GliderCENTRAL

A Wheel For a Blind Glider

Posted By: Anonymous

A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 03:15 PM

We have a long time stealth customer who is getting a blind glider and its cage mate in approximately three weeks. They have ordered two stealth wheels for their babies. We had a lady place a blind glider in our wheel at the 2004 SGGA. That little glider ran like she was headed back to Chicago. I have safety concerns that I need input from this community.

Has anyone had experience with this situation? Can a blind glider use a wheel unsupervised? We would not want to deny the sighted glider a wheel. What modifications if any do we need to make for either or both wheels?
Posted By: Mel2mdl

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 03:26 PM

I got my little blind boy a Custom Cruiser. Bourbon made it with a slower spin and a slightly higher lip to let him know where it is.

Once he started using it, his cage mates stole it. Now he runs in either wheel - the CC or the Stealth. The Stealth is just a little fast for him. (And he has *some* vision in one eye, just not much.)
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 03:29 PM

I have a blind glider and he has 2 stealth wheels in his cage. He LOVES his Stealth, it is the only toy he plays with.

Grayson does NOT need supervision in his Stealth. He knows where they are and gets right in, and runs to his little hearts content which is ALOT!

No modifications were necessary to the Stealth and the way he runs, plays, gets in and out, if you did not know Grayson was blind, you would NEVER know it. Grayson has 2 cage mates and they all share the wheels. I also never had to show him how to use it, just like any other glider who is new to the Stealth, it didn't take him any longer to figure it out than a sighted glider.

Grayson would be a sad little glider without his Stealth, it is his greatest joy.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 03:45 PM

I wonder if gliders also have internal memory mapping like dogs do?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 03:50 PM

I believe they do. I had a blind girl who I helped to rehome back in February. She and her little family were with me for a few months. In observation, she seemed to do best when everything was left in the same locations/put back in the same locations. I also thought it pretty interesting that her daughter and mate seemed to help her navigate the cage well.

Wendi
Posted By: Trigger

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 04:14 PM

Charlie, for SN gliders you should contact Val, not only regarding what can be done to improve wheels for the blind babies but for other SN as well.
She has pretty much seen it all & does devote 110% to figuring out exactly how to best accomadate each & every need they have.
This way you & Anita would have lots of insight regarding wheels no matter what baby needs one.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 04:18 PM

Also wanted to add, Grayson is blind, he is NOT handicapped. He doesn't need any modifications in his cage at all. His cage is HUGE and he doesn't have any difficulty getting around in there, he's never fallen and as a matter of fact, zips around just as fast as his cagemates.

I do have to keep his cage set up the same, I don't move things around. Water bottles, hammocks, toys, Stealth wheels, all stay in the same place. For the sighted gliders, I switch out toys so they don't get bored with the same toys, but they are always in the same place and Grayson knows they are there.

When I take the Stealths out to clean them, I have to replace them immediately with 2 others. Grayson has 4 Stealths but not all in the cage at the same time. LOL Grayson was a lone glider when he came to me and because he is blind, he doesn't have a normal sleeping pattern. I thought when he was intro'd to the girls that they would help get him into a "normal" routine. Didn't happen, he still is up all times of the day and night, he power naps. So if his Stealths are out of the cage being cleaned and he wakes, he is not a happy camper to find them gone. Like I said, they are his favorite and he goes to them upon waking.

Wanted to add, just like any other glider at times, Grayson will grab a peice of food and run and hang upside down from the top of the cage to eat it. First time I saw this, I almost had a heart attack thinking he'd fall. I soon realized that being blind doesn't mean he's weak or handicapped and he's NEVER had a spill in the cage or his Stealth.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 04:45 PM

Originally Posted By: Mel2mdl
I got my little blind boy a Custom Cruiser. Bourbon made it with a slower spin and a slightly higher lip to let him know where it is.


If I slowed Grayson's Stealth down, he would slap me silly! roflmao Like Charlie said about the glider, Grayson runs like he's just heard that there is only one mealworm left in the world and he's going beat all the other gliders to it!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 05:00 PM

Originally Posted By: BabyLoveGliders
I wonder if gliders also have internal memory mapping like dogs do?


