Austin Texas Sugar Glider Rescue

06/30/2025

Update on Téa from after her tumor removal.

Potential Trigger Warning: actual pictures from tumor removal surgery and tumor.

This is another personal as well as educational post. I do a good body inspection every week for every glider in my care, personal as well as rescue gliders. I advocate for all owners to do the same. Because I do good body exams every week, I was able to find a small lump in one of my girls.

After 14 days of antibiotics she went back in for her tumor and pouch removal surgery on 3 June 2025. My vet was nice enough to take pictures throughout the process, I’ve labeled the pictures.

Histopathology came back and thankfully the tumor was not cancerous, but multiple cysts had developed adjacent to the primary tumor. It was determined to be a benign mammary tumor and with the complete removal of her pouch, the vets consider there to be no risk of the tumor reoccurring.

We continued antibiotics and anti inflammatory for another week and added Gabapentin for additional pain management. She was in an e-jacket for two weeks until the 15th of June when I was finally able to gently remove the last of her scab and 1 stitch that hadn’t quite dissolved yet (don’t worry, it was completely fine, however I would not recommend anyone without experience doing). We had her in a small hospital cage with no wheel to limit climbing and movement while she was healing. We used OE (Open Environment) pouch to make it easier for her to crawl into and out of the pouch easier while wearing the e-jacket and another one with fleece poms to provide a little enrichment.

She lost quite a bit of weight during this time, she was 87.3g before she went in for surgery, she dropped as low as 62g, but as of 26 June she’s back up to 72.6g. With other similar cases, this amount of weight loss has been seen, I will definitely continue to monitor her weight while she continues to recover. Since she wasn’t eating very well, I had to give her subcutaneous fluids daily to help her stay hydrated.

Since she was in an e-jacket and could not groom herself to help keep herself clean, twice a day I would help by using unscented baby wipes to clean her. I went over the incision with a cotton ball sprayed with Vetericyn VF twice a day to help prevent infection.

06/07/2025

Help us give sugar gliders a second chance! Our rescue is dedicated to providing these adorable, suggies with loving forever homes. With your support, we can offer medical care, proper nutrition, and safe environments for these precious creatures. Adopt, donate, or volunteer today and make a difference in a sugar glider's life!

All donations are tax deductible.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.

05/28/2025

Foster Profile

Sunny and Lunar are a charming closely bonded duo of Sugar Gliders, each about two years old. Lunar is a neutered male and Sunny is female. These sweethearts are known for their affectionate nature and are fantastic with kids, making them a perfect addition to a family home. While they can be vocal at times, it only adds to their playful and engaging personalities. Mealworms are their favorite treat! Sunny and Lunar are sure to bring a lot of joy and companionship to their future family!

Adoption application: https://docs.google.com/.../1eIeSai34yX_uG90zbCO5x.../edit

As a Nonprofit 501c3, we rely on donations and adoption fees, and all donations are tax deductible.
To donate, you can:
- Contact Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

- Donate through PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue
- Donate via Cash App: $atxsgrescue

05/25/2025

Update #7 on Buddy!!

He’s out of the e-jacket and completely healed!!

I’m still working on getting his nails back in shape since they were sooo over grown, but we’re definitely making progress!!

Almost all of his fur has grown back in to include his tail now!!

As a Nonprofit 501c3 we run completely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax deductible.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.

05/25/2025

Update #7 on Buddy!!

He’s out of the e-jacket and completely healed!!

I’m still working on getting his nails back in shape since they were sooo over grown, but we’re definitely making progress!!

Almost all of his fur has grown back in to include his tail now!!

As a Nonprofit 501c3 we run completely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax deductible.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.

05/24/2025

Potential Trigger warning: picture of a female sugar glider pouch with a tumor.

This is another personal as well as educational post. I do a good body inspection every week for every glider in my care, personal as well as rescue gliders. I advocate for all owners to do the same. Because I do good body exams every week, I was able to find a small lump in one of my girls.

Recently I thought I was feeling something in the lower right abdomen/pouch area of one of my personal caramel girls Téa, but she would move and I would lose it. Unfortunately it finally became big enough I could find it every time. With her being 6 years old and female, I automatically assumed it would be a tumor, and by the time I was able to set her up an appointment, she’s lost 20g of weight. I set up a sedated appointment with my vet as soon as possible which was three weeks after I originally found it.

The sedated appointment included a physical exam, X-Rays, fine needle aspiration with cytology. I was correct, they found a 1x1x1.5cm mass within the pouch, and aspirate cytology showed it as an epithelial tumor, no significant criteria of malignancy, but did show some infection (she’s been messing with it unfortunately). At this time, it does not look cancerous, but we will not know for certain until after the tumor is submitted for histopathology after removal.

