How important is rest?

This is a subject that has been on my mind and heart for a very long time, mainly because of some of the things I see suggested all over the boards in regard to health/healing and bonding in sugar gliders.

So, the issue is: Should you let your gliders sleep/rest during the day or should you wake them frequently in the interest of bonding or checking on them when they are ill?

I am going to argue on the side of LET THEM REST. I am a rescuer who frequently takes in sick and injured gliders. In fact, sickness and injury is my "thing" - I enjoy it. Therefore, I have a house full of gliders that need extra attention to heal and even of gliders who need some extra gentle care in trust builiding.

I do not wake any of them multiple times in the day for any reason.

I know, as a person with a chronic illness myself, how very important good, sound, restful SLEEP is to healing and to overall disposition. The same is true for all living things. So, if I want a glider to heal or to be at his best/happiest disposition, then why on earth would I deprive him of restful sleep to get these things? That does not make sense to me.

If I have an ill or injured glider, I place them in a more open pouch (my bathtub pouch, one of Shawna's hospital pouches, a petal pouch, my e-collar pouch, etc) and put that pouch at the front of the cage so that I can just peek in on them during the day without disturbing them. As long as I see sleeping/breathing, then I do not disturb them at all. I let them rest.

For those that I am working on builiding trust with, I give them extra attention in the early evening and at night. I do not wake them multiple times during the day to give them treats. Personally, if it were ME and you woke me three or four times during the night to offer me a brownie, you can bet that you and I are not going to be good friends any time soon. And I LOVE brownies.

There have been many studies done on both humans and animals regarding the effects of sleep deprivation. ALL studies conclude that not getting restful sleep or getting too little sleep has negative effects upon both physical and emotional health. In fact, a recent study concluded:

Quote :

failing to get enough sleep or sleeping at odd hours heightens the risk for a variety of major illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

These are things that I do not want for any of my gliders. So, I let them ALL sleep soundly. In fact, I have made it my practice now that I do not disturb them in any way (unless it is necessary for a vet visit or emergency evacuation) for at least 6 hours after they go to bed. Most days, gliders have their treats and are in bed by 7:15 in the morning. So, I do not mess with them or their cages until after 1:30 or so. Nail clipping, afternoon checks, cleaning cages or cage pans, cleaning in the glider room, changing cage sets, collecting dirty dishes, etc all occur after 1:00.

I believe that good, solid rest is essential for healthy, happy, well adjusted gliders.

This makes perfect sense to me. I don't wake mine during the day, and nail clipping, etc takes place right before they would wake up. They are squiggly, but we get it done - even if it takes a couple days :o) Even tent time is just before they would get up anyway.

Constant waking, even for a delicious treat would be annoying at the least (to me, anyway), and make me me learn to NOT look forward to what was meant to be a loving visit.

My opinion, anyway.....

I agree they need their sleep. As I know for a fact I need mine. Vacation has proved I am a much better person with 8 hours of full sleep.
So do you have it totally quiet or do you have soft TV/music going in the house?
Do you think having TV or music on interrupts their sleep?

I agree fully. I do not disturb my gliders during the day if at all possible. When I do a full cage cleaning - outside to be hosed down and dried in the sun. I gently take the entire colony pouch out and put it in a small cage for the duration of the cleaning and drying process.

My routine has been somewhat disrupted over the past few months because my home was for sale and I needed to clean the cage pans before showings. Sometimes I had only an hour's notice to prepare for a showing - straighten the entire house and clean cages so I was disturbing the Kids more often than usual.

The result was they would wake up much later in the evening - about 10 pm on the nights I messed with their normal sleep.

Now that we have moved, I do nothing more than take out food plates in the mornings. The reward for me is the Kids now are waking up earlier - about 7:30 or 8:00 pm so we have more time to play and interact in the evenings - on their time schedule. They seem to love their new sunroom/glider room.

I want to scream at new owners who somehow believe that they are supposed to take their gliders EVERYWHERE with them on a daily basis. Work, School, Walmart, restaurants or what have you are not good places to take your gliders on an everyday basis.

