I was the mommy of Arrow and he died of a seizure from his
hypoglycemia and left me all alone.  The next night I tearfully called
Bourbon and told her what happened and through her and her three way
telephone calls contacted some breeders and found out that there was a
breeding pair who were rescues in need of a good home.  So through some phone
calls I contacted the actual breeder who was holding them and got directions
how to drive to her place.  Her name was Marie.  I figured that although I
was in a lot of pain from Arrow's death, that having someone else, even two
someone else's could ease some of that pain.
      After driving for about two hours one way to Marie's house, I got to
meet the most wonderfully caring person and the two new little ones for me,
my new sugar glider children.  The poor things have been "tossed to and fro"
from the original owner, to the owner's friend, back to the owner and now to
Marie who has a big wonderful heart for our little friends.  I found out that
they've been on a poor diet (peanut brittle and bird seed for some of the
things they were fed) and even at one time had a baby together and was with a
joey in pouch at the time.  Marie wanted to make sure she had a joey so I,
who isn't afraid of being bitten, held the female for Marie to check her
belly.  Sure enough, she had a joey in there.  I was excited about that.  I
figured it was just what I needed, a little family.  Marie was so impressed
with me and said I handled them just like ! a professional.  She really made me
feel good.  So she and I talked about what she's been feeding them and
mentioned that Bourbon and some of the breeders were adding something new to
the leadbeaters recipe.  She got out a jar that looked like the Rep-Cal jar
but had a blue label and was Rep-Cal Herptivite.  So I knew to add that into
the recipe.  Then she got me some grapes to give them to take along on my
trip home since it was night and she didn't want them to skip their feeding
time so at least they'd have eaten something.  They liked the leadbeaters
fortunately.  So I took them home on that long drive home and sang to them so
they'd get used to my voice.  As I sang, I was crying because just the day
before I was with my little Arrow but somehow God had a purpose for me
because there were these two little ones now that needed my attention.
      Well, I got home to my waiting husband, Marvin, who was waiting to see
the new gliders and hoping I'd make it back safely considering the state of
mind I was in about Arrow.  He really didn't want me to make the trip but
understood the reason and knew he wouldn't be able to talk me out of it.
Well, when I showed them to him, the female whom I renamed Nuba, came out of
the pouch into his hand and then quickly jumped to the floor and I had to
scurry to catch her.  Then we put them in their new home, that Arrow didn't
need anymore, and let them be.  But that wasn't the end of the first night.
Soon Marvin while working on the computer in that room came out calling me.
The male whom I renamed Nero, had his claw stuck in the hanging banana and
couldn't get loose.  He was hanging there half upside down with his toe and
leg stuck above him in the stuffed banana. Well, I got him loose from there
as soon as I could and took that banana out!  Then I took him and carefully
clipped that foot's toe nails along with several nails that were too long.
Then I put him back in the cage and let him be.  He didn't act hurt though he
did make a little hurt noise for one of the moments trimming one of the
nails.  I felt his body and nothing seemed the matter but I'm also not a vet
and he seemed to be okay since he crawled around the cage like nothing
happened.
      So the next day, I called Bourbon to let her know that I did get them
already and how nice Marie was.  I never mentioned the incident about the
toe getting stuck since I had already forgotten about it and thought that it
was okay.  I told Bourbon that I made an appointment for them and the soonest
they could take me in was that Saturday and it was currently Monday.  She
gave me suggestions on taming them with giving them licky treats and the fast
way to tame them down versus the slower method.  Well, I told her I wanted
the fastest way and didn't mind getting bitten because I was worried about
Nuba and the joey in her pouch.  Well, Bourbon told me not to expect the joey
to live because the mother is probably stressed out from having been moved
back and forth so much.
      Well, Saturday came and I took them to the vets and Bourbon had
convinced me to go ahead with the whole gamut of tests to make sure they
were okay and not sickly since they really haven't been taken care of
properly.  So that's what I planned to do.  So they were weighed, a little
underweight maybe, so the vet said and she wouldn't mind seeing them gain
some weight but they didn't really seem unhealthy.  She had checked Nuba out
and we found that Nuba no longer had a joey in pouch.  Hmm...so  sad :( .
