Addison Independent, Monday, November 15, 2010 — PAGE 17
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LOOKING ANXIOUS, FOSTER, the Sweeney family’s first sugar glider, sits on a branch in daylight. Typically, these Australian marsupials sleep throughout the day and only move around at night.
Caitie Sweeney
Gliders make sweet companions Student says miniature marsupials have full-size personalities By TAMARA HILMES MIDDLEBURY — Though koalas and kangaroos are generally outlawed as pets, there is another furry marsupial that the state of Vermont has deemed legal for regular citizens to own — sugar gliders. Sugar gliders resemble a cross between a flying squirrel and a bush baby, and are a good alternative to a hamster, gerbil or guinea pig, according to Middlebury College senior and Short Shannon Street resident Frank Sweeney. “It’s just the nicest little thing,” said Sweeney, the proud owner of two sugar gliders. “You feed it yogurt drops and it just hangs out on you and wants to be pet all the time.” Sweeney, 21, first heard of cuddly pets that grow only as big as the size of one’s palm from his mother and sister, who happened upon a sugar glider vendor at a mall kiosk near their home in Canastota, N.Y. Sweeney’s sister, Caitie, immediately fell for the tiny creatures and ordered one from a Texas breeder named Priscilla she found online. Sugar gliders did not enter the United States until 1993 and were originally imported from Australia. The Sweeneys got their first one this summer. Foster, as they dubbed the first gliders, quickly became a family
Frank Sweeney favorite. Caitie claimed Foster as her own and began taking the nocturnal animal to school with her in a little fleece pouch. Foster would sleep peacefully in Caitie’s locker while she was in class. “Foster Luna is her name,” Frank Sweeney said. “She was the original. She’s generation X.” But Caitie Sweeney was not the only one who the little sugar glider managed to charm. Their mother, too,
could not get enough of the new pet. “My mom was like, ‘Oh, we need to get more!’ because my mom is obsessive compulsive and needs 7 million animals to take care of,” Frank Sweeney said. “We have four dogs, a koi pond and we had two cats. And now we have six sugar gliders. No, five sugar gliders, excuse me. Five. One we gave away.” The Sweeney family’s new obsession quickly became a slippery slope. They ordered a second glider just one week after receiving Foster. This time, Sweeney’s mom opted for a glider of the “platinum” variety. “For the platinum one, the price isn’t listed on the website,” said Taryn Tilton, one of Frank’s housemates. “You have to call and ask.” The all-white glider arrived the following week, but unlike Foster, whose mild temperament made her a friend of anyone she encountered, the new female was not quite so social. “We subsequently named it Lucifer because it’s the meanest thing in the world,” Sweeney said. “First of all, it’s huge. It’s like the size of my face — huge. It’s a girl. You can’t even put your fingers near it — it starts crabbing.” “Crabbing,” explained Sweeney, is the term for sugar glider crying. “They sound like little raptors,” (See Gliders, Page 18)
ADDISON COUNTY — Did you and taken to a shelter. Without an ID know that one out of every three pets tag, he/she could be mistaken for a will get lost in his lifetime? Each year homeless stray. the Addison County Humane Society A tag tells the staff that your cat has takes in more than 500 lost or stray an owner who loves him and wants animals. Sadly, for many of these him back. animals, the chance of reuniting them Your pet’s tag should have your with their families never arrives. name, address, and a telephone numThe Addison County Humane ber where you can be easily reached. Society is asking all pet owners to It is also a good idea to include sechelp us reduce the number of animals ond telephone number or the number in our shelter and help us reunite your of a friend or relative in case you are lost pets with your family. Almost ev- unavailable. Lastly, you should check eryday, we have a dog or cat brought your pet’s ID tag regularly to make to our shelter as a stray sure it’s still readable — and immediately, we Your pet’s tag a heavily scratched or know that this animal has should have broken tag won’t do any been lost and their famgood. And, of course, if ily is probably frantically your name, your contact information address, and changes, you should upsearching for them. Unfortunately, most a telephone date the tag immediately. of these animals do not number A second form of idenhave identification (pet where you tification is a microchip. tags or microchips), so microchip is a small, can be easily A we are forced to wait for electronic chip (approxithe owner to contact us to reached. mately the size of a grain report that they have lost of rice) that is implanted their family pet. Even