Advice Health/Behaviour

[Rakuen]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but as my bedroom is quite small my mom has been letting me let my gliders out in her room, which has alot more space for them to run around, glide etc. I move anything out of the room that I see as a danger to them but the one night I forgot the oil burner, it had no fresh oil in but it did have a little dried up and as soon as I saw Keeba go towards it I ran over to move it, but it was too late and she'd put her head in to have a sniff, she sneezed a bit and shook her head but then jumped to me and carried on like nothing had happend I offered her the water bottle and she had a drink, she seems fine and was fine out of the cage tonight, but I wasn't sure if it could have caused her any damage at all?

Also both gliders (but mainly Keeba!) when out of the cage seem to be finding anything they can chew on and they seem to have a thing for the bells my mom has on her pelmet Keeba mainly has a thing for putting her nose in and sometimes chewing on them, I think Kaida copies as she wonders what her sister is getting that she isn't lol. My mom thinks they're brass, I do try and stop her from doing it as I'm not sure if it could effect her in anyway? The other thing they like to chew on is the handle bars of an exercise machine, I think its some kind of foam or rubber, again I try and stop them, but they always go back for more!  Then last night I caught Keeba trying to eat a candle  again I stopped her,  took it off her and hid it, so then she decided to have an almost playfight with one of my moms ornaments

Could any of the above chewing items harm my gliders or is there anyway of getting them to stop?

They have plenty to chew on in their cage, so I'm not really sure why they do it, I also make sure they eat before coming out to play. 

Hope that all makes sense lol.

Thanks for any help.
   

[jungleflockmom]

None of these things are great for gliders to chew on. The only way to stop your very curious little gliders from chewing on things they shouldn't is to cover those things snugly enough that the gliders can't get to them or move them out.

Get a glider safe nontoxic branch from a tree that does not grow near a road (no car exhaust) and put this out in the room so that your gliders can chew on something fun. Hang it in the room or put it somewhere up high so that they can land on it.

[Marie]

They're just doing what comes naturally to them , but as Dee has said, these things aren't ideal, would it be possible to hang parrot toys with treats or something on them, or you can buy animal safe skewers (they have a ball on the end), and you could make a fruit/veg kebab type thing for them.

[Rakuen]

I'll have to ask around and see if I know anyone with a fruit tree in their garden as I'd feel happier knowing where it's come from and that it hadn't had any chemicals sprayed on it etc. is there some way I could maybe attach either chain or rope to it then hang it from the ceiling?

I have been hanging up new toys and hiding treats around so they have something to do/eat, hopefully when I've stocked up on treats they'll be a little more interested in finding them! I'll have to look out for the animal safe skewers

What's the best way cover these things so they cant get them? I can obviously move the candles and hide them out the way but the bells are attached to a pelmet that doesn't dettach? Is there any kind of glider safe anti bite/chew spray I could purchase to deter them?

Thanks again for all your help

[Marie]

I'd try and stick with apple trees, they're safe

The skewer things I mean can be found HERE.

I'd use something like THIS to deter them from those items you cannot remove. 

[Rakuen]

Thanks Marie

[Rakuen]

Just a quick update, tonight I put some rope up all over the room and hung toys from it and they had a great time playing around with it, I covered the handles of the exercise machine (just until I get some of the spray Marie linked me up to) and they still tried to chew it through the material I put over them lol and they didn't bother with the bells at all, I also changed the regular bulb for a spare one I had lying around for my viv which is colored and that seemed to perk them up even more with running around the place, The other thing I did was put iams around the room which they had no trouble finding!!

[Marie]

Excellent, that sounds like a perfect playroom, lots of enrichment and fun

[Rakuen]

I bought them some more playtime toys yesterday! A huge tube which I hung on the rope seemed to be their favourite, it's always the cheapest toy you buy that they find most enjoyment in and I got them a little bird type nest (great for hiding treats in!) a coconut/rope house and one of the animal skewers which they loved BUT Keeba cheated and jumped on me when I was by it and grabbed it! All in all though they seem to have given up on the chewing spree