Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary

  • Home
  • Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary

Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary A rescue for Sugar Gliders located in East Tennessee. Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Glider Rescue came about as a fluke. Currently, in-house, I have 19.

A friend asked if I'd take in a Sugar Glider that one of his co-workers was having to give away. I'm allergic to cats and dogs, so this seemed a nice way to get an animal companion. The Glider was Fancy and I was told that she was about 6 months old when I got her in February of 2007. After doing some research and discovering that Gliders are "communal" (meaning they need to be in groups of at lea

st 2 or more), I bought Madeline from a breeder to keep Fancy company. After that, people started asking if I'd take in this Glider or that Glider that they knew of who needed a new home. So, in essence, I've become a Glider Rescue. To date, I've rescued 8 Gliders, bought 1 and those Gliders have had 14 joeys (baby Gliders). I hope to become a licensed breeder soon, but need to get the house organized first. It'll have to be inspected by both a veterinarian and a representative from National Wildlife. I've, also, thought of becoming an official non-profit Glider Rescue, but haven't decided on that yet. I plan on using this site to post stories from my Gliders point-of-view, pictures of them and insights into their behavior, eating habits, etc. If you like my page, please share it with your friends :)

Facts about Gliders:
1. Sugar Gliders are nocturnal. For those who don't know what that means: They sleep during the day and get up in the evening to play all night and then go to sleep in the morning. So, unless you're a night person, not necessarily a good pet for you.

2. Gliders are communal animals. This means they need to be in groups of at least two or more. It can be two males, two females or one of each. If you get just one Glider, you need to spend at least 10 hrs. per day with it. Single Gliders that don't get enough time with their owner will, literally, die of loneliness. So, it's best to buy Gliders in pairs.

3. Sugar Gliders are native to the rain forests of New Zealand and Australia.

4. In the wild, their life span is 3-4 years due to predators. In captivity, they've been known to live up to 15 yrs. So, if you plan on getting a Glider, plan on having it for a very long time.

5. Gliders are omnivores, meaning they eat fruits, vegetables and meats, just like we do. In the wild, their diet consists of the sap from Acacia and Eucalyptus trees, moths and hopping insects and the occasional bird or mouse. I feed mine meat, cheese, nuts, live mealworms, uncooked oatmeal, cherry/grape tomatoes and some green vegetables, grapes and other fresh fruits, and water. Meats containing nitrates or nitrites are bad. NEVER feed Gliders cat food or canned fruits.

6. Sugar Gliders are marsupials. For those who don't know what a marsupial is, it means they carry their young in a pouch. Within 24 hours of mating, they'll be pregnant. The baby grows in the uterus for 16 days. When it is about the size of an uncooked grain of rice, it will make it's way down the birth canal and to the pouch where it will grow for about another 8-10 weeks.

7. Gliders are "arboreal" creatures. This means they live in the canopy of the forest, that is, the tree tops. Because of this, they p*e and p**p as they walk along. This means that they can't be litter trained. It, also, means that they need to be let out of their cages for about 4 hrs per day so they can get out, run, jump and climb on things; basically, get the exercise they need to keep them healthy.

24/04/2026

We have weight gain and eyes! Well, one eye.

Last night, Hope opened her left eye just enough for me to see the light glint off of her eyeball. Since then, I've glimpsed it a couple more times. No movement on the right eye yet.

I'm weighing Hope every morning before her 8:30 a.m. feeding. Earlier in the week I waited until after feeding her a couple of times and it skewed the results. As of this morning, her before feeding weight has risen from 9.9 grams to 10.3 grams!

She's curious and very active when I pull her out to feed her. Even before her eyes were opened, she wasn't afraid to go exploring. She's a great climber with a strong grip, and I absolutely adore her!

Baby Hope, 5 days out of pouch. Her daddy, Gus, is very protective of her. He nips at my hands when I pull her out to ...
22/04/2026

Baby Hope, 5 days out of pouch. Her daddy, Gus, is very protective of her. He nips at my hands when I pull her out to feed her.

20/04/2026

Life has been difficult this year. After losing Flower on February 28th, and then Grey Brother on March 9th, I then lost Dale on April 2nd and Messua on April 7th, both of whom were dealing with differing levels of metabolic bone disease. This morning, two days after having a joey come out of pouch, I found Chip lying limp and barely able to move. She wouldn't eat. Pulled her joey out to be with her and sat up with her until she passed around 7 a.m.