BCChins wrote:

So do you have it totally quiet or do you have soft TV/music going in the house?
Do you think having TV or music on interrupts their sleep?

For me, I believe that some background noise decreases fear. My house is never quiet (as anyone who has ever talked to me on the phone knows). But, I have 3 TVs that stay on all day every day and 8 birds that stay "On" all day as well. I found a long time ago that if I leave a TV on or a talk show on the radio, it decreased the crabbing from the pouch if I entered the room and spoke to them. They are used to noise and to voices and they are no longer afraid of my voice or any other noises (except plastic bags. Those just terrify some of my gliders). Rescues take about a week to settle in and then they no longer crab from the pouch at noises.

Just like you and I, once they are used to the noise, it does not disturb their sleep.

Candy makes a good point too. All of my gliders are up and playing and eating at about 6:00 each day. They are also very active throughout the night.

Oh, my glider room is not quiet, I always have the TV on because I am in the room with them almost all day, I just do not pester them in their pouch or move cages around for cleaning unless I have moved them gently to a spare cage.

They do not pay any attention to voices when we are talking in the room. I am always talking to my little dogs during the day.

Ours is definitely not always a quiet household! My son, 20 with autism, loves to pace and laugh about what he just saw on tv or the internet! At least one tv is always on...I don't try to be really quiet. I felt the same way about the kids - getting them used to some noise, so it becomes normal and not alarming, is getting them prepared to be more relaxed more of the time.

Georgie and Poppy, my first two gliders (rescues..SO sweet :o) spent their first year in the living room where the activity is centered. They love the attention - a little chat or treat as I walk by - and were out playing more than when I put them in the new glider room. I did recenlty move them back into the living room with me :o) I have 2 new girls that have been in the living room getting used to us, but they are staying in pouch so much that I decided to let them get used to us in a little quieter setting. So they are in the glider room, which while it is just down the hall, is away from noise central. They'll still get the activity, just a little lower key :o)))

Ok I admit, I stick my hand in their pouch a few times per day for a quadruple manicure session. BUT...it's always late afternoon when I do it.

And my house is very noisy at all times. My gliders' pouch doesn't even move when I vacuum next to their cage. In fact...if I happen to vacuum at night, (which I don't do that often) two of my gliders will stay eating while I vacuum right next to them. They'll look at the vacuum but go back to eating. That's how use to it they are. I used to vacuum with them in my bra. None of them care. I feel background noise is good, gets them used to your normal household activity.

I'm in agreement with Val here. She and I have had this conversation before. I don't like brownies but you can bet your butt it wouldn't matter WHAT you were offering me if you were waking me 5 and 6 times a night! LOL

When I was a new glider owner, I carried Bandit everywhere with me. He was ALWAYS on me. When I brought Teeka and Bug home, same thing. However, in time, I realized that they just weren't getting the best sleep they could throughout the day. And you know what? If I compare the relationship I have with my first three, having carried them around ALL the time, to the relationships I have with my last three, that were given sleep time during the day, nothing is different! They are ALL sweet. They are ALL bonded to me and they are the sweetest little babies.

Sleep...it does a body good.

Completely agree!

DCMuffin wrote:

Sleep...it does a body good.

i can't agree more. but i am guilty of waking them up once in a while to say hello. because i'm sure that in the wild not every day is slept with something out there startling them

I admit that when I get home from work and get their dishes out, I do a "nose count" to make sure everyone is well and accounted for, but a lot of times, that is shortly before they wake up, anyway.

I also agree with letting them sleep. They are also used to noise. Their room is fairly quiet but I do vacuum in there every day and they don't stir. On cage cleaning days, I tend to bang the cage around when removing/replacing trays, wheels, toys, etc... and they still don't really stir much. I am also guilty of peeking in on them to steal a hand or foot rub but that's about it.

When my kids are sick, I let them sleep. When my husband is sick, and this is no exaggeration, he'll sleep 16-20 hours out of the day and he recovers faster than anyone I know. It's rare he's sick more than a day or two and he literally sleeps it off. The first time he got really sick, I thought he was dying because I couldn't get him to stay awake or sometimes, wake him at all. I guess that's just his body's way of healing.