handmade Sugar glider bonding pouch

Click to enlarge image(s)

A slightly larger version of my original Sling pouch, made by request (multiple times!) so I decided to offer it to everyone. "Average" Pouch size is about 10-12" long and 7-9" deep. Has an adjustable strap and is available with a "clip option" to help keep the pouch in place. You can even choose 1 or 2 clips . Pouch comes with 4 "vent holes" if desired. The outside of this pouch is flannel only, the inside can be fleece or flannel.
Please be sure to check out the extra photos and info about this bonding pouch below.
If you need a customized pouch, such as larger, smaller, please note in the options box below!

NEW! Now offered with a detachable and adjustable strap! The Detachable and Adjustable strap is $2 more and will be made from the same material as the pouch. If you need the strap in a different material, please note in the options below! Strap has extra tough clasps and can double as a "Comfort Strap" for your cage pouches (click to read more about the comfort strap)! You can also click on the option below to see a strap.

NEWLY ADDED!

The most comfy bonding pouch is now available with a window! By popular demand I have decided to offer a window on my Buddy Bag. Window is made from "pet screen" material and is very durable and washable as well. Stitching around window will be hidden for safety and double stitched for durability. Choice of window or vent holes. Window is black color and is about 1" wide and runs the width of the pouch about 1 1/2" below the zipper, one window per pouch. As for vent holes, I will put 2 on each side. To see a pouch with windows, please scroll down the page.

NEW MATERIAL AVAILABLE!

With the heat of summer and by popular demand, I am now offering cotton material for the outside (ONLY) of my Bonding pouches. I have only a few colors to start with, dont hesitate to ask for other colors, and I will try to obtain them! You can review the cotton material colors by visiting my flannel colors page or by clicking HERE.

SKU	sg-bag
Weight	0.25 lb
outside color (flannel or cotton)
inside color (fleece or flannel)
window or vent holes?
clip option	If you choose 2 clips, they will be placed one on each end of the pouch
Detachable/Adjustable strap?
Custom Requests	such as pouch sizing, different strap color, etc. Complicated requests are best handled by email
add a Comfort Strap Deluxe?	add an extra strap which can be used as a "waist" strap (hint, if you order this option, you dont really need to order the "clip" option (although you still can), strap will be made in same colors as the pouch.
Qty

Price	$24.00
Sale Price	$20.00

Click to enlarge image(s)

Description of the Double Buddy Bag is very similar to the description of the Regular Buddy Bag above! Customizing is possible, scroll to the bottom of this page to preview some custom orders!

Benefits to this bag: use for sugar glider "intros" as well as some medical emergencies when your gliders need to be kept separate. You can also get one inside pouch made with fleece for colder weather and the other side made with flannel for warmer weather. A dual purpose, all weather bag! You can also use the "unused" side for your "purse"or snacks or other little necessities.

I do make the Double Buddy Bag a bit larger to accomodate the 2 inside pouches better, so the average sizing of this bag is about 9" deep and about 12" long. The larger size does seem to "soften" the teardrop shape of the smaller "sling style" bags shown in the pictures below.

This bonding pouch is made with the detachable and adjustable strap! I think the bag hangs nicer with the detachable strap, and then you have the added benefit of using it with your cage pouches if desired. Clip option is also available as are the ventilation holes. Vent holes will be placed only on the outside of the bag, 2 per side. If windows are prefered, you may request windows (one each side) OR you may also request a window between the pouches as shown in the photo of the "ultimate intro pouch" below (but not both).

Please review color options and state them below.

Click HERE to review Flannel choices.

Click HERE to review Fleece choices.

NEW MATERIAL AVAILABLE!

THE ULTIMATE "INTRO" POUCH!

A customer requested a double pouch that was large enough for 5 gliders, and wanted a screen window between the inside pouches. This is what I made for him. It is 12" wide, and 10" deep with adjustable/detachable strap, and ventilation holes. Each inside pouch has its own window and the windows "meet" in the middle. Extra seams are used around the windows for extra security. Due to having the windows and larger size, I opted to make this one a more squarish shape rather than the typical "teardrop" shape.

