Little Gremlin resided in my glider room with his mate Hydee along with
               12 other pairs of gliders. He was one of sixteen Babies I purchased
               almost two years ago. I had dreamed of this day when I could breed
               Sugar Gliders for almost three years and it was beginning to come true. I
               sat in the middle of them for many hours and still do watching them for
               hours. There was one very large and scrawny looking baby among them
               and I named him Gremlin.

               For several nights I could hear the babies crying for their mothers. Their
               soft shh shh cry would echo throughout the glider room and into our quiet
               house late at night. As the days and nights passed all settled in. In the
               evenings as I would open the kitchen door into the garage I could hear the
               wheels spinning and the little gliders running on them. When I opened the
               door to the glider room everyone would stop and all was quiet. Sixteen
               pairs of eyes and ears would be watching and listening as to what I was
               doing. One little glider would always have his little face and hands poking
               out of the nest box every night as I would be passing out the dishes with
               the evening meal. I would stop and set my dishes down and open his
               door and with the Leadbeaters on my fingers he would gently lick them
               clean.

               This was the begining of our relationship. He always waited for me evey
               single night peering out of his nest box with those tiny hands hanging out.

               Cleaning cages and removing dishes were a real treat for Gremlin as he
               learned he could get past me whenever I opened his door to clean. He
               would boldly run up my arm and sit on my shoulder for hours. He was
               also quite social with everyone else in the glider room too. He would hop
               from one cage and visit a bit and continue on eventually returning to my
               shoulder.

               As time flew by, Gremlin matured into a handsome little guy. By a year
               old he weighed 120 grams and he was very trim but mature looking. I
               paired him with an alpha female named Hydee since he was so passive.
               They made a perfect couple. They became good parents to their
               offspring too.

               Late this summer I decided it was time to replace a few of the galvanized
               cages along with the others I felt now were too small as with babies in the
               cages I felt the the gliders needed more room. So, I purchased four
               cages and moved four pair of gliders. In doing so I discovered that
               moving gliders into different cages would create stress. I got through the
               crisis and a month later I moved four more pairs except this time I made
               sure the nest boxes were cleaned several days before the introduction
               into the larger cages. Gremlin and Hydee were among the second set.

               About a week after the move, Gremlin and Hydee's baby came oop. What
               a cutie she was and within a week her bold little eyes were open and she
               had filled out into a little pudgy baby. Then something strange was about
               to happen.

               One evening I noticed Hydee up sleeping in the Wodent wheel and with
               her was Gremlin. While passing the food dishes I could hear a shhh shhh
               of a little one crying. When I located the source it was Gremlin and
               Hydee's baby who was on the floor of the cage and she had a face
               pressed against the wire in a corner. I put her back into the little pouch I
               had made for them and then finally Gremlin came back to her.

               Next morning picking up the food dishes I noticed Gremlin and Hydee
               back up in the wheel again and since I did not hear the little one I just
               assumed that she was up there to. Later in the evening when passing out
               the food dishes I saw the baby back on the floor and in the same corner
               again. Only this time I was too late. The little one had died and not too
               long ago as she was still somewhat soft. No bites or anything but her
               face looked a little strange as her little nose was black as well as her
               mouth. When I talked to my vet about this he said the baby had become
               cold first and then died. With this in mind I new it was from the stress of
               the new cage and the parents had left her. But both parents were eating
               almost all of their feed so no need to worry about them.

               Within a week I noticed something else was going on. Gremlin would be
               sitting on his water bottle whenever I entered the glider room and not in
               his usual spot of their nest box with Hydee still in the wheel. He had also
               taken on a rather un-groomed appearance. The cage area looked normal
               but then the nest box had some diarrhea on it. I cleaned up Gremlin along
               whith the nest box and then noticed he would not touch his food. I made
               up some Gliderade and another small dish of applejuice and diluted it with
               water. He was thirsty. His skin when pulled up stayed up which are
               classic signs of dehydration. Gave him a shot of fluids twice that night to
               rehydrate . I would take him to the vet in the morning.

               So, early Tuesday morning to the vet we went, Gremlin, Hydee and me.
               Hydee checked out fine. The lab found nothing in the floats but normal
               bacteria. So the diagnoses was stress which the diarrhea was
               secondary. The only thing we could figure out that the stress was brought
               about by the changing of cages. I was given Baytril and an anti diarrhea
               medication and also instructed to let Gremlin have what ever he would
               eat and also to give him fluids every eight hours under his skin. He
               refused all foods except for the pears.

