Valentine's Day was the next day and I told my husband I wanted a squirrel. I started a search on Craiglist and actually found a breeder. I was told I would have to wait until May because of the breeding season so I went back to Craigslist and ran across an ad for a sugar glider rescue.
Now, before I get into that story, I owned a sugar glider several years before. At the time, I had absolutely no knowledge of gliders whatsoever. The little guy I had was SO mean, he wouldn't come out of his pouch except to eat, wouldn't come out of his cage and every time I tried to get him out he would bite. The few times I was able to get him out, he would crab the whole time and bite almost continuously until I finally gave up and sent him back to the lady I got him from.
So back to this rescue. I contacted them and was told they didn't usually adopt out any of their gliders but they had just gotten one about 6 weeks beforehand and being that they already had 9 gliders, they would sell the one they had just gotten. Mind you, this was Craigslist and we have all heard the horror stories of meeting random people from Craigslist. I was told this was a 16 year old girl who just had a deep love for gliders and rescued them from people who could no longer care for them. She sent me pictures of Henry, pictures of her with Henry and even had me check out her Facebook page. Henry originally came from a woman who just left him in the cage 24 hours a day, never took him to play or anything else for that matter. In other words, Henry had never bonded to anyone. I have no information on Henry at all. I don't know when he was born, how old he is and have no lineage. I was told he might be about 3-4 years old. After talking to my husband and deciding it was safe to meet this girl, I made an hour long trip (one way) to get Henry. I paid $95 for him. I got to the gas station where we had agreed to meet and as soon as I took the pouch, Henry started crabbing and would not stop. I got in the car, with Henry in his pouch around my neck and held my hand over his pouch until he calmed down and fell asleep. The drive back home was terrible. It had started to snow, which I knew there was a snow storm coming and decided to make the trip anyway figuring I would make it back before it started. The car was slipping and sliding all over the road and all I could think was that I was going to have an accident and kill the little guy before I even got him to his new home. It took almost 2 1/2 hours to make it back but we did it... just me and little Henry.
For the next 2 months, I played with Henry constantly, got him out of his cage, played with him, let him crawl all over me. I joined just about every sugar glider group on Facebook I ran across and even bought him a leash so I could have him out more without him getting lost. Of course, I found out not long after I got the leash they are completely unsafe and got rid of it.
Anyway, I had read several posts in the Facebook groups saying you should have more than one glider because of them being highly sociable animals and decided to get Henry a friend. That's when I found Yoda and Lucy and made another hour long drive to pick them up. Low and behold, I found out apparently sugar gliders are also highly sexual animals, lol. Henry would not leave Lucy alone. He was constantly on top of her, wouldn't let her out of the pouch and if she attempted to get out, he would pull her back in. One night while I was feeding them, I noticed Henry's penis was out and looked really red and was black on the tip. Yes, completely black!! I was terrified and contacted a glider friend on Facebook. She told me what to do for the night and to get him to the vet as soon as I possibly could.
The next day was Henry's first vet trip. The vet looked him over and told me there were two options. One, they amputate. Two, they put him to sleep and try to manipulate his penis back in. Obviously, I went with the second choice. So, although I didn't want to, I left Henry in the hands of the vet. I got a call later that afternoon telling me I could pick him up. When I got back to the office I was informed that everything went really well BUT.... as soon as Henry woke up, he grabbed his penis and pulled it back out!! The vet suggested I take him home and use a lubricant to see if it would go back in on it's own. I did this for 2 days over the weekend without any luck. Monday came around and he was back at the vet. Henry's penis was amputated and he was neutered.
Fast forward almost a year later, Henry still isn't completely bonded but seems to be very happy and healthy. If I go close to his cage he will come to me, he knows his name and will come when called, he will jump on my arm and climb up when I open the cage door, and absolutely loves tent time. When he is out of the cage and gets scared, he will run to me and hide. However, if there is any bare skin showing, he will bite and he loves toes, with or without socks, if he can get to them, he will bite them.
He seems to get a little better with each and every passing day and hopefully one day he will let me hold him in my hand. Although, I'm not sure that is very likely considering he doesn't like being still for any length of time but I will keep trying and working with him.
Henry was my first glider. I'm ashamed to admit it but... Henry is also my favorite (shhh, don't tell the others, they don't know).
So, that's it! The life of Henry. Again, I don't know his exact age or his birthday but I am considering Valentine's Day (February 14th) as his birthday and will consider this Valentine's Day as his first birthday.
So... here's to my baby boy Henry and a very long, happy life!!
No comments:
Post a Comment