Thursday, October 06, 2011

It's Twins!

...a boy and a girl! How absolutely precious...
They arrive in eight weeks.
Now before you go thinking, "Jess, have you been pregnant this whole time and not said a word about it?" I will have to stop you. No, they are not human babies, but fur babies. It's something Mr. K and I have had in the works for a while now, but I didn't want to write about it and jinx it. So, here it is, our official birth announcement:
In just eight weeks-around the first week of December-Mr. K and I will be the proud new parents of twin Sugar Glider Joeys.
A Sugar Glider Whoie?
Sugar Glider Joey. They are little critters who are native to Southern Australia and somewhere else-I can't remember-and they have really caught on as pets in the last ten years or so. They have been quite prevalent in North America for about 25 years, but have only been around for about ten in the UK. There is so much information about them out on the internet, that at first, we weren't sure they were the right fit for us. After some more research and finding credible sources, we began to realise that they are exactly what we are looking for and that we were falling in love with a little creature we had never even held. We spent time looking up breeders, diet, play, bonding and anything we could find. We eventually ran across the breeder we settled on and conveniently for us, she lives in Scotland's Highlands. That means, that we will be able to pick up our new bundles of joy relatively stress free.
As I've mentioned before, Glacier and I have had to redefine our relationship in order for us to keep working as a cohesive team. With the move, we re-homed all of our Dachshunds and I'm really missing something small and fluffy to "mother." I also found out in July that me being pregnant is very unhealthy and so human children are a no go. We can't get another dog for a few reasons. First, having an extra dog in the house really throws Glacier into a tizzy. He gets stressed and that jeopardizes our working relationship even more. Second, our lease explicitly states no dogs other than our guide dogs may live in our flat. So, even though a dog would be my first choice, having one would not be feasible right now.
We threw around the idea of a cat very briefly. I mean very briefly. Mr. K is extremely allergic and my parents had taken my cats, Sisu and Loki, for me when Mr. K and I decided to make things a little more permanent. It's sad because he loves cats and cats do not seem to threaten Glacier's security, but we scratched them off of our list quite quickly.
We then moved on to other rodents: rats and bunnies, but I wasn't satisfied with any of those. I wanted something affectionate and with decent recall if we were going to get something small. Somehow we visited the idea of a Sugar Glider. I had heard of them before and at first, I was a bit resistant to the idea, but with a good three to four weeks of research under our belts I am feeling much better. So much so that we found two little guys who have been OOP (or Out of pouch) for a week and a half and agreed that we wanted them.
The breeder is very knowledgeable and helpful. She told us that when the joeys are four weeks old she will move them into the living room so that they can get used to noisy spaces and start handling them on a regular basis. She also said she will send baby pictures to show us how they are growing up. In a few weeks, Mr. K and I will cut up pieces of blanket,  ziplock them, mail them to the breeder and she will put the pieces of warm, cozy, stinking of us material into the joeys' sleeping nest. This way, they will get used to our scent and won't be as afraid when we actually take them home. Sugar Gliders bond primarily through scent, so it is important to get them used to your smell as soon as possible.
In the next few weeks we will slowly start collecting the things we will need to make a fun, safe and ideal home for two Sugar Glider babies. We've already started pricing the proper cages, toys and how to make sleeping pouches ourselves. We even have looked into what it would take to make our babies' cage by hand.
So, it would appear that fur babies are the way to go and that Sugar Gliders are going to be our newest family members. The only thing is, we still don't know what to name them. :)

9 comments:

pattib said...

Awww, how fun!

Angels Amber and Max DaWeenie and Mom said...

Oh how special this is going to be. I don't know too much about them but I bet they are so cute and loving. Have the dogs been introduced to a sugar glider yet? How do you think they will react to the newcomers?

Congratulations on the new babies!

Jen said...

Never heard of these in my life! They sound interesting though, and when I'm not in work I want to look them up and find out more about them.
Do they like dogs do you know?

Coming up with names is always fun!

Nadine, Chewy and Lilibell said...

Just had to google Sugar Gliders, because I've never heard of them before and Oh My Goodness, are they CUTE!! Congratulations!

Just Jess for now said...

Patty: Thanks :)
Amber: They have not been introduced to one yet, but neither of them have a high prey drive. Usually dogs with high prey drives are kicked out of the guide dog program because you do not want your dog chasing a chipmunk or squirrel while you are out crossing a road. I'm not sure how they will react. I think Glacier will want to play with them and Roscoe will probably try to leave. LOL
Jen: apparently they get along with other household pets. There was a photo on the internet that showed two Sugar Gliders and a cat eating off of the same plate. I guess birds are not good to have near them and neither are rabbits. Rabbits carry a disease that is fatal to the Sugar Glider. As for dogs, apparently it's all good. The breeder has a Border Collie and she told of us a woman who has three small dogs and two Sugar Gliders she got from our breeder: all five pets sleep with her. LOL From what I can tell, the thing you have to worry about is your dog eating the Sugar Glider rather than the other way around. I thought about sewing a pouch that Glacier can wear to carry the babies around in so they can bond too. LMAO!
Nadine and family: :) Thanks. I am very excited. By the way, I do stop by to read, but can't comment because of the word verification not working with my screen reader. I enjoy your blog. :)

Linsabelle said...

Thing 1 and Thing 2? (Dr. Suess) ummm Harry and Hermine? Frick and Frack? Marge and Homer? Bart and Lisa? Lol yeah I've lost it. Xoxx

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all,

They are such cute little fellows.

Have fun with the new babies.

Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog

Elijah said...

sugar gliders are so cute!!!!

L^2 said...

How fun! Sugar gliders are very cute. Good luck wit them.