The plan is to treat her with antibiotics for the infection, give her Meloxicam (an anti inflammatory) to help with inflammation and pain, and remove the tumor by surgery. She will lose her pouch unfortunately since the tumor is attached to the pouch wall. Because I do good body inspections every week and we found it so soon, my vet is comfortable she can remove it with good margins so that if it is cancerous, the source will be completely removed.

05/21/2025

I know these can a pain in the butt to fold back up, this is how I typically do it. Hopefully it can help someone 🤣🤣🤣

https://youtu.be/g7t9A5zbYeI?si=Kj55MiXLo742CrYF

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we run entirely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax-deductible and go directly toward helping these gliders get the care and second chance they deserve.

Thank you to our amazing community for your support- together, we’re making a difference.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.

05/21/2025

I know these can a pain in the butt to fold back up, this is how I typically do it. Hopefully this can help someone 🤣🤣🤣

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we run entirely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax-deductible and go directly toward helping these gliders get the care and second chance they deserve.Thank you to our amazing community for your support- together, we’re making a difference. Donations can be made directly to our vets:Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary CareOr we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescueCash App: $atxsgrescueAny funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders. op it can help someone 🤣🤣🤣

05/20/2025

Introductions

Introducing sugar gliders can be nerve wracking. You definitely want to be as calm as possible as they can pick up on you being nervous.

https://youtu.be/TA1aQEum588?si=DhVU1fP-RuAW88Hp

Before you can introduce your gliders, you need to do a 30 day quarantine (preferably in separate rooms), vet check, and f***l test for your new gliders. This is also a great time to get neuters done if needed. Once you have 2 negative f***l tests spaced 30 days apart (because of the lifecycle of some parasites) then you can try introductions.

There are exceptions to every rule, very young joey’s may not tolerate being alone that long, for them we recommend introducing and then doing a combined cage sample at the 30 day mark.

There are two ways you can try this. The first way is a cold introduction. I prefer to try this way first. You take them to either a bathtub or the tent you use for tent time (should preferably be glider scent neutral) during the middle of the day when they are sleepy and have treats for a distraction and introduce them by taking them out of the pouches and seeing how they do.

The second way, you swap their sleeping pouches (leave their blankies so they still have something that smells like them in the pouch), swap toys, and eventually swap cages for at least a week to a month. You can put the cages close to each other but, you need to leave at least 1 foot of space between cages so tails can’t be grabbed. You also want a cage cover so they can’t see each other, gliders can be territorial, the cage cover allows them to still smell the other gliders but hopefully not trigger cage protectiveness. Once you’ve scent swapped for at least a week, then follow the steps from the cold introduction.

Some crabbing and hissing is ok, chasing each other is ok. Some grabbing is ok, they may grab each other’s faces/heads to scent mark. When you want to split them up is if they start fighting each other or they start to roll up in a ball and fighting. For a great example of balling up and fighting during an introduction, please see this educational video by Daisha Sutter.

https://youtu.be/N-ay0QN7w1Y?si=c3KkcyO63njv6awV

This goes for both introductions. If the first one doesn’t work, definitely try the second one and then try intros again. It may take a while for them to get along, or in some instances they will all crawl into a pouch together and be the best of friends right off the bat. You also need to be prepared that they may never get along, in which case you will need another cage and set up.

IntroductionsIntroducing sugar gliders can be nerve wracking. You definitely want to be as calm as possible as they can pick up on you being nervous. Before...

05/17/2025

Foster Profile:

Zeek, Zoey, & Zena: this Dad/Mom/Daughter trio will need an experienced owner, they have come a long way from when they first arrived. Zeek has a huge outgoing personality and really just needs someone to snuggle up to, Zoey isn’t big on people still preferring cage to people time but will snuggle up in a bonding pouch, Zena while more outgoing than mom still has a more shy personality. They love cork bark and eucalyptus toys as well as being tail carriers loving pulley toys!!

As a Nonprofit 501c3 we run completely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax deductible.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.

05/16/2025

Orbit and I have this daily routine, little dude loves kibble, he will wake up when he hears me just to get a piece of kibble from me before going back to sleep!!

As a Nonprofit 501c3 we run completely on donations and adoption fees. All donations are tax deductible.

Donations can be made directly to our vets:

Agave Vet Care and Exotic Animal Hospital at (512) 559-6300

Best Vet Hospital In Leander, TX | Agave Veterinary Care

Or we can accept direct donations through Cashapp or PayPal:

PayPal: www.paypal.me/atxsgrescue

Cash App: $atxsgrescue

Any funds not specifically used for these gliders will be used for current or future surrenders.