Please email me with inquiries about the "Ultimate Intro Pouch"

showing top view of the zippers

Sugar Glider Bonding Pouch?

So...why a "bonding pouch"???

Bonding pouches are typically a type of pouch that has a "closure" to it. Usually a zipper, but I have seen drawstrings and Velcro used. The bonding pouch is used when you first get a sugar glider and want to carry it around with you so it can get used to you and "bond" to you. Some type of closure is needed on the pouch to keep the sugar glider from escaping until they are fully bonded and do not WANT to escape. I prefer zippers as they are quick, easy, and the sugar glider can not get out once it is zipped up.

Bonding pouches are good for even well bonded sugar gliders when you take them "traveling" (going shopping etc) because even a well bonded sugar glider can become panicked, and a pouch with a closure will give you some security and keep your sugar glider from escaping.

Now...why do I make my bonding pouches the way I do?
I asked my husband and a few sugar glider owning friends of mine what they did not like in the typical average bonding pouch. I added this to my own issues and this is what we came up with:

We don't like:
Cord for straps as they hurt the back of your neck, or are scratchy. Plus little nails get stuck in them!
Straps that must be removed for washing, as we can never seem to find them afterwards!
Straps that are only one length, as I like mine shorter, but my hubby wants them long enough to go over the shoulder.
Hate those clips everyone uses, I can never get them off!
Big windows or ANY windows (the light coming in seems to disturb my fuzzy friends!) Plus Arwen really doesn't seem to like looking out of them as she wants to look out of the opening of the pouch!
Square corners
only fleece as a choice as it is hot in the summer!
And most important to me, I wanted a pouch that didnt LOOK like it had an animal hiding in it! One of the other reasons I do not like the "screen" windows. When the gliders do look out, everyone can see them, so I wanted a smaller "hole" they could peek out but would look like a decoration, or something other than a window.

My solutions:
Soft fleece or flannel straps that are permanently attached and machine washable.
Soft fleece or flannel straps that are fully adjustable!
No windows, but still needed some ventilation holes...to "peek" out...
Rounded Comfy Corners
Choice of thinner material (flannel)

The Original Sling Style "Buddy Bag"

Arwen and Gizmo in their Sling style Buddy Bag Bonding Pouch

All about my NEW Sugar Glider Bonding Pouch....Sling style!

The Bosom Buddy "Buddy Bag" Bonding Pouch for Sugar Gliders
and a "discussion" of safe pouches...

I am always trying to find/make the BEST pouch, and while I realize what works for me and my sugar gliders doesn't work for everyone, I still like to offer my ideas to others in the hopes someone says "THAT is just what I needed!" and I make them happy.

There are alot of different styles of pouches and many different beliefs on what is safe and what isn't. Personally I feel that every item we put in a sugar glider cage can pose some sort of risk. 100% safe is impossible.   What one person looks at and says is safe, another person will look at and see it in a different perspective and say it is not safe at all, or safe but SOME risk. As a care-taker of these amazing animals we need to make rational and responsible decisions for the animals in our care. Freak accidents do and will happen. With that in mind, everything I make, each and every item, I strive to make safe. Let us be honest here, I LOVE all animals! But my Arwen is like a child to me, and if I feel a product is good for her, then it is good for all sugar gliders! But not everyone will agree with my ideas, and that is ok!

Take windows on pouches for instance. While the first pouches I bought and made had windows, after a while I started to realize that if I took both my girls traveling, they seemed to always be up, restless, peaking out the window, trying to hide their faces. They slept better if I covered the window with a piece of fleece. But what about ventilation? That is why I added ventilation holes. There are concerns about the sugar gliders getting enough air...Well even with a window or not, I wouldn't put ANY pouch zipped up and under MULTIPLE layers of clothing! ESPECIALLY if the pouch had joeys in it! In my pouches with the ventilation ("peek") holes I have put them under 3 layers of clothes with no problem. But again with layering, it may not be the pouch that is the problem, perhaps it is the LAYERS of clothing! While I make sure all my pouches are "breathable" what kind of material are YOU wearing? If you take a perfectly safe pouch and put it under 2 or 3 layers of material that is NOT breathable, your sugar glider could suffer!