Immediately reached out to a local rescue, a local vet hospital, and a friend in KY who is also a glider rescuer. The local vet hospital had no resources I could use to hand raise a joey. The local rescue read my message, but never responded. The friend in northern KY put me in touch with two people she knew who could possibly help. The one who responded first was experienced with joeys and gave me lots of good advice and a recipe for a milk replacer. One ingredient had to be ordered and won't be here until tomorrow.

Following the directions I had been given, started the baby out on Pedialite, unflavored. Kept her with me inside my shirt until late afternoon. I had mentioned to the other rescuer that the joeys dad was still around. She said he would help with making sure the joey stayed warm and used the bathroom. She gave me things to look out for if the dad, Gus, turned on the baby.

Gus was in the cage while Bambi, Roxie and Little Bit had run of the room. I put Bullwinkle and Little Bit into the cage in their room and moved Bambi and company to the sewing room. Then moved Gus' food to the bookshelf, the nest box went beside the food and the pumpkin pouch went onto the bed. I tried to get Gus to go into my shirt with the baby, but he wasn't having that. I pulled the baby out and put her on the edge of the pouch. Gus snapped at her once, then sniffed at her, and realized she belonged to him. He went into the pouch with her. I curled up on the bed with them and Gus came to the lip of the pouch and crabbed at me for a full minute before disappearing back into the pouch.

About an hour later, Gus came out and started making the rounds of where he and Chip would nest. I realized he was looking for her. So, I put out my hand so he would come to me, and then walked into the kitchen and pulled her body out of the fridge. After unrolling her funeral shroud, I let Gus check her out. He took about 30 seconds to realize what had happened, and was ready to get back to his daughter.

She's still alive. She took to the Pedialite quickly. Gave her a first dose of the watered down milk replacer at 7 p.m., but she wasn't overly enthusiastic about it. Calling the new baby Hope.

12/03/2026

On a happier note, I've been trying to get the newest girls, Roxie and Little Bit, to get along with Bambi. They've been sharing food and space with him, and Flower before he passed, for several months now, but they haven't really mixed. Roxie crabs and attacks any glider other than Little Bit who gets near her.

Since arriving, I've allowed the girls to stay in the faux fur lined tube pouch they came with. A few weeks ago, I took the pouch away from them to see if they'd try to go sleep in the nest box with the boys. Turns out, the boys would crab at the girls when they came into the nest box. So, I put the tube pouch back in the play tent.

Last week, after Flower passed, I decided to try taking the nest box out to see if Bambi would sleep in the tube with the girls. He and Roxie would crab at each other, but the girls would tolerate his presence long enough for them all to get some sleep. This lasted for a few days, but over the weekend, Bambi started trying to find someplace other than the tube for sleeping.

Over this past weekend, I put the nest box back into the play tent and Bambi has gone back to sleeping in there. However, earlier this week, I took the tube pouch out again. Bambi and Roxie still aren't getting along, but Bambi seems to get along with Little Bit okay.

The first night without the tube pouch this week, all three gliders were out either eating or playing when I went to bed. When I woke up, Little Bit was curled up on my neck, Roxie was asleep on my stomach, and Bambi was curled up against my knee. Bambi has since gone back to sleeping in his box, but the girls seem content to sleep with under the covers with me. This is the first time since Fancy passed in 2019 that I've had a glider who would actually sleep on me when I went to bed.

I'm actually contemplating getting Bambi, who is 6.5 yrs. old, neutered to see if that would ease the tension between him and Roxie. Roxie and Little Bit are around 8 or 9 yrs. old, making them the oldest gliders in the house.

Also, another pair of females I took in last September are named Chip and Dale. We estimated that they were around 2 yrs. old when I took them in, and they are both very tiny. From the get go, Dale has had issue with moving around. Found out from a vet visit that she's been suffering from metabolic bone disease for quite some time. This happens when a glider isn't getting enough calcium, whether it's lacking in their diet or they have something like the parathyroid issue that Raksha had. Upon finding out about this, I started adding a calcium supplement to the gliders food again.