I don't know if gliders do or not, Kris. In observing Grayson, I believe he relies on his sense of smell for most everything. Because gliders are marking little fools, his nose is always in the air smelling around. Grayson is neutered but he scent marks like an intact male, I believe his inability to see causes him to do this, he follows his "trail" so to speak. LOL

Grayson has many foraging toys and I do hang those in different places for him, and he smells them as soon as they are in there. It causes him to hunt them down with his nose and is good enrichment for him. First time I hung some eucalyptus branches in his cage, I found out he was a tail carrier. He was so proud, he smelled it and went right to it and within minutes, he'd gathered it up in his mouth, transferred it to his tail and off he went to bring home the goodies to the pouch.
Posted By: suggiemom1980

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 05:55 PM

Originally Posted By: TWilson
Grayson runs like he's just heard that there is only one mealworm left in the world and he's going beat all the other gliders to it!

roflmao roflmao roflmao roflmao roflmao
Posted By: ValkyrieMome

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/08/09 06:04 PM

Originally Posted By: TWilson
Originally Posted By: BabyLoveGliders
I wonder if gliders also have internal memory mapping like dogs do?


I don't know if gliders do or not, Kris. In observing Grayson, I believe he relies on his sense of smell for most everything.


That is my experience with Adia. She is completely blind from birth.

When I clean her cage, or rotate toys, I do *not* put every thing back in exactly the same place. I put in new toys, and mix things up just like I do for my sighted gliders. Adia gets SO excited! She runs to every toy and investigates it head to toe! She particularly enjoys any toy with a bell. She loves her foraging toys - although I've made foraging toys for her that are not as tricky as the ones I use for my other cages. She doesn't have to work quite as hard.

She LIVES for her bugs. She loves loves loves her mealworms and other bugs. When she hears me come in the room, she runs to the side of the rept where the zipper is and waits there for her worms. She very slightly will turn her head from side to side, sniffing for the bug.

She also loves her Stealth wheel - although her sighted companion is a wheel-hog. Because Adia is blind, she gets up earlier than the other gliders. She is awake and playing before it is fully dark. So - she gets her wheel time in early, before Leila starts hogging it all!
Posted By: hushpuppy

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/10/09 11:18 AM

Thanks folks for the input. I linked the customer to this and she found it very helpful.

And I enjoyed all the stories. OMGosh! These little guys never cease to amaze me. They might be the size of a mouse, but they have the spirit of a lion.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/11/09 04:48 AM

I'm a little late for this party, but I thought I'd go ahead and add my story.

I have Shy, she's 4 years old now and has not always been blind. She came down with a virus that attacked her eyesight and while she can see shadows, at night she is completely blind. She is also very tiny, her weight tends to fluctuate between 65 and 70 grams, but at her smallest she was 58 grams after a pretty severe bout of constipation.

I do move her toys around but I leave the wheels, food and water in the same spot. With her I had to move to the wodent, because she would get going so fast she would fall out. Have you ever watched a glider run in a wheel? How they start by shuffling really fast and then they leap from side to side. Well that's what she would do, except when she would be leaping from side to side she would sometimes miss and out she would go. Eventually she stopped getting in the wheel at all. I knew how much she enjoyed being in it so I thought I would try the wodent since it had sides to it (at the time Bourbon wasn't making wheels.) Since then she uses the wodent, but not nearly as much as she used to use the stealth. I feel really bad for her because I saw how much she enjoyed it and now it seems like it's more of a chore for her (the stealth is much smoother and glides more easily.) I just don't think she has the strength to keep going in the wodent and gives up.
Posted By: Bourbon

Re: A Wheel For a Blind Glider - 11/12/09 09:07 AM

Charlie you can modify her front plate to have a 3 inch or higher lip, as shy stated it will be just enough so that when they run, they feel the wheel on the side of them, to keep them guided per sae, mind you not all blind gliders will react the same way, so it would have to be done on a per glider basis, you asked about safety concerns,.. I addressed that with the wheel I made for molly, by increasing the lip, and for her glider slowing it down some, so that she couldn't just speed through and run the risk of a bad move that she couldn't see.

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