Common Misconceptions

“All gliders are the same”

One of the most common misconceptions is that all gliders are the same.  All gliders ARE NOT the same. One glider may be calm as can be and one may be a little ball of non-stop energy. A gliders personality depends on their environment, gender, handling, age, and so many other factors. During the ages of 7 weeks and 6 months a glider is going to have much more energy than any other time in their life. It is important to remember that your glider’s personality will continue to change over time. As they get older they will become calmer, more comfortable, and develope their own unique personality. Especially the more time they spend bonding and being handled.

“What glider is the nicest”

Many adopters think that I am able to tell at the age of 4 weeks whether a glider is sweet and easy to handle. This is far from true. A glider can be calm and content and four weeks later the one with the most energy. Handling them means I am getting them used to people. I am making sure they are weaned from mom and eating well on their own. I am not able to make them perfect pets in a mere 6-8 weeks. When you adopt a 6 week old puppy you usually wouldn’t expect it to come potty trained and being able to sit, lay  down, or roll over. While that would be great, it’s pretty unlikely. Bonding is a form of training. You will have to work with your glider continuously while it’s in your care. And much like, if you stop training a dog it will begin to have accidents, if you stop handling your glider it will become less and less handleable. The personality of your glider largely depends on the adopter. While some gliders may start out “nicer” than others, they will all take work to be great pets.    

“They start out as happy bonded pets”

You have a friend who has a glider that glides around their house and and sleeps in their pocket or kisses their nose. While this is possible it probably took lots of time, bonding, and handling. Again owning a glider is a process and it takes work and patience. I’ve had people upset that their glider wasn’t bonded to them and they’d only had it less than 24 hours. They believe it wasn’t worked with enough. I can help socialize. But once they meet their new owner, they have to get bonded to specifically them next. Don’t get discouraged. Remember they’re a living thing who is scared and in a new environment. Give it a few weeks to settle down to the whole new world it’s been introduced to.