Telly Needs a Friend

            As everyone should know, the most important thing that you can do before adopting a pet is researching the type of animal you are looking into getting.  As I stated in my first entry, my sister and I had no idea what a sugar glider was, let alone how you take care of one.  However we made sure that we were capable of taking care of a pet sugar glider before we finally decided to get Telly.

            One of the most important aspects of owning a sugar glider is knowing and understanding that they are social creatures.  In the wild, sugar gliders live in extended family colonies of up to seven adults and their young children.  My sister and I made a pact from the start to have Telly out of his cage every second that we could so that he would not get lonely.  Unfortunately, life gets busy and we were not able to take him out as often as we would have liked.  Also, sugar gliders are nocturnal, and my sister and I are not, so we were worried that Telly was getting bored and lonely at night.

            When we got Telly, we asked the Pocket Pet employees when they would be in our area again and they told us probably not for at least another six months.  This meant that we could not get Telly a friend for quite some time.  A month after we got Telly, we went back down to Manchester to go shopping at the mall, and to our astonishment Pocket Pets was back.  We knew that this was a one in a million chance, so as soon as we saw them we knew that we had to get Telly a buddy.

            After inquiring as to which gender of sugar glider would be best to bring home to our little guy, we found out that it does not matter.  The Pocket Pet employees told us that Telly should do great with either a boy or a girl, and that all male sugar gliders are neutered so there would be no surprises if we decided to get a girl.  After a quick period of deliberation, we decided on getting Telly a little girlfriend.  Once again, we were taken to the cages that housed the baby sugar gliders and when the door of the girl's cage opened up my sister immediately saw the perfect little friend for Telly.  Just as when we got Telly, we did not choose our sugar glider, our new sugar glider chose us.

            My sister and I were so excited to get home and introduce our new baby to Telly, but truth be told we were also extremely nervous how they would react to each other.  Telly was such a social little man that we knew he would accept any sugar glider that we brought home, but we did not know how the new little baby would adjust to a new home that already had a sugar glider.  While anticipating the pending introduction, my sister and I brainstormed names for out little girl.  In the end we settled on Tinki.

Telly on the left & Tinki on the right.

            When we got home my sister took Telly out of his cage and firmly held him in her hands while I held Tinki in mine.  We slowly brought them toward each other and rubbed each of their scent glands on the other one, exactly how the Pocket Pets employees told us to introduce them to each other.  Telly was very interested in Tinki and I could tell that he was extremely excited to have a friend.  Tinki on the other hand was fairly timid and was not quite as sure what to do, but she soon warmed up not only to Telly, but also to me and my sister.

Snuggle buddies from the start!  Telly is snoozing on top of
Tinki while they sleep in their carrying pouch.

            Honestly, Tinki and Telly have adjusted to each other so well that sometimes I forget that we did not get them at the same time.  They truly have a special bond and I could not imagine my life without either one of them!

As you can see it didn't take long for Tinki to feel
comfortable enough to pass out in our presence.