Santa's little helpers

Well, Santa must have stopped off at Australia before coming to our house...

But to back up a bit first, we had another pet loss that took us really by surprise. Our degu Bilbo was discovered Thursday morning gasping for air whereas the day before he seemed fine. We rushed him to the animal hospital, but the pneumonia, if that's what it was, was too far along so they put him to sleep. He had stopped chirping for his morning feeding (a habit I was relying on as backup to my snooze button) but we had attributed to the change of food brands and/or change of season. There was nothing concrete we could have gone to a vet with or we would have. It was a blow for us, and, like Twosers, Bilbo kinda set the bar high for degus worldwide...

We had talked about a pet to stand in for our husky and came to the conclusion that at this time neither of us has the time and energy to really devote to a puppy to ensure it doesn't wind up with a basket case dog. When I had Two Sox, I was seventeen and still living at home and going to high school and had time to take her to obedience school, ect... I'm sure later down the road our situation will change, but given that I'm working around the clock and Mike's got extra stuff going on, too... a dog isn't an option.

We had been scoping out alternate pets over the last couple of months, and well, with Bilbo checking out, we were both like, "Ok. Done with the grieving of the pets, already!" Bilbo and Twosers were loved, but enough with the empty feeling!

So Santa's delivered two female Sugar Gliders.

Yes, if I can't go to Australia, I will bring the marsupials to me! Sugar Gliders are a popular pet and they are marsupials, not rodents. They are most like flying squirrels and are very social which makes them very fun to have as pets. Starting tomorrow I get to "bond" with them, meaning I wear the fleece pouch they sleep in during the day for a couple of hours inside my shirt so they get my scent and know my voice. I also made some purees of foods they eat (baby food and yogurt along with a dry pet food).

They're pretty freaked out, understandably, and are "crabbing" at us. It's a sound no mammal could make, it sounds like a very small lawn mower not quite turning over. We got two because one alone can die of loneliness. One's an extrovert, the other a shy introvert but both have nice dispositions and are healthy. We're still knocking around names: I like Topsy and Turvy. The extrovert was out tonight checking things out and moved SO FAST! I mean, like an alien or something. She also liked my cooking.

We thought about a bird, but the surround sound Mike and I love so much could've come between us and the bird.

Sugar Gliders take an investment of time to tame and care for, but Mike and I are looking forward to it. We'll get some pictures soon... oh my gosh they're cute! (yes, I know I think my pink corn snake is cute, but this is CONVENTIONAL cute).

I like the fact that, as I pointed out to Mike, with the bearded dragon and the gliders, the Aussies now outnumber us :)