Night from hell last night!

[Rhianna]

I had about 5 hours sleep last night thanks to my horrible little marsupials!

i think it was the wind freaking them out (had a huge storm up here last night) but Gizamo would not stop barking, not his usual attention seeking bark that goes away if you put the pillow over your head, a very loud, scared bark, which set the new male off barking, and his bark is HORRIBLE and loud! lol

So i gets up and go and see whats wrong, me thinking the snake in that room has escaped or something and is winding them all up, but no, perimeter is safe, they just being tits.

Giz is sitting on a branch barking his head off, Biscuit and Widget are on full scatty alert, running around the cage so fast they kept losing their grip and nearly falling off, making alot of noise in the process. This set the other cage of gliders off and Neela (the female) was bloody terrified! she was rigid and ears up and wouldnt respond at all to me, running around the cage in scatty mode.

The male was lying in his hammock (odd?) and didnt look too clever, so i went over and was gently stroking his head, which seemed to calm him down. i put some extra fleecy blankies in there for him, since he had decided to kip on the hammock, and tucked him in like a little baby, went and got Neela and gave them both a biscuit.

Gizamo still wouldnt shut up, so after a cuddle to reassure him everything was ok, he calmed down a little and his bark turned inot his normal attention seeking bark. i left the light on in their rooms to encourage them to go to bed and every one was ok. Total time to sort it all out? an hour!!!!!

And Neela and Loki are still in their love hammock! im not sure whym they have a bed in there, so why they picked the hammock is beyond me! lol

Anyone else have a rough night?

[Emma9383]

It was fairlywild up here too but my girls are shut away in the spare room at the mo coz we're getting the bathroom on their floor re-done and it has no door so all the fumes from sealant stuff is on the landing they are, so I've shut them away in spare room so the fumes don't get to them. I even put a towel across the bottom of door n bunged keyhole with kitchen paper. The fumes give me a bad head so god knows what it'd do to them. The room is big so plenty of air etc for them.
Anyhoo, point being I can't hear them in there, but we have had reallt strong winds periodically over last few weeks (as everyone has I think) and I've noticed that a couple of hrs before the strom starts, the girls start barking like mad and don't shut up like they normally do when I've shushed them. It's as if they can sense it coming, like they can tell there's a difference in the atmosphere or sommat?? They must be a lot more in tune than us humans.
Once the storm gets here n the wind's going crazy there's an odd barking session, but not all night, a bit longer than normal but they do eventually settle.
I just find it really interesting that they sense it coming before we can see the signs.
Better than the bloody weather man my girls!!

[Rhianna]

i thought there was a full moon last night the way they were going on! i found it fascinating too though, how one glider Gizamo, alerted everyone to what he sensed was a danger, and it got all the others wound up, including the other cage of gliders! the only glider who was totally not bothered was Onion. she was just sitting eating a chunk of papaya.

Even though it was very annoying and i had really wanted a good nights sleep, it was also quite interesting to watch them all respond accordingly. then once Gizamo had calmed down, everyone was ok again. Glider behaviour fascinates me!

[Emma9383]

Onion sounds like a chilled out little suggie! What a little angel! 
Yeah, I was just amazed. I thought the 1st time it happened it was just coincidence, but then when it happened a few more times before the winds even got here I've put it down to them sensing it coming and a change in the atmosphere. Such clever and brill little creatures. They really do cease to amaze me!

[Rhianna]

Onion is great! she gets wrong quite alot cos she is very "grabby" and tries to grab my fingers, which i do not like. im always worried incase she can smell other gliders on my hands and tries to bite! she never has bitten, but i get nipped quite a few times a week now off Loki while he is bonding and its put me on edge with grabby gliders a bit.

Shes very laid back. you can do nearly anything with her. She doesnt need a bonding pouch if you take her out, will just sit down your top or curl up in your pocket. And if you make a kissy face, she will lift her head up and come towards your mouth! She doesnt get freaked out in strange places like the others, she is gorgeous! I loves Onion!

She had a hard life when she was younger, she got her ears bitten off and her tail savaged by other gliders, but it hasnt affected her in any way. she was also very, very fat.

[Emma9383]

aw bless her! she sounds like a little trooper too.
Wish my girls would bind a bit more. There's no way I'd dare not have them in a bonding pouch, I'd never see them again, lol
Even in the bonding pouch, they won't sleep, I have occasional peeks at them and they just sit staring back up at me!

[Rhianna]

i dont know how or why, but my colony bonded pretty quickly. i think it was because Onion bonded fairly straightaway and scented me, so maybe they seen it was safe and let their guards down sooner.

its taking longer with my new two though. Female is very flighty and male is still very nippy, but he will let me stroke him for hours, hand feed him and pick him up to an extent... getting there! luckily even though he nips, he doesnt draw blood.

[wjohnw]

nope all was good on the south coast. No dramatics!!