The vet said she could have easily lost it through the stress.... :(  Then
came the X-rays to see their bone density to see if they were calcium
deficient. Well, Nuba's bone were properly formed but a little bit hollow
meaning they could well afford more calcium but we felt that Bourbon's
leadbeaters had a lot of calcium and should help that out.!  But there was a
problem with Nero's X-rays!  He had a fracture in his left hind leg (the
femur) and sugar gliders bones don't heal well that we know of in
captivity!!!!!!!!  Oh no!  I was worried.  She asked if he had any kind of a
trauma and I could only think that it must have happen with the original
owner and then...I remembered...the first night he had gotten his toe stuck
and it must have happened then.  The vet and I discussed possibilities of any
kind of surgery or giving extra calcium.  She said the problem is there is no
pin small enough to use for an animal so small.  Well, I remembered Bourbon
telling me about one who had a surgical needle used on a broken wrist.  I
asked about using a surgical needle and the story of that glider and she
thought about it and said if it came down to it we could possibly do that and
use a needle that is thin enough and cut it in half.  But first she wanted to
try using the neo-calglucon (a liquid form of calcium) and watch him and
limit his activity to mostly inside the cage and try to keep him from any
strenuous exercise (like take out a wheel if I had one but I didn't have one
anyhow).  So she said to continue with his good diet and to come back in four
weeks and we'll see how he was doing.  She, also, wanted to give him an
antibiotic since his toe that got stuck (same leg) was a little infected from
the toe nail having somewhat lifted up from the skin tissue.  So I went home
with the neo-calglucon and antibiotic (forget what it was called) and gave
Nero who was 100 grams, 0.1 cc of neo-calglucon and 0.1 cc of the antibiotic.
 Well soon I had to call the vet back because Nero would throw up on the
antibiotic as I well knew that an antibiotics can cause stomach upset.  She
changed it to Baytril mixed with water solution to bring down the strength
since he didn't need much of it for that tiny infection and shake it up real
good before using it and it was still the same amount.  That seemed to do the
trick and he wasn't throwing up anymore.
      Well, so for a little over four weeks, closer to five, I fed them
Bourbon's Modified Leadbeaters with the extra new ingredient for their
vitamins, the Rep-Cal Herptivite, and fruits and veggies.  I took a good bit
of biting from the female, Nuba, (had 22 bites on fingers of one hand And 30
on the other) and consistently gave them licky treats.  Nero, the male, I was
very careful in handling and religiously gave him his antibiotic and calcium
(neo-calglucon) medicine and pretty much had them rather tamed down by the
time I took them to the vets again.  I was nervous and prayed every day,
diligently as the time flew by before taking them to the vets hoping that
somehow that Nero's bone would recalcify and begin to mend.  They were supposed to get blood tests the first time (to make sure they weren't hypoglycemic) when they saw the vet but she said that they were so stressed out that the tests
wouldn't come out normal so they were going to get the tests this time.  And
when I went to the vets, I had some wonderful news to tell her myself!  Nuba
had two joeys in pouch!!!!!!!  They got weighed and checked out and she
checked on the joeys and she definitely had two joeys!  :)  Hopefully this
time they will come to term.  Bourbon told me if they weren't comfortable in
their environment now that she wouldn't have gotten pregnant.  :)  Well, the
vet was pleasantly surprised and then it was time for the big moment...to get
Nero X-rayed and to see if his bone was healing or healed.  He was so tame by
this time, all she had to do was put Nero in her smock pocket and off they
went.......ta dum, ta dum, ta dum, ta dum........all this waiting and I was
feeling nervous and wondering what I would do if it didn't get healed
up...........Well, she finally came back and with a smile upon her face.  She
gave Nero back to me and put the X-ray on the light box thing And Nero's bone
Did Heal  !!!!!!!!  IT TOTALLY RECALCIFIED!!!!!!!!!!  Yeah!!!!!
Yippie!!!!!!!!  I could hardly believe it!  She said that not only did it
heal up all the way but it healed with a perfect bridge of calcium going
across it.  The fracture was broken in a slant and she figured that if it
would heal, it would have healed in a slant.  But this was even better.
      Boy, I sure am happy now.  Bourbon's leadbeaters has more than plenty
of calcium and the neo-calglucon did it's job too but I feel that the extra
vitamins that we are now putting in the leadbeaters, the Rep-Cal Herptivite
played a vital part in the healing process too.  The vet told me to put Nuba
on the neo-calglucon to help her bones to get stronger and since she's
pregnant she'll be needing the extra for the joeys.
Yahooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!  And my little Nero made history!!!!!!  Of course,
out in the wild they would have to somehow get their bones to heal if they
get hurt but I now feel that we are closer than ever to giving our little
ones the right nutrition!  Especially if one could get his bones to heal on
it!!!!!!!!!!!  :- )
      So now it is my pleasure to tell to all about this and is now my right
to feel happy once again with the new chance at having a family again and
becoming a first time granny!!!!!!!!  Take care you all !!!   And sorry to
have written a miniseries on this but I truly feel it is important for
everyone to know where I was coming from when I took these two on.  Yes, I
still feel sad to have lost my Arrow Little One but he's is a better place
now and these two need my help and my love !!!!!!!!! :)
      Thank you all for reading this and God Bless.  I will be praying for
all the gliders in hope that everyone will have healthy, happy gliders.  Bye.
  Tessa~<~~<~~@ (a rose)