               By Wednesday I was carrying Gremlin with me on my person. Hydee
               refused to let Gremlin inside of the nest box. He was so weak he wold not
               protest when she would crab at him and he would sheeplessly leave. I
               guess she new he was gravely ill and she for some reason wanted
               nothing to do with him. By late afternoon Gremlin was not doing well at all.
               While in the vets office I noticed Gremlin was washing himself a lot but
               passed it off. After we got home I had to give him fluids again under the
               skin and for some reason he turned over and then I saw his little pom
               poms were bright red and stripped of hair. It was 6 p.m. so I called the vet
               again. She said to bring him in right away and she would make an
               e-collar for him. The e-collar did the trick as he no longer could get to
               himself. The irritation was caused by his constant cleaning. Later that
               night I could not stand the e-collar any longer on him. Gremlin's little
               hands had a grip on the collar and he wrestled with it constantly. So I
               removed it.

               By Thursday afternoon things were changing and I had a terrible ache to
               have him put to sleep. But once at the clinic the vet encouraged me to
               hang in there with Gremlin. I asked the vet to give Gremlin more fluids
               and also for some smaller gauge needles as I knew Gremlin's body must
               have been feeling like a pin cushion by now. I mentioned about the
               change in color in his little hands and feet as to me they were somewhat
               of an yellow tinge. But the vet passed it off or else he did not want to tell
               me why the yellow color as I am sure he knew I knew why the bad color.
               The vet was concerned about the twitching behavior and also how hyper
               this sick glider was. So now I am told to administer the fluids every two
               hours, hold the Baytril for 24 hours. Gremlin got a shot of Ritalin to help
               slow him down along with his digestive track. This meant no food, not
               that he was eating anything because he wasn't. I was force feeding pears
               with a little chicken mixed in with it. All food to be held for six hours.

               I would say about two hours later Gremlin became lethargic looking and
               couldn't even hold his head up. His little hands were drawn up into little
               fists as well as his back feet. He could not walk. In a panic I called the vet.
               He thought it was from lack of sugar. So back to clinic for a shot for
               hypoglycemia and one for Calcium. Within an hour of being home
               Gremlin perked up. His little body was able to relax as his little hands and
               feet were able to grip even though he was so weak. But the twitching
               never did stop. He had developed classic signs of lack of calcium but it
               was not from calcium. It was from lack of protein. I knew it was going to
               be a very long night as Gremlin had now hit bottom and I was grief
               stricken. At 11 p.m. I called my vet at his home as the fluids were now
               leaking out of Gremlins body. I was constantly drying him and changing
               his pouch for a clean one because it would become wet. Gremlin could
               not regulate his body temperature and I needed to keep him warm and
               dry. I had a hospital tank set up with a heating pad under it but Gremlin
               would panic when placed inside of it. He was scared and did not want to
               be left alone. I tried to busy myself with other things in order not to dwell
               on the outcome. I tried several glider chat boards but most people were in
               bed. I sent out a couple of posts looking for Bourbon. Finally, a couple of
               people sent me her phone number. I waited to call......but finally at 3 a.m. I
               called her. We went over everything that had been done for Gremlin and it
               was determined all that could be possibly be done had indeed been tried.
               Bourbon told me to be prepared for the worse and I knew in my heart that
               it was true.

               About 6 a.m. and no sleep for 48 hours Gremlin and I snuggled on the
               couch. He hopped out and with his frail little body scampered up my arm
               to my shoulder. Within seconds he was purring in my ear. He was so
               sick but yet so content. What a silly little guy I thought. I gently picked him
               up and placed him in his little pouch and laid him on my chest and his
               little face was peaking out at me. Then I covered us up with a blanket as
               the air was cool in the room. Within minutes we drifted off to sleep on the
               couch in the den. I awoke a couple of hours later and Gremlin was still in
               his pouch and on my chest. Then I realized with tears in my eyes, he had
               left me. Saddened, I thought to myself of what a gift Gremlin and been.
               Oh, what a treasure he was....and I will miss him dearly.

               **Little Gremlin had the best of vet care. Had I paid a little more attention I
               might have noticed sooner. With the first set of gliders moved one pair
               went off their feed. No diarrhea. But with the second set of gliders moved
               I knew Gremlin and Hydee were stressed but the danger signs were well
               masked in the beginning. Hydee for one, was eating Gremlins share of
               the food when he became ill. And I did not pick up on it until it was too
               late. Gremlin went from a healthy 120 grams down to a sickly 45 grams
               within a couple of weeks. A large amount of the weight loss was
               contributed to dehydration with ther remainder of the weight loss from
               lack of eating. As for the Protein loss if I had fource feed the leadbeaters
               after he was ill perhaps things would have been different. He would have
               gotten the required amount of protein needed when ill.

               Sugar Gliders do not handle stress very well. And like my little Gremlin,
               some not at all.