kwong - being a dad (and surviving it!) a few grains of advice . . .
You may not know your mom's reasons for not wanting a pet and the truth is she doesn't have to explain her reasoning. Nor does she have to explain her obvious addiction to the alternate reality of internet chat. There are reasons people are the way they are, and there's not always something you can do about it. But it doesn't have to be a disaster either.
The larger tragedy here - one that maybe you can see the light of - is that it's your MOM, not you, that is going to regret this gap in your relationship in about five years. She's going to look back and see all the chances she missed with her son, and for that, you should cut her a break. I've seen this and man, it's not a pretty thing fr a person to live with.
Honestly, this thing about is a pet is
really little s**t. It sounds like both you and your mom have bigger issues to resolve. I know you've resigned to let this one go, but more important you have to resolve how you feel about it, it's just one more thing that's going to come up next time you argue.
Being an old fart looking back, there are so many things I wish I'd handled differently, things that took years to undo once I realized I'd missed my first chance. You only have one ma. Figure out how to settle the dust and when you get your own place you can make a zoo out of it.
Plaidfish said:
Bill, Will they bond after a certain age?
Yes, it wil just take longer. Month or two before they're comfortable w. you.
.....I don't have a lot of time to spend to get him to bond....I mean, if I have to sit on a floor in some meditation position for hours to let him get used to me I'd rather him stay where he's at now......if I say th e word he's mine.....what would you do if you had one in that situation as far as acclimating him to your house?.....
The thing is the pouch, and the scent. Put one of your shirts in the cage for a couple days to get used to your scent and to get their scent on it (It won't stink it up too bad.
) Then for a couple hours a day, during the day, just put on the shirt, take the pouch out of the cage, and just loop the pouch string over your neck and carry the pouch around. To the store, when you're out and about, just anywhere, get them used to being on your body. They generally won't venture out of the pouch during the day, especially when they're skittish. After a while you can begin opening the pouch and begin coaxing them out with a piece of apple or something. Eventually you can get them to scoot inside your shirt or in a shirt pocket, but make sure you have a T under it and it's tucked in, their little nails are sharp!
.......do they poo in particular areas or do they let it fly as they see fit? that's also a factor as I have some new furniture I would rather not see ruined......
Pretty much anywhere, or when they are scared, but it's little tiny plugs like rats, dry and easy to clean up. It's the pee that will stain. But I wouldn't worry about it, he won't do a lot of running around until he's pretty comfortable with the environment. During the day he'll spend most of his time in the pouch, in the night in the cage.
A well-acclimated sugar glider will eventually climb out of the pouch during the day when the light is low (like in a bedroom or something) and stay on their owner, and very rarely jump to other people or furniture. Ours are pretty tame, and two from birth, so they're really comfortable. We take them out during the day and it's PAAAAARTY . . . . they take over the whole room . . . like the movie Gremlins.
Gonna move out after I have enough for a downpayment on a house.
