Pet Care: Sugar Glider Bags

Sugar gliders love having a nice bag to lie in when they sleep. The bags we get for them become their little nests. Here is a picture of one of the bags we purchased for them.

But at $6-8 a pop, these little bags can start costing a pretty penny. All it is is fleece sewn into a square with boxed corners. After watching a tutorial video on YouTube, I knew making a cage bag would be a snap (sort of).

First, I started with a bandana. It is a large size, and I knew it would hold my family of 4 gliders with room to spare. I placed the bandana on top of a large piece of fleece and cut around it to have 2 equal cloth sizes.

Next, I folded over the bandana and pinned along each of its sides.

Then is was time to send it through the machine on both sides.

Then I had to box the corner. To do that, I turned the bandana on an angle and sewed it about 1 inch from the bottom.

After sewing the corner, I cut off the excess from the bottom of the bag to box the corners.

Then I had to sew up the sides and make box corners on the fleece cloth.

   

Next, cut out a couple of small strips from the leftover fleece to make loops for hanging the bag in the cage.

Then I turned the newly sewn fleece inside out. Place the sewn bandana right-side out inside the fleece, lining up the seams. Fold the strips to make a loop and place in between the bandana and the fleece at the seams.

Sew around the top of the fleece and bandana to attach together, leaving a 1.5-inch gap between the beginning stitch and ending stitch.

Turn the bag inside out by pulling the fleece, bandana and loops through the gap. Then stitch up the gap using a hand stitch or machine stitch (I opted for the machine). Voila, the cage bag is complete.

Although I don't have a picture with a glider inside of it, my Gizzy was quick to examine the bag once it was secure in the cage.

Pet Care: Glider Yum Yums

One of my newest pets is the wonderful sugar glider. We started our venture into sugar glider ownership back in 2011 when we adopted a couple of gliders from a couple looking to rehome them. When we realized the female had joeys in her pouch, we started on a journey of pet ownership that has been very rewarding. For such little animals, these guys show an amazing amount of love to their humans. So, I wanted to see if I could show them my appreciation by giving them a tasty, homemade treat. I made tiny glider-sized cookies that some of them seemed to really enjoy. As long as they're sweet, my little sweet-toothed bears seemed interested in trying them.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup baby cereal
1/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/8 cup fruit puree (I used cantaloupe with a little apple juice to thin it out)
3 tbsp. egg white

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place in baby cereal and wheat germ in a bowl with baking powder and baking soda. Whisk until well combined.

In another bowl, add honey, applesauce, egg white and pureed fruit mixture. With an electric mixer on low speed, mix until well combined.

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix ingredients together until combined.

Spray a cookie sheet with canola cooking spray. Using a 1/8 tsp, spoon small drops of cookie on the pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes until cookies are brown. Let cookies cool and place in a storage container.

Give to your favorite sugar bears and watch them enjoy.