Accessories

We have a very informative blog post about safe sleeping pouches and other accessories. You can find it here! 

HOW TO SEW A SAFE SLEEPING POUCH – A TUTORIAL

Read these notes before starting the tutorial:
  • The goal of these pouches is a safe sleeping place for gliders with minimal risk of getting tangled. If your pouch is not sewn this way, it has a higher risk of the gliders getting caught and tangled in the threads or fraying fabric. Getting caught leads to inability to get to food and water, cut off circulation to toes, feet, hands, tails, heads, etc, can lead to strangulation, amputation, and death. 
  • Let me say it again. If your pouch is not sewn this way (hidden seams and reversible), then in my opinion, IT IS NOT SAFE FOR YOUR GLIDERS. This is why socks, t-shirts, crown royal bags, towels, banana hammocks, hanging strawberries and pineapples, yellow triangle tunnels, crinkly tunnels, blue and brown square clip on hammocks, brown furry hanging huts, stuffed animals, ribbon, rope, yarn, string, exposed thread, twine, fraying cotton, and anything else stringy are not safe. They can fray and/or their seams are not hidden. 
  • This is how to sew a safe sleeping pouch made of FLEECE only. Not flannel, not cotton. Those are sewn differently and I don’t sew with those. Fleece does not fray, so it is all I use. Blizzard, anti-pill, sew lush, etc. 
  • You must have a sewing machine to sew a safe sleeping pouch for gliders. Hand stitching does not work because you cannot get the stitching small enough for it to be safe. 
  • Use the smallest straight stitch that your machine will sew. 
  • When I say “right side” I don’t mean right vs. left side. I mean right side vs. wrong side. The right side of the fabric is the prettier side – the side that has the more vibrant colors and patterns.
  • Trim your threads! All you sewists out there who sew other stuff sometimes don’t like to trim the thread tails, but when sewing for gliders, you need to! If they chew through the pouch, you do not want a bunch of loose threads for them to get caught on. 
  • Once you get the hang of it, you can make pouches of various sizes, depths, etc. 
  • Use fleece for the tabs, too. Don’t ruin your safe pouch by using string or rope for the tabs. Rope frays, anything that frays is not safe, so if your pouch has string, it is not safe. 
  • Check your pouches daily. Safe or not, gliders can still get tangled! Check them! And trim your gliders’ nails! We have a tutorial on that too.
  • Did you know that Sugar Glider Guardians ALWAYS needs safe sleeping pouches for gliders in need? Want to donate? Message me. Last year over $750 was spent purchasing sleeping pouches for gliders in need because I just didn’t have time to sew them all. We could really use the donations of this item more than any other item!