About a year ago Peggy and Dr. T. talked about joeys, rejections/canabilized, and pouches. Peggy had noticed some of the smaller pets in the pet store (mice, hamsters, etc) would often smother their young when sleeping on them and she talked to Dr. T. about was it possible with the pouches we typically use for gliders, that this could be happening sometimes with our joeys. He said he didn't really know but it seemed that a larger pouch/solid bottom would be better, just thinking about how they have to nurse.

So about a year ago I called Connie-Blue Angel Exotics, and asked her to design a pouch for Peggy and I (and the public of course). A pouch using her pvc pipe for stability and one that had an open top (unlike her tents). She made the Super Pouch and I have used them and LOVE them. I also have started using the Petal pouch made by Karin at Glider Daydreams and I LOVE it too.

I use normal pouches when there are no joeys.

Anyhow, since switching to these type of pouches over a year ago, I have had no lost joeys/no canabilized joeys (I didn't have many to begin with, but occasionally I did). I don't know if it has helped but it sure seems more natural for the gliders. I now see them nursing similar to dogs/cats do. Lying on their sides with joeys stretched out. I no longer find a ball of mom/dad with joeys squished in between. Tonight I took a picture just to show you guys.

Here is Maizie and Mack and thier babies tonight. They are in the Petal Pouch made by Karin at Glider Daydreams, but they look the same when they are sleeping in a Super Pouch.

I'm so glad you mentioned this for breeding. What a great idea.

I like the flat open bottom pouches because there's just more room and they can snuggle if they want to or not. I won't be having any more babies here but will always offer one of each. Nicole just designed a flat-bottom tent type one that I really like too ~ don't know if she's going to offer it for sale yet or not. I have the Petal Pouch and it's more like a HOUSE ~ it's great. I don't have a super pouch yet. I also like being able to just look in and see everybody rather than push the bottom up (and get all these "hey! what do you want?!" looks!)

What a precious momma with her babies!

Great photo's and it does look a bit more comfortable then the reg pouches.

Not a joey rejection issue but since I was expanding my glider families to quad's and above I felt the traditional pouch wasn't all the comforts of home. So I came up with the comfy pouch (flat bottom pouch). After having it made and putting it to use, I realized it was probably a great breeder asset as well- I guess that's why Peggy loves them So I started offering a comfy pouch to all my cages not just the large families and 90% of the time my gliders use the comfy pouch over their traditional pouch. I agree I think the flat bottoms offer more comfort & natural space and if the bottoms are not too large the gliders still have the comforts of being all cozy and snuggled together.

Here's my quad with a comfy pouch


Here's a breeding pair with twins using a comfy pouch

 

I have the petal pouch and the elfin pouches and the floppy & hoppy but they are not going to be big enough with new joeys. So who are the people exactly that are making the flat bottomed colony sized pouches?

Yep Yep Yep LOVE those comfy pouches. They are in all my cages and it has really helped made a difference in Fred and Wilmas coats as well my squirrel gliders) Its like they have more room so dont get as hot and sweaty.

I do have several of Karins pouches Alicia is talking about as well. And Connie, well yep, she did prove to me with her first super pouch that this type of pouch (with a flat bottom) was definitely the way to go.

I have noticed a difference as well with my gliders.

Alicia awesome pics to show, and yep, this is how I find a lot of my gliders when nursing now as well.

Even if you dont have breeders, you folks need to try these kind of pouches out. You will see it does make a difference.

And the comfy pouches also fit inside a day tripper with no problems, so if a vet visit is needed, they dont even have to be transferred to a different pouch!

I can't see Alicias pics from work I will just have to wait till I get home.

You can check out my round comfy pouch here-

http://www.freewebs.com/mobmilli/addons.htm

and Connie's Super Pouch here-

http://www.freewebs.com/blueangelexotics/superpouches.htm

Haven't seen Leigh's new pouch.

I LOVE Nancy's comfy pouches! I just got some for all my cages!