Dale rarely left her pouch other than to go to the bathroom, to eat, or to move to a from the nest pouch to the box or vice versa. In the past week and a half, I've started to find her in other places in the room. Twice this week, I've walked in to find her waddling around in the floor on the opposite side of the room from her food bowls. Last night, went to bed to discover that she had, at some point in the evening, crawled over to the bed, up under the corner of the tent, and had gotten the claws on one of her hands caught in the tent fabric. Took me a few minutes and a trip back to the living room to grab some scissors to finally get her loose from the tent. Deposited her back on top of the bookshelf with her food and nest box and pouch.

Chip and Dale both crab at me if they're in a nesting spot and I come near them. If they're outside of the nesting box, Dale still crabs at me, but Chip is pretty tolerant and will even climb on me and let me pet her. Gus, a male I took in last July, is grouped with these girls. Grey Brother was part of this group. With his passing on Monday, Gus, who has run of the bedroom, has become more aggressive toward Bambi. So, hoping that if I get Bambi neutered it'll lessen that tension as well.

12/03/2026

Grey Brother is gone.

Noticed late last week that when he tried to use the bathroom, nothing was coming out. This occasionally happens, but usually only once. When it happened a second time, I realized something was wrong and called my vet to try and get an appointment. However, she was out sick. I was told I could call UT Vet Hospital, but they likely wouldn't be able to see him for a week or more. Called the vet in Knoxville, but they were booked solid for the day and couldn't work him in. So, I started him on Doxycycline and hoped he would make it through the weekend.

Over the weekend, he finally started being able to p**p, but little urine was coming out. I didn't get to bed until 3:30 Monday morning, and he was still alive when I went to bed. When I woke up at 8:30, he was gone. It's taken me until now to be able to write about. He had just turned 6 yrs old at the end of January.

Had the vet perform a necropsy on him. His colon was swollen, and his bladder had something like 12x the amount of urine it should have had. Even after clearing out his colon, she was not able to get urine through the urethra. She suspects there may have been something like a kidney stone or bladder crystal lodged in the urethra. The bladder being unable to empty sent poisons back into his system and is likely what killed him. On top of all of this, he had also developed another abscess in his jaw.

He and Flower have both been sent for cremation, and I hope to have their ashes back next week.

02/03/2026

Flower is gone. He was still alive and moving around on Friday when I moved him and Bambi into the play tent with me. He'd broken his wrist a couple of months back and it had started healing back in an offset position. Vet told me that she couldn't fix it and doubted that UT Vet Hospital could either. He was still getting out and moving around. He was eating. So, not sure what happened.

I went in to pull last nights food bowls, and smelled decay. Pulled their nest box out and found that Flower had crawled back into the far corner and died. He's wrapped up and in the fridge so that I can take him for cremation tomorrow.

Flower came to me with Bambi in November 2019, about a week after Fancy died. They had both come out of pouch in September, and a mother had purchased them as a birthday gift for her young daughter. The daughter had lost interest in them in less than 3 weeks. The mother found this page and contacted me. The boys have been with me ever since. Flower turned 6 yrs. old on Sept. 15th, which put him just starting to hit his senior years.

For the past several months, I've had Bambi and Flower sharing space with two new girls, Roxie and Little Bit. The girls haven't really warmed up to the boys, but they've not been hostile toward them either. They've shared the same space and the same food bowls, but, otherwise, kept their distance from one another. Hoping that with Flowers passing that the girls will finally warm up to Bambi.

Send a message to learn more

20/12/2025

Nagaina is gone.

Discovered last weekend that she was having trouble breathing, sneezing a lot, there was some swelling in her face, and her nose was red and snotty. Found some Doxycycline and started her on that. Called the Vet on Monday, and they said to keep her on the Doxy and give it a few days to see if it helped. She seemed to rally a bit Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday evening seemed like she was getting worse.

Thursday, called the vet, but they couldn't get her in until the middle of next week, but recommended another clinic closer to home where one of their former exotic vets had moved. Was able to get her into the local vet yesterday, but they said she was in pretty bad shape. Nagaina had dropped to 61 grams, was dehydrated, and the vet said the reason the dried snot on her nose was brownish was because it had blood in it. They couldn't tell if this was from some sort of infection or cancer. They were able to clean up her nose a little, and gave me some Clavamox and some Omnivore Critical Care mix.

