecting a "WOW, THIS IS SO FUN!" attitude as she explored behind and under furniture. Her fuzzy little face would pop up for a peek once in awhile before ducking back down for more exploration.

Long story short, Cro finally recaptured the escapee and spoke gentle words as he returned her to the safety of the habitat.

I think I might turn one of the extra bedrooms into a "glider room" soon so that they can be out for a bit and learn to glide without being free to explore the whole house.

Sleep sounds

shimmy-waddle

One of the joeys barked for a huge amount of time early this morning. I counted 50 barks and that's after I thought to start counting. There were at least 3-times that many. Yeah, it's adorable (think puppy barks) but it's also loud and I could tell that Cro was ready for it to be over. I got up thinking that if I play with them the barking would stop. It did! But Jagerbar also climbed out the open cage door. They are so quick.

She wasn't afraid but she also wasn't ready to go back inside the habitat. Buddy and I kept an eye on her and let her play since she wasn't ready to be caught. The funniest thing is when she decided to go down the hardwood floor of the hall. Her mobility clearly showed that she is made for trees and not flat surfaces. She moved with her arms straight out to the sides and she did a sort of shimmy-waddle. Very fun to watch, lol.

Finally I was able to herd her back toward the habitat where she climbed in the open door all by herself. Buddy wasn't all that concerned and just wanted me to stop messing around with the gliders and get him some moist cat food.

feathers

I read somewhere that gliders like feather toys. Cro let me know that yeah, gliders eat birds in the wild. They went crazy for this feather toy!

instant sweater arms

Just when I thought I was having a break-through regarding the biting thing, they gave prying up one of my fingernails an extra try. ow!!!

They didn't draw blood and they really aren't trying to hurt me, but they are determined to see what is under there.

tst! tst! tst!

I have cut off the sleeves of an old sweater and keep them on top of the habitat for quick and easy use. I pull on the sleeves before I reach into the habitat for playtime. It's an amazingly effective guard against those little claw marks from them holding on and running all over my bare arms. They love the sweater material too.

The only protection for my bare hands is just saying "tst!" when needed. I think I might end up saying "tst!" any time something hurts just on automatic. Stub my toe? "tst!" ...lol

They are growing so fast!

The first pic is Cro holding Fooks (September 15th).

The second pic is me holding Jager this morning (October 18th).

Cro holding Fuchsbau – 8.5weeks OOP

me holding Jagerbar – 15 weeks OOP.

aw :)

Fuchsbau made a break for the wide open living room at about 3:30am when I was up to play with them for a bit. I actually woke Cro and he jumped up to help look for her. I suggested that we just stand still because she wasn't afraid, she was having an adventure and would make some noise. She did, she was climbing on the television entertainment center. I presented her with a sleeping pouch and she climbed right in. Excitement over! I felt bad for having to wake Cro at 3:30am but he was the one who spotted her first.

Jagerbar was doing acrobatics the whole evening. It cracks me up when she tears upside-down across the roof of the habitat at speed or hangs upside-down by her toes. I think I'm going to have to figure out a way to enclose the room soon so they can be out for a little while and safe (and practice gliding!). All supervised of course.

Fooks was super cute (as usual) after I placed her back in the habitat and offered her a piece of dried fruit. Licky treat!!! You can see her normally wide eyes are squinted in enjoyment in the videos below. The second one is my favorite… look at that little tongue go!

circus tricks

The joeys are just too cute!

They have no fear of me at all now. I got up at 5am to interact with them a bit since I heard them jumping around and playing.

They immediately climbed all over my arms. Since I thought to grab a dried mango licky treat beforehand their attention was diverted so they didn't try to taste my fingers too much. It rather hurts when they go for the sensitive spots between my fingers or next to a fingernail or the underside of my arms. ow!

They were climbing all over and even bouncing on each other as they jumped from the side of the cage to my hand (only to land on the other joey who was already there).

Fooks climbed up my arm, up to my shoulder, down my back and up the other shoulder before I could do anything to stop her. Jagerbar was clinging to my arm so I wasn't able to free myself in time to play goalie. Fooks climbed right back inside the habitat though so no harm, no foul. :)

I did a better job of playing goalie to keep them in the habitat until I finally gave in and shut them back inside.