I had a few gliders that I was working on with their crabbyness, and since using these I believe they aren't anything like they were. I don't know if it is less threatning or what.

I reccomend these to everyone!

So galz... what can some of us home-sewers use to add support to our own pouches??? My twins are always hissing and such, and I am guessing it is due to them being scrunched up together in the bottom of the pouch. I know you can't use plastic canvas as it crumbles after a few washes.

I seen quite a few that I like!

thanks I will check those links when I get home - darn Air Force is blocking them........Lol

Petal Pouch from Karin

I see the other links were added, but I didn't see Karin's so there it is, my gliders LOVE the Petal Pouch, they pull the sides in and cover up with it, it's like a treasure everytime I pull back the petals and see them in there. And it is great for taking cute picutures, lol.

Nancy, did I get a comfy pouch in that pirate set for Gannon? If so even more reason to clean my cage and set it up, his woman has a joey ip so I'll test yours out on them.



Just have to correct you, if you have the Petal Pouch, you do have one big enough for mom/dad and joeys. That is the pouch I am using in my pictures, the Petal Pouch. So you are already set.

Sorry about that- I just always assume everyone has Karin's site bookmarked & vagraphix already said she had all of Karin's pouches.

My bad






I was going to say the same thing- most bottom measurements on the flat style bottoms are pretty much the same measurements or close in size- if one went larger, it just gets too bulky.

Just have to correct you, if you have the Petal Pouch, you do have one big enough for mom/dad and joeys. That is the pouch I am using in my pictures, the Petal Pouch. So you are already set. [/quote]

but it isn't big enough for mom, dad and 4 joeys - at least I don't think so

How did mom and dad have 4 joeys, is there an older set in there? If so, your prob. right, you need a super pouch size large, I 'think' it is 6 inches across on all 4 sides. It is the largest I have.

Nancy, that wasn't a slam on you, just that I didn't see it and prob. should have added the links last night (just lazy I guess on my part). And you didn't answer, do I have a comfy pouch, I think I do, the round and tall one?

I am at work, wish I was at home playing with gliders and pouches, lol.

Yes- Debra said there is a set of 11wk old twins with mom & dad and new babies oop.

I see. I only posted the links because Debra asked to see the others mentioned that she didn't have.

I believe I did send a comfy pouch in Gannon's set. I probably did since he is one of your daddy gliders.

Do you think a cube-type pouch would work too, or would it need to have a reinforced bottom?

most that offer the cubes have reinforced bottoms. The only thing with a cube though, you don't have an open top access to the joeys.

My only question with these are I have two males that one is pouch/joey protective and the other is just joey protective. So i use the pouch to manipulate a separation between the parents to check or hold the joeys with Connie's pouch there is nothing on the outside to give. I know I'm not the only one out there with the occasional protective parent, so what do you do about them??

Lauren, With nancys pouch you can fold the side of the protective parent so you dont accidently get nipped. The gliders that I have that were like that aren't like that with these pouches for some reason.

See I've always figured if the whole area was more open like the super pouch that it would stop my pouch protective boy but I would bet ya two thousand mealies it wouldn't stop them from being joey protective. My boys are just boys, I tend to have much stronger connections with my girls who are so wonderful about letting me see their newly OOP babies but like I said, boys will be boys and when they have no babies I can do what I want with them but when joeys are OOP its a no mommy zone *sigh*.

hello everybody,
i just tried to order the petal pouch, but the button is to
far to the right to order. does anybody else have this
problem. i would like to get the petal pouch and the rest of
the solid pouches later.
regards,
nancy

I hang my Super pouches with the one side too.Mine like to pull the other side down to cover up.All my cages have the medium size so they can do them that way.

The cubes I make have 2 openimgs one on the side and one on the top but not sure how that would work with pouch prtective suggies.

If you can't scroll to the right to get the "Add to cart" button, try holding down the <Ctrl> key and tapping the '-' hyphen key to make everything smaller so it fits on the page. The <Ctrl> and the '+' makes things larger.