Brought her home and mixed up some of the Critical Care. Followed the instructions, but found it a bit thick. So, added a little apple juice to thin it out a bit. Pull 5 ml into a syringe and fed it to her that way. She seemed to rally a bit, and ate all of what I had in the syringe. The vet had recommended putting some in a bowl to let her eat when she wanted, but to also make sure I was syringe feeding her 4-6 times a day if she wasn't eating from the bowl.

After she had eaten her fill, including a large helping of mealworms, she wanted to get out and run around. So, I put her back in the tent on my bed. Checked on her again around 8 p.m. and she was curled up in her nest box and cold to the touch. I picked her to discover she was still alive. Dosed her with Clavamox, and then syringe fed her more of the Critical Care. Swapped out her food bowls, including replacing her CC bowl, and gave her more mealworms before putting her back in the cage. However, this time, she only ate a few of the mealies. Also, put a heating pad under the tub on the bed that held her nest box and food in hopes that it would prevent her from getting cold.

Checked on her several times while feeding the other gliders, and when I went to bed, pulled her out and laid her down on my chest, under the covers. She didn't move from that spot until after I went to sleep. Woke up about 4hrs. later to discover she'd moved off of me. Went to the restroom, and came back to see if she was in the nest box, but she wasn't. Started looking frantically through the stuff on the bed and finally found her stretched out, barely moving, and barely breathing. Put some Clavamox on her mouth, and started trying to syringe feed her the Critical Care mix. She licked what I put on the outside of her mouth. After about 5 minutes of this, she started to open her eyes, and there was more movement. After about 10 minutes, she had eaten a full dose of the CC mix, and seemed to have recovered. She drank a little of it from the bowl. That started around 8:47 a.m.

For the next four hours, I laid down with Nagaina in the tent on my bed. She would lay on my chest for a bit, and then get up and run around a bit. Around 11 a.m., she started acting like she was trying to get to the cage where Bambi and Flower were sleeping. They were the gliders with whom she had been living for the past year. I pulled their nest box from the cage and put it in the tub in place of the small nest box she'd had to herself. Nagaina crawled into the nest box, but Bambi and Flower started crabbing at her. After a moment, they quietened down, and then Nagaina came back out. She drank a little of the CC mix from the bowl, but wouldn't touch anything else. From that point, she laid down on my chest, and I could tell it wouldn't be long until she was gone. Kept her with me until the end. She breathed her last at approximately 11: 56 a.m.

Send a message to learn more

03/12/2025

Updates on the gliders:

Bambi, Flower, and Nagaina are doing well and harrassing the gliders in the play tent.

Gus, Grey Brother, Chip, and Dale are doing well. Dale was diagnosed with Metabolic bone disease, which means she's not getting enough calcium. Since she definitely has access to plenty, it's assumed that her body simply isn't absorbing it properly. So, everyone is getting extra calcium added to their food. Since I started that, Dale's ability to move around has improved. Chip and Dale have still not bonded with me.

TJ and Mesuah are doing well.

Added new gliders, Roxie and Little Bit to a rotation in the sewing room. They came home Sunday week ago. They're seniors at 7-8 yrs. of age and haven't traveled far from their nest pouch.

Bullwinkle, Sweetie Pie, and Leela are where tragedy has struck. Discovered last night that Leela was missing. Found her body this afternoon. Sadly, I think the Jungle Book crew were the result of inbreeding, which has led to some serious health issues and early deaths. Dropped Leela's body at the vets office for cremation.

Bullwinkle and Sweetie Pie are doing okay. Tried introducing them to Roxie and Little Bit, but first attempt didn't go so well. Bullyboy gave them space, but Pie climbed into the pouch with them and they were not happy about it. Brought the girls into the living room with me for a bit. While they haven't bonded with me yet, they also haven't been aggressive towards me. I can put my hand into their pouch and pet them without worry of being bitten or even crabbed at.

Hoping to get photos of the newer gliders posted soon.

Send a message to learn more

18/10/2025

Update on Dale:
Grey Brother, Gus, Chip and Dale went into the play tent this morning. Went to check on them a bit ago and found Chip out running around inside the tent. The boys were asleep in the nest box in the section furthest from the entry hole. Dale was curled up under the blankets right beside the hole. She crabbed at me as soon as I opened the top of the nest box.

