A terrible place for a first post...

[Tina]

I wish this wasn't the first post I have to make here.

Part of my reasoning for rejoining the forums here ( or rather, posting after having an account for quite a while.. ), is the death of baby girl, Inca.

Inca was my first glider; I kept her as a single glider for about a year, and in that time we became extra close, she was my world and I adored her.

After a year of keeping her by herself, I happened across a pair of gliders online, for £80 each; rather than allow them to fall into the hands of some 'fashion pet keeper', I snapped them up and brought them home. They were terribly skinny; I had them checked by the vet, popped them in quarantine and fed them up. Opal, the female of the two, died six months later after I found her clinging cold to the side of the reptarium; rushing her to the vet found her with internal injuries, and she died at the clinic.

With that came the decision to introduce Inca to Baby, the male of the pair. Things went smoothly, after a month of living beside each other, I slipped them together and after some grumping at the fidgeting in the pouch, they were cuddling up together and have lived together for the better part of three years without a problem.

A few days ago, I went out to see My Bloody Valentine 3D; the late show at 11.45pm. Before that, I poked at my gliders, give them a tickle, some mealies, they were both perky, climbing all over me, there was nothing out of the ordinary; I had to peel them off me and plop them back into their cage before I left.

I came home around 3am, poked my nose in and found Inca curled up in the fleece at the bottom of their cage; Baby had mauled her near to death. It took me nearly three hours to contact my emergency vet and get her there.

My baby girl died the following day of bite injuries. I'm mortified..

Mod note:  This post will be locked now, but will be reopened at any time upon the request of the original poster.

[Tina]

[Marie]

OMG!  I'm so sorry for you!  You must be devastated!  Firstly, I'd do what Jen suggested in the intro section and get him neutered.  Entire males have all those masculine hormones racing through their bodies which cause obviously the desire to mate and the territorial behaviour which would lead to aggression certainly towards another male, and sometimes they can just be plain aggressive, though in my experience the latter isn't common.

I'm sorry to ask, but whereabouts were the bites on Inca?  And do you have any idea where Opal acquired her internal injuries?  And has Baby ever shown any aggressive behaviour other than when you first intro'd them?

[Rhianna]

OMG! Im so sorry! i cant imagine how you must be feeling! *hugs*

[loulou]

I am so sorry to read that, I was going to ask were the bites around the neck area (tell me to bugger off if you like) or on the back of your wee one?

I would recommend getting your boy neutered as well, and then once his hormones are settled finding him a nice neutered boy to introduce to or a nice chunky girl (large not fat)that can stand her own, but we can help you with that nearer the time should you decide thats the route for you.

Again I am so sorry to hear about your glider

[Tina]

I'll give you all a bunch of informationw hen I get home; I have horses to attend to. Thanks for all of your kind words. v_v

[lilyofthedamned]

I'm so sorry! You probably don't know me as I'm fairly new but you know everyone here on the forum is there for you.

[Tina]

Alrigh, I'm back after being side-tracked by a few family issues.

Firstly, Baby is already neutered. I had him neutered after he suffered a prolapsed penis and had to go under the knife anyway to have the necrotic portion amputated. He has never shown aggression towards Inca ( or his previous mate ). He is not a cuddly tame glider, and will crab and bite if you try to pick him up, but he will climb and ride around on people if he's in the mood.

Opal's injuries.. The only possible reason I could find for Opal's internal injuries, was that she had either had a gliding mishap, or flung herself from the wheel in their reptarium and connected with the small hamster-style cage that was kept in the bottom to hold the water bottle and hide treats in. I'm sure it wasn't Baby's doing; she had no external injuries.

Inca's bites and missing chunks of fur were on her face, front paws and the underside of her throat.

I'm not offended by anybody's questions, I know this is highly unusual behavior for gliders to spontaneously kill their cage mates.

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On a related note, I'm looking for another glider vet in the chester (CH2) area.

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I'm watching Baby closely at the moment, watching for signs of lonliness and SMing; to my knowledge, he has never been alone before. That said, I'm reluctant to get him another cage mate after this, as I'm sure you understand... and I'd feel terrible for 'replacing' Inca so soon..

[Amalthea]

Are you sure the bite wounds were made BEFORE Inca passed away, though?  I know it's horrible, but could Baby have started to "remove the body" so to speak?

[Amalthea]

Also, Mark is in Chester, so he'd probably be the best one to ask regarding vets in that area...

[Tina]

Inca was alive when I found her, and there was blood all over the cage and (unfortunately white) wall behind it. Seeing as she was curled up in a ball, I would assume that 'body removal' bites would have been on her back and exposed areas, not the parts she was curled around.

[jungleflockmom]

It would be wonderful if we could really understand why animals sometimes  do the things they do. . . . but we can't always even understand humans!

So sorry you have had such a disasterous glider experience.

[Marie]

Ahhh - I know who you are now (I'm not a stalker lol!  *THAT* forum went to the dogs years ago btw!   ).  You used to talk to Cerian alot didn't you?  I remember her telling me about you and your rescues, and the possible accident with the wheel.

It sounds to me like a disagreement that went too far!  There was no mating or territorial behaviour, what a nightmare for you!  Was Inca much smaller than Baby?

I can totally understand your reluctance to add another glider to the mix, I have a female myself that lived for years with her 'mate', he passed on and since then I cannot put her with another glider as she just attacks them! 

Poor Inca

[Tina]

Inca and Baby are (er.. were ;-; ) roughly the same size. Baby was a little chunkier because of his boyness, but that's about it.

And yup, that's me. I only have Baby now though. ;-;

I'm angry with him, but I have to keep reminding myself that animals lack malice and that the whole thing was most probably completely unintentional.