Postby USSRGirl » Sat Nov 15, 2008 6:36 pm
To conclude the wild pet debate; I don't think this is unique to gliders. Any animal that has less diluted bloodline from its born free ancestors is likely to be a huge problem for inexperienced owners. Husky/malamutes for example have been, without fail, the most tempermental/skittish dogs I've worked with, and it's no surprise that people who go out and buy that cute bundle of fluff puppy decide to get rid of it after it becomes too much to handle. That's why the animal shelter I volunteer at tries to screen owners more carefully for certain dog breeds. The bottom line is that "exotic" pets need to be researched and thought out - especially if it's a rescue.
Just after getting Fev, I gotta say he's a whole different ball game than hamsters/guinea pigs. He definitely did *not* want to be my bestfriend right away and after a lot of nipping and crabbing, he's just made his first huge break through today and let me cuddle him/hug without getting cranky. It's awesome to see him finally come out of his shell - he actually greeted everyone in my house by jumping from my shoulder onto them and smelling faces/hair. Now he's fast asleep in my hood XD. For him it was a real *to quote Squee's teacher* repetition, redundancy, repetition thing to get him to trust me.
As for selling overseas... I don't really see why you would be particularly disturbed by glider sales when puppy/kitten mills and countless other means of pawning off pets run rampant here (and I'd guess in Australia too, right?) It's just a matter of getting them into the right hands and keeping them out of the wrong one's so owner stupidity doesn't end in "make bad pets" labels.
I got my camera up again, so I'll post more pics of him soon. He's two-years-old, btw, Ninja. ^.^