more distress- just under your pet’s skin. It is ading is that many of these animals’ ministered quickly and painlessly owners do not contact us and thus by a simple injection. Microchips they are separated from their fami- each have an identification number lies forever. To further complicate the associated with them. Along with issue, some frightened animals may this ID number, your name, address, travel several miles away from their and phone number are entered into a homes, making it even less likely that computer database. If your pet gets their families will come searching for lost, animal shelters or city pounds them. equipped with scanners will be able An ID tag is your pet’s ticket home. to scan your pet’s body to quickly loIf you’re lucky, a neighbor will find cate the ID number of the microchip him and return him to you right away. along with the corresponding owner But your pet could be picked up by a information. Most shelters and veterstranger or an animal control officer (See Tags, Page 19)
Pets need preventive medical care This summer I took my cats, en masse, to the vets’ to be checked after not having done so for four years, thinking that because they were indoors cats that they’d be in almost perfect health. Not so! Several of the cats are older and needed extensive dental work, as it turned out they had been in silent pain for quite awhile. Needless to say, this made me feel terrible! It also cost quite a lot of money, none of which I begrudge to the wonderful team at my animal hospital. I would like to recommend, though, that in order to avoid having your pets and check books go through all this, to take your
animal in yearly as a combination check-up/prevention trip. It will make for both a happy pet and a happy owner. Pets need not be expensive if you take care of them properly. Also, ask your vet about credit plans, I found out about one that allows you to charge your pet’s (and your) health care should you be dead broke. I know that some people are giving up their pets because they think that they’re too expensive to take care of. That’s a dreadful thing to do to an animal that has come to love and depend on you. Please don’t dump your animals. Carolyn Van Vleck New Haven
PAGE 18 — Addison Independent, Monday, November 15, 2010
Gliders (Continued from Page 17) She’s the cutest of all of them.” added Tilton, mimicking the raspy DRAMA QUEENS Though small in size, the sugar shriek. But the crabbing seemed to be the gliders have big personalities. “Lucifer’s like Regina George least of their worries when it came to from ‘Mean Girls,’ you know what I dealing with Lucifer the glider. “You can’t even put your body mean?” Sweeney said. “They all get along with her. I think near it or like touch Foster’s Karen — let’s it at all because it’s make this about ‘Mean crazy,” Sweeney said. “Gerbils, you Girls.’ Foster is Karen, “It lunges out and bites can’t really pet. Lucifer is Regina and you and it drew blood Hamsters, you Sookie is Gretchen.” from my mom and can’t really pet. Like the popular 2004 sister. And we still have Sugar gliders, film “Mean Girls,” life it because Foster, the you can pet and with the sugar gliders original one, loves it. is full of a particular They get along so well. cuddle with brand of drama. And that’s why we had them. So, out “Once my sister to keep it. Lucifer loves of the small, wanted to let Sookie Foster and Foster loves furry animal out, so she put her Lucifer.” world, they’re out in the bathroom Despite the bond because that’s a pretty that the two gliders definitely the had formed, Sweeney’s best. But they’re closed in area and didn’t think she could mom still tried to trade also the highest get into anywhere, in the demonic second maintenance.” glider at one point. So — Frank Sweeney but somehow Sookie managed to squeeze she called up Priscilla, into the smallest space but rather than take back Lucifer, the breeder offered between the countertop and the to, instead, send another glider at no wall.” At the pleas of Sweeney’s sister charge. “She didn’t charge us because and mother, Sweeney’s dad ripped we’re good customers,” he said. the countertop off the wall in order to “Because we bought two in two save Sookie. “We had to redo our whole weeks. So she’s said, ‘Oh, you can have more,’ and my sister got a third bathroom,” Sweeney said. But renovation costs did not baby, Sookie. And Sookie’s so cute.
ROMULUS AND REMUS live with Middlebury College senior Frank Sweeney in his home on Short Shannon Street. According to Sweeney, sugar gliders like these make good pets for someone who needs more love than a hamster can give, but less work than a dog requires. Caitie Sweeney
deter the family from ordering two additional sugar gliders from Priscilla at the end of the summer. When Middlebury’s fall semester began, Romulus and Remus, twin male gliders returned to campus with Sweeney.