Zippers on pouches...I do not approve of using zippered pouches in a cage. Only for traveling! Here again others may disagree. My Gizmo doesnt care if I zipper her up or not. My Arwen gets agitated if I zipper the pouch! She will fight like crazy until I open it! Then she looks up at me, realizes everything is ok, and goes back to sleep. She would do this even in a pouch with a window! Like she didn't want to look at me THROUGH the window and she still knew she was "locked in"? Who knows? So after a year of observing them in zippered windowed pouches, I started looking for another style, couldn't find it, and taught myself to sew so I could make my own.

That is how I came up with the style bonding pouches I make and use. I also took into consideration what I wanted in a pouch. No "cords", no detachable straps (although some people like that....my hubby and I would misplace them) and I love adjustable straps! Sometimes I need that in a strap! Everyone likes to carry differently when "packing fuzz" so I felt an adjustable strap was best.

Now....what makes my Buddy Bag Bonding Pouch different? Why did I design it that way? Well for starters I had to keep the adjustable strap thing. I knew I still wanted to use "peak holes" instead of a window. Wanted to add a zipper for those who need or like a zippered pouch (sorry Arwen!). I wanted a pouch that rather than hang on your neck, could be worn sling style.   There are 2 benefits to this! First there is not the weight hanging on your neck, second the pouch stays more "stable" when you move around. Sometimes when you bend over or swing around quickly that pouch goes "weeee" and my sugar gliders are like "hey is this a ride? we are trying to sleep here!"
So I experimented with adding clips to the bottom of the pouch to hold it to your shirt, and all sorts of silly things. Finally I decided I just had to make the strap longer so that I could toss it over my arm. I loved it! Of course with my Comfy Corner pouch that works too, but the shape of the square pouch made carrying it on my front sorta weird when I threw the strap over my arm, on the side works...but the front...well...looked funny. The pouch wouldnt hang straight down, it was sorta lopsided and stuck out funny. So I knew I had to redesign again and make the pouch in a shape that would hug my body and still hang down correctly when the strap is worn sling style. That is the reason for the "tear drop" shape. You can position the pouch down on your side and it works well there, or position the pouch up on your chest, and it hangs well there too. Sometimes I position it just under one breast and it hides quite nicely there.   What I like is I can dance all around and the pouch doesnt swing out and around as much. It hugs the body better! I also added a clip option to help keep it in place better!

Size? Well I wanted to make a smaller pouch that would be snuggly to one or two gliders. Too much material in a bigger pouch just gets bulky feeling. So this pouch is really for between one to four gliders. MY 2 girls fit in it quite nicely and they are comfy in it. They have gone the whole day in this pouch and didnt wake up one time! Well....except when I needed to see their faces and bribed them with a treat! While I love to bring them all over, I really want them to get their beauty sleep as well! The strap is a generous 48" long or so! Lots of room to make adjustments here! There is also one of those little loop thingies that hold the "extra" strap! The Zipper is a 10-12" zipper. The pouch at the narrow end is about 3"-4" and at the deepest end is about 8" and is about 10"-12" long.

Material? Here again there will always be people who disagree. Fleece is the recommended material for sugar gliders. I like flannel as well.   I find that every material can pose a problem if your sugar gliders' nails are not kept healthy. My girls don't snag on anything. But the boys...well....it is harder keeping their nails in good shape, and they snag on everything, even fleece! That's usually when we know it is time to add the trim wheel to the cage! So I typically use fleece, as the fuzziness seems to help keep them from getting stuck, it breathes, and is snuggly. I like to use flannel as my girls love it, it breathes nice, is good for summer pouches, lets go of nails easily, and doesn't pose a safety issue if the edges and seams are sewn properly. Plus it is soft next to my skin and so makes great pouches for under your clothes!

As for zippers...I tried using those "hidden" zippers, don't like those much, hard to open and close, so now I just use regular zippers.

Please check out the photos of this pouch and feel free to email me with any questions, concerns, or customizing issues you may have!