Today I’m going to be sharing what my nightly routine with my gliders is. I’ve been doing these basic principles ever since I got Ink and Dreamer. It has worked out very well with my schedule and the way that my life is right now. 🙂 Enjoy.
Note: At the time of this writing, my two pairs of gliders haven’t been introduced yet. They are both in the same room, but they are living in separate cages. My routine will change slightly after they are all living in one cage.
9:00 PM
On most nights, Dreamer and Ilona are already awake. Ilona gets up as early as 8:30. The boys tend to get up much later.
I take the food out of the freezer and put the vegetables, fruit and staple part into bowls. I warm Ink and Dreamer’s fruits & vegetables up a bit because they refuse to eat anything that’s cold. Ilona and Yiska don’t mind it frozen. (It’s so interesting to see the differences in preference!)
I put the food into the cage and check to be sure that everyone has fresh water. Ilona and Yiska have a water bottle along with an open dish. I check to make sure that the water in the bottle isn’t stopped up.
10:00 PM
Glider playtime! I put up my hair and change into my glider-scented clothes (I don’t wash them every night. They enjoy it when I wear clothes that smell like them). Then close my bedroom door and let Ink and Dreamer out of the cage. Ink is normally just waking up. He likes to yawn, stretch and then crawl down my shirt and spend a good half hour grooming himself. It’s adorable. Dreamer meanwhile is bouncing all over the room. She’ll climb on my furniture, get into the clothes in my closet (I watch her closely the whole time to be sure she doesn’t get caught on anything) and climb up me and then glide to her cage.
While I’m playing with them, I’ll work on memory verses or listen to audios/audiobooks. I used to read, but I found it was too hard to keep an eye on the gliders while I did this. Even though my room is fairly glider safe, they are masters at finding trouble to get into. It’s much better if I’m able to keep an eye on them the whole time that they are out of the cage.
11:00 or 11:20 PM
I finish playing with Ink and Dreamer. Ten minutes before I put them back in their cage, I hide treats in the foraging containers in their cage. This gives them some good, stimulating fun to enjoy. Aside from their wheel, foraging is my glider’s favorite activity.
11:20 PM
I change my clothes and wipe down my hands. I make it a point to get clothes that have long enough sleeves to cover my hands and thus protect them from bites. Then I open Ilona & Yiska’s cage. I spend about 20 minutes bonding with Ilona. Yiska just hangs out on the top/sides of the cage while I do this. He isn’t brave enough to leave the safety of that, so I have no worries that he’ll get lost in my room.
Ilona is a very social glider. She loves people very much. She typically spends all of her time just crawling on me and rubbing herself all over my shirt. 😂 She is incredibly active and is always running up and down me. XD
11:40 PM
I put Ilona back into her cage and give her a treat. I’m careful to only give her treats AFTER our playtime is finished. I want to train her and Yiska to see people as friends, not food dispensers.
Now comes bonding with Yiska. He has been my most challenging glider so far. He’s incredibly wary and shy of people (and he has very sharp little teeth). We’ve made a lot of progress in the past few months. He gets excited to see me now and he will actually crawl onto my arm and my shoulders, but he’s still very wary and if I move much, he’ll panic and jump back to the cage. I’m still wearing socks on my hands (haha) and he lets me touch him with those. He hates my bare hands and won’t get near me if he can see them. Plus, the socks protect my hands from his teeth.
(Gliders require patience, you guys. Tiny steps are the only ones you can take.) I NEVER grab at him or force him to come to me. I don’t make quick movements as that scares all gliders. I talk in a low, quiet voice so he gets used to the sound of me (gliders bond mainly by sound and smell, not sight).
After fifteen minutes is over, I will use the back of my hand to gently guide him back into the cage. Sometimes this takes a while, as he’s not pleased about being moved by me. When he gets back inside, I’ll give him a treat and then say goodnight.
(I have hid foraging treats around their cage before this, too).
11:55 PM
I either go to bed or I sit up and watch everyone play in their cages. I recently borrowed a red flashlight and it has been so fun! It doesn’t disturb the gliders like a normal light does. I can shine it on their cages and watch them as bouncing all over. It’s so adorable!
That’s my basic routine. In the mornings, sometimes I’ll carry Ilona & Yiska around with me to help our bond. (Ink and Dreamer aren’t huge fans of the bonding pouches, so I don’t use them often with them). Once I get both cages together, my hope is that I can spend 1 1/2 – 2 hours nightly with all four. As it is, this works well.
~Hattush
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