Each night I let a pair of my gliders loose in my room. For months my gliders have been enjoying their
romps around the room and they usually put themselves back to bed in their own nest but occasionally
will nestle down somewhere else.
For years now I have been warning people not to use socks with their gliders because their claws/nails
get caught in the fibers, pull them, and then the gliders will get their legs entangled in them twisting the
strings tighter and tighter while trying to get untangled. Actually cutting off the circulation like a
tournique and sometimes they have been known to get these strings around their necks, twisting and
turning trying to get loose until they actually strangle themselves.
Well some of my gliders liked to nestle down inside the pillow that I slept on. It had one seem ripped
out and they loved to get into the stuffing and make a nest all cozy and warm. They usually fussed at
me when I removed them from the pillow and put them back into their own nest.
One night, not an hour after letting Pumba and Timone out to play, I went into my room for something,
I don't remember now what or why but am so glad that I did. I found both Pumba and Timone in the
edge of the ripped lining trying to make a nest.
Pumba had gotten her head through some of the stuffing of the pillow and had it wrapped tight around
her neck. She was crabbing and fussing and trying to bite me while I was trying to free her. Who could
blame her? She was scared silly and couldn't get loose and the noose that she had created for herself
just kept getting tighter and tighter around her neck.
At least I knew that her air was not completely shut off or she couldn't have been making the noise
that she was. I had a very difficult time getting the edge of a pair of bandage sizzors between the fibers
and her neck, they were wrapped so tight around her. I didn't dare use regular sizzors because of the
fear of actually cutting her instead of the fibers.
I finally had to cut her loose from the pillow and then work the blade of the bandage sizzors between
her neck and the fibers finally freeing her from the noose.
I held her close to me till she calmed down and her fright was over. I then placed her into her nest with
her two, 3 week oop babies. That too helped to calm her. She didn't come back out of her cage all night
even though I left the door open.
I put a pillow case over each end of the pillow, thinking that I was hiding the ripped end of the pillow
pretty well. Evidently I did not hide it well enough.
A few nights later I had let Sonya and Eddie out to play and the next morning found Sonya had gone
down one end of the pillow case and back up the other and into that pillow. She was unharmed as they
had been for months when nesting in there. I put her back into her nest with Eddie.
Knowing the danger of that pillow after finding Pumba nearly strangled. I firmly believe that if I had
been five minutes later going in there and finding her that she would have been dead. I decided that if
my gliders were so determined to get into that pillow even after double casing it, that it had to go. No
pillow or other comfort measure is worth the life of one of my gliders.
I threw the pillow away. Now I caution every one to watch any type of fabric that your glider may get
entangled in. Even when you think that you may have glider proofed a room there can still be hazards
that you may have not thought of.