I'll call Karin and tell her about her buttons, you can also pm Karin here, that is her GC name/Karin. Her web person is out sick.

Lauren, all of the 3 pouches mentioned have big soft open tops, it is really easy to fold the side down on a protective daddy/mommy. I think any of the above would work good for you.

thanks nancy,
i tried the ctrl key and hypen keys but none of her buttons
are working. i will probally pm her.

regards,
nany

I have flat bottom, Suggie Snuggle Shacks that I have been using for over 2 years. I always keep one regular type pouch and one flat bottom pouch in the cage so they can choose which one they want each day. However I never thought about the nursing ones. That is a great idea!

Do you have a picture of the Suggie Snuggle Shack?

Lauren, you may like the Petal Pouch. It opens almost completely flat. And it's very roomy for a couple and their babies. I can show you a picture of it open if you want. If you needed to use the sides (petals) to cover Daddy you could do that while you steal a baby. You can open it out or in.

I swear I have seen a 'poof' pouch or 'flower' pouch that is upright like a pouch until you undo it, and then it lies completely flat. Who makes those? You could probably use the outside material to cover up the Crabby Patty.

I also hang my Super Pouch in a corner with 3 hooks fastened to the sides and they pull the rest over the top like a roof.

I think you're referring to Krys' Kritters blossom pouch (2nd pouch down) The only thing I don't see mentioned on it that the others have is a reinforced bottom..

does the comfy pouch stay open on top and you just add blankies or do you pull some of the material to cover up
the top.

regards,
nancy

Hey, do you think this pouch would be good for using with joeys?

What is that inside material? I do not know if that is suggie safe, their nails may get stuck.

It is made of fleece inside and out...it's a little "fuzzy" looking because it just came out of the wash.

Oh lol that explains it

And yes it would be good.

I wonder if this would be a good pouch for my breeding trio? One of them keeps ripping holes in my pouches as soon as i get them in there. I have gone thru so many. I was going to go with a nesting box of sorts but id rather stick with a pouch if i can.

Sorry this is off topic! Melissa, I have the same problem with half of my gliders. It drives me nuts. One thing that has helped is giving them a glider safe chew toy in their pouch like a baby link or monkey. You can also make pouches out of old blue jeans. Hope that helps!

Any new pics of this yet? I would love to see it!

We use a big fleece blankie inside of our pouches & our gliders haven't ruined any of our pouches.

Ok people....I am digging the idea of the solid bottom pouches for bigger families of gliders. I'm going to be attempting a couple of no-sew versions. I bought a couple of plastic crochet rings (one round and one oval). I'm excited to try it out. We're getting our new trio this weekend.

Misty

Those look awesome, Leigh. I totally want one! We throw the smaller-sized blankies in with ours sometimes too. We kind of alternate a little & it depends on which pouch we're using. Sometimes we use an index-card box with a hole in it & put fleece strips in there for them to nest in. I agree it allows them to nest more like they probably do in the wild.

Misty

Back when Gianna and Marcell were breeding, they got soooooooooo protective of their joeys I couldn't get in their cage without loosing blood. pouches were NOT an option because it took too long to get the joeys out or even to take the whole pouch out.

I had gotten one of these little boxes from Alicia at the Arkansas SGGA and filled it with small fleece blankets. I could take and change out some of the blankets and replace with fresh ones, just used different colors (white the first time then replaced 3/4ths of them with red, then replaced the remaining white and some of the red with blue etc to keep the "nest" fresh) It worked FANTASTIC. The sides are tall enough the joeys can't get out until they are really old enough to be out and about. It is nice hard plastic and washes GREAT in the dishwasher. The top comes completely off but the holes in it are the perfect size for the gliders to go in and out of.

I used it for one other set of parents and it worked good for them too but they didn't mind me stealing their joeys.

Just throwing this out as another option. Look for them at garage sales and thrift stores...they can be kinda pricy otherwise. Oh and if you happen to find one with the fish, they can be used to make toys!