Grabbed some mealworms sprinkled with calcium powder, and she ate those. Grabbed a med/feeding syringe and pulled some water into it. She drank all of it. Followed that with some yogurt smoothie, and she drank all of that. Picked some food out of their food bowls and dropped it in with her and she started eating. Pulled more water into the syringe and she drank most of it.

About this time, Gus woke up and came to check out what I was doing. He finished off the water in the syringe, and drank most of another syringe full.

Since Dale is having issues simply trying to walk around thanks to the MBD, I think I'm going to start fixing a bowl of food just for her and putting it into the nest box beside her so she doesn't have to work so hard to get to it. Thinking that if she has easier access to food, especially with the extra calcium on it, that, maybe, just maybe, she'll recover more quickly.

Send a message to learn more

17/10/2025

Last evening, Dale seemed to be having trouble grasping things and was holding one of her arms at an add angle. I suspected that she might have dislocated her shoulder in her altercation with Nagaina, if not before then. Was able to get her in to see the vet by doing a drop off this morning. Picked her up a little bit ago. X-rays showed no broken bones or dislocations, but did show signs of metabolic bone disease, which happens when a glider doesn't get enough calcium in their diet.

Having had a suspicion of this a few weeks ago, I've already started putting liquid calcium in their water and sprinkling calcium powder on their food. I'd even started pulling a few mealworms for Dale and rolling them around in the calcium powder before handing them to her.

Besides adding a calcium supplement to her diet, the vet sent her home with Meloxicam. I've already dosed her for the evening, and she's eaten 3 mealworms rolled in calcium powder and drunk close to 1 ml of water from a syringe. She's resting now inside my shirt in hopes that she'll finally start to bond with me. Will be keeping her in the tent with me for the next few weeks to see if her condition improves. I'll swap out who stays with her in the tent each night so she continues to maintain her bonds with her sister Chip, and with Grey Brother and Gus.

Send a message to learn more

16/10/2025

Found Dale!

She didn't make her position known until after I went to bed, and that later than planned because of trying to find her. Grey, Gus, and Chip were in their nest box, making it easy to move them into the tent when it came time to swap groups out. Nagaina and Bambi were already out of their nest box and were happy to leave the tent. Flower was still in the nest box when I put it in the top of the closet.

About 30 minutes after going to bed, halfway to sleep I hear the fussing coming from under the dresser. I got up, turned on the light, and then went out to grab my cell phone from the living room. Found Dale between the two dressers, rear claw stuck in something, and Nagaina had bitten into her tail and was pulling on it. Took a perch bar that didn't get used in the new cage and used it to gently poke at Nagaina to get her to let go of Dale, who was able to crawl under the right hand dresser, but couldn't get far because her claw was still caught.

I pulled the bottom drawer out of the dresser to happily discover that there was no bottom on the dresser below the drawer. I was able to reach in and get her foot loose despite her biting me. She ran off to the right of the dresser and Nagaina caught her between the drawer and the wall. Drawer in the way, I couldn't reach them. I used the perch bar to break up the fight, and Nagaina ran back to the door on the other side of the room. I grabbed a nest pouch that came with Dale and tossed it beside her in hopes she would climb into it while I put the drawer back into the dresser. She didn't go into the pouch, but her claw was stuck again.

I got her claw loose again and tried to encourage her into the pouch, but she kept biting me. There was a dry sponge in the floor. So, I grabbed it and used it to push her into the pouch. Once in the pouch, she started to settle down. I put the pouch into the play tent, and she came out and got some food, but she acted kind of weak. I crawled back into the tent to try and go back to sleep.

However, instead of going into the nest box with her sister and the boys, she climbed down the side of the tent where Nagaina found her again and started harrassing her. I scooped her up and set her down back next to the food bowls where she ate a little more and, eventually, crawled back into the nest box. She was still there when I got up this morning for work. Luckily, my boss let me telework today because I only had about 2 hrs sleep and the vertigo was awful.

I've left Dale alone for the day to let her rest and recover. Will pull her out to give her a good check in an hour or so.

Send a message to learn more

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Fancy's Flying Furballs: A Sugar Glider Sanctuary posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share