I love it. I dreamt about them last night too, except there were four of them and they were climbing all over the house! Even on the ceiling. That is one of their new favorite things to do inside the habitat, hang from the ceiling.

Cro said that Buddy Cat was sitting on the stool with one paw on the cage bars as the joeys ignored him and went on playing. They have no fear, I tell you. They don't need to (the cat is a very old and gentle boy who has already shown no interest in hurting them).

It is so fun to see them enjoying life.

bonding takes time

sleepy babies

The joeys didn't make much of a peep last night. No arguing that I remember anyway (I might have slept though it if they did fuss).

They were asleep in their pouch when I got up so I even missed out on some before-work playtime. I think I'll transfer them to a bonding pouch later.

crazy babies

I learned today that the best tool for retrieving a joey on the loose is to offer something that is associated with safety.

I'm working on gaining their trust but until we get there I know they trust their sleeping pouch and bonding pouch.

Fooks made a surprise break for the freedom of the living room carpet while I had my hands full with Gerber (she was letting me pet her! … big step toward the trust I mentioned).

Buddy Cat followed the escapee to the foyer so I knew right where she went. Buddy is an old boy (16 and a half) and is surprisingly calm and shows no interest in eating the joeys.

After a few minutes of big-eyes that seemed to say "Wow! This is so cool!" I was able to entice Fooks to climb into the safety of a bonding pouch.

Excitement over and no one got stressed out. :)

Baby steps

They have no fear of me! It's very cool to sit by the habitat when they are asleep in the morning and see one of them come out to greet me when I put my arm inside.

The next thing I want to accomplish with them is to transition from them crawling on my arms on their own terms to accepting my touching them on my terms too. That should reduce the scratches I've been incurring as they grip my arm with their sharp little nails to crawl up and down (and even upside-down).

I want them to allow me to reach in and pick them up (slowly of course). From there I want them to be able to trust me so eventually we can walk away from the habitat with them not going into panic mode and trying to get away from me. I want them to seek me as a source of safety when they are afraid.

I suppose once they trust me and look to me as a safe place, we can start working on going into a closed and safe room so they can try some gliding. One step at a time.

First trust and safety. :) 

glider tracks

I sat with them again early this morning. One was already in the sleeping pouch and the other was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (very awake and ready for play).

I think it was Fooks who was up but they look so much alike that it's hard to tell unless they are close enough together that I can compare the darkness of their coats and see which one acts entitled. You know, like the queen of the manner.

Whichever it was, she was all over my arms. No fear at all as she used me as her own personal jungle gym. It is so cool to watch them climb as easily on the underside of something as they do on the top. I have little glider toenail marks all over both arms and hands.

They fussed and argued more than normal last night but there is a new toy in the habitat so maybe it was over that. I turned on the red light and angled it so it wasn't as bright. They continued playing but the fussing went down dramatically so I left it on for the night. Maybe they know to be good when someone is watching. lol

glider tracks are all over my hands and arms

ow ow tsst ow

This morning my arm was the glider trampoline and tasty treat. ow tsst! ow ow

I love that they are beginning to warm up to me and not afraid as long as I don't make any sudden movements. It is very gratifying to have them both climbing all over my arm at the same time. They both still have that nibbling thing going on though and the "tsst" sounds didn't do much to dissuade them this morning. It didn't hurt too much unless they were trying for an especially delicate place between my fingers or right next to a fingernail. ow ow ow

It's fun how their little faces will poke and nudge to move my fingers apart. They are strong little buggers! They can part my fingers even when I'm trying my best to hold them together. Of course that exposes delicate spots to try to taste. ow! tsst!

One of them even became determined that she would remove the ring from my finger. No luck for her on that one but I moved away. :)

Cro bought some new sleeping pouches for them and they fussed and argued over possession of the "new toy" until I got up in the middle of the night and removed it. After that it was a peaceful night with no arguing. Grrber isn't the push over that I was painting her to be. Just because Fooks claimed the dominant role doesn't mean that Grrber is going to always take the second seat with grace.

I know them a little more each day and the more I know them the more I love them.