“When the twins came in, one of these and it got out and ran out (housemate) Victoria and I drove into the parking lot.’” down to Albany to pick them up from Frank later found out that “those Need truly scrubbable the airport,” he said. “They came people,” werewalls? actually his parents. in this big, live animal box and the Sookie had escaped from her box California Paints (shipping attendant) wouldn’t touch when they had gone to pick her up it because she said, ‘Some people had (See Nocturnals, Super- ScrubPage 19)
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Addison Independent, Monday, November 15, 2010 — PAGE 19
Nocturnals “That sounds terrible,” she said. (Continued from Page 18) “What if you had to only live during weeks before. “Apparently, she terrorized the the night? That would be so sad. airport,” he said, adding that they Especially in the winter. I would were just lucky it had not been shoot myself. I wouldn’t eat apple or mango.” Lucifer. Fresh mango is the food of choice LIVING WITH GLIDERS The twins, on the other hand, for the sugar gliders, though Sweeney have been very well behaved thus and Tilton experimented with several far, according to their owner. They different fruits while getting to know their littlest housemates. mostly sleep during the “You’re supposed to feed day and “hang out,” lying “It would them mangoes and stuff, curled up on the arms and but those aren’t available in stomachs of Sweeney and be cool if his housemates. Because they weren’t Middlebury so we fed them apples, because it’s the fall the nocturnal gliders prefer nocturnal in Middlebury and there are warm, dark places, they and hung apples everywhere and it’s have a tendency to crawl out during free,” Sweeney said. “And into people’s shirts, he the day.” we thought, they’ll learn to said. — Frank like them. But they never At night, the gliders Sweeney learned to like them. So we come alive — they “fly” kind of half-starved them. back and forth across their Then we started feeding cage, and run on their exercise wheel at impressively high them oranges and then they were so much happier and loved life.” speeds. Gliders also eat yogurt drops and a “I sleep through anything, so it isn’t a big deal, but they’re nocturnal, too, special diet supplement invented by and they just wake up at night and the breeder, Priscilla. Along with their special diet, go on that little wheel thing forever,” said Tilton, whose room is across the gliders also require a heat lamp and heat rock, fleece sleeping pouches hall from the cage. “It would be cool if they weren’t and a cage. Unlike with hamsters or nocturnal and hung out during the guinea pigs, the gliders’ cage does not need to be lined with shavings, day,” Sweeney said. Sugar gliders can be trained to be and according to Tilton, it ends up “day walkers” as Sweeney called smelling a lot less. But according to them, but Tilton shook her head at Sweeney, gliders top typical small pets in several other ways. the idea.
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“Think about small, furry animals,” Sweeney said. “Gerbils, you can’t really pet. Hamsters, you can’t really pet. Sugar gliders, you can pet and cuddle with them. So, out of the small, furry animal world, they’re definitely the best. But they’re also the highest maintenance.” Sweeney prefers the marsupial gliders to pets of the rodent variety, as they tend to love their owners back in a way that guinea pigs and hamsters do not. “They definitely bond to particular people,” Tilton said. She explained that when Foster came to visit, she particularly favored their friend Katie. Before purchasing a sugar glider of one’s own, a person better be absolutely sure about making the commitment. Gliders can live until they are 12 or 15 years old. But for the right people, a glider can be a perfect companion. “They ain’t no dog,” Sweeney said. “But I think that if you had kids, and if you wanted an animal that was easy to take care of, you should get one. They are really cute, and if you get them young, they bond to you and are well behaved. Lucifer is not a good one. So you know that it can go both ways. But if you get a good one, they are so cute and won’t do anything to hurt you and will be really good with kids.” Though sugar gliders may not be in the running for man’s new best
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friend, Sweeney still thinks they make for a good, relatively easy-tocare-for pet. “They don’t compare to a dog,
but they do bark,” he said. “So that’s something.” Tamara Hilmes is at tamarah@ addisonindependent.com.
Tags (Continued from Page 17) inary offices are equipped to handle microchips. The Addison County Humane Society strongly suggests that all pets (including indoor cats) have identification. Additionally, we suggest that you use both a pet tag and a microchip to ensure that you can be located if your pet is lost. Identification tags are your pet’s first ticket home while microchips provide an extra level of protection in case your pet loses his collar and tags. Providing your cat or dog with both tags and a microchip can help ensure a happy reunion if the unthinkable happens and your companion gets lost. Lastly, some people are often concerned about putting a collar on their cat, for fear that the collar may get caught on something and inadvertently injure their cat. However, there are several collar made specifically for cats to ward against such injuries. Such collars include a breakaway collar, which has a fastener that automatically releases when it’s pulled.
Since these fasteners don’t click into a locked position, they allow your cat to slip free if the collar gets snagged on window blinds, furniture, or fencing. Similarly, other breakaway collars feature a short length of elastic fabric woven into the collar that expands when you tug it. This kind of collar will also release your cat if he gets caught on an object. The weight of his body, or pressure applied to the collar by tugging, stretches the elastic and lets him escape. You can find breakaway collars at most pet supply stores or online for about the same price as a regular collar. In an effort to foster pet identification, the Addison County Humane Society sells pet tags that you can personalize with all of your information. Additionally, ACHS offers micro-chipping for $25. It only takes a few minutes and your pet will be protected for a lifetime. Editor’s note: This story was provided by Jackie Rose, executive director of the Addison County Humane Society.
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PAGE 20 — Addison Independent, Monday, November 15, 2010
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