SUGAR GLIDERS:WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Sugar gliders (Petaurus Breviceps) are a small marsupials (an animal with a pouch: a mammal, for example a kangaroo, a wombat, an opossum or a kangaroo having no placenta and bearing immature young that are developed in pouch on the mother's abdomen) found in  Australia, Tasmania, Papua-New Guinea and Indonesia.

Sugar gliders come in a variety of colours but the usual colour you will find is a grey body with a creamy coloured underside with black stripes from the head, down the back to the tail. The average sugar glider is around 19 inches as an adult and weighs 4 or 5 ounces depending on health and sex. The name "glider" is given to them because they have a patagium ( membrane of skin that they spread out while jumping to attain jumps of nearly 150 feet! They have hands similar to humans and an oposable "thumb" on their hind feet while on these same feet they have two toes that are semi-attached that they use to groom themselves and their young and mates. Captivity actually prolongs their lives allowing them to attain ages of up to 15 years versus the average 6 or 7 in their natural habitat.

The diet of a sugar glider is mostly fruits and vegetables with about 25% being protien.Along with that they will need 3-5 mealworms per glider per day( usually you can buy these from your local pet store,but if not,you can order them on the internet) and a large serving of fruits and vegetables(1-2 tablespoons per glider per day) This is a mixture of things like, frozen mixed vegetables, strawberries, mangoes, pears, raspberrries, cantaloupe, honey dew melon,cucumber,red and green peppers,grapes and pineapples. I find it alot easier to prepare this weekly and freeze it in daily servings and defrost prior to use.Also, I add wombaroo milk replacer to the dishes that have pregnant or nursing mothers. PLEASE SEE DIET PAGE FOR A LOOK AT SOME PROVEN DIETS OUT THERE TO HELP YOU CHOOSE YOUR GLIDER'S DIET.

Bonding with your joey is a very important step in your relationship, a lack of bonding time can lead to an unhappy glider. I find the best way to bond with your joey is to carry a bonding pouch around your neck for a few hours daily. This allows the glider to get to know your scent,voice,heartbeat,the way you move,your footsteps. As you can see, this is a VERY important step and it is one that you must NEVER skip. If you fail to complete this step, your joey may never bond with you and you will have missed a wonderful stage in your relationship that you can't get back and your joey may become unfriendly or even nasty. Along with the a bonding pouch, you may also want to try to get a child's tent and sit in it with your joey. This is fun time, they will run around and play and this is a good time to allow them to crawl on you and attempt to feed them by hand. You can set it up in your living room and play with your joey in the safety of an enclosed area. This stage may have its own difficulties, a joey moved from its mother to a new home will become stressed and may crab or even lunge at you, be patient with your joey, don't push too hard, use the bonding techniques I have laid out for you and before long, your joey will come around and you will have a wonderful relationship: remember, before you had your joey, I did and I spent LOTS of time with your joey and it was taught that people are fun, they just need to learn that you are safe for them too.

Your new glider needs room to run around and glide so a minimal cage size of 20 inches deep by 20 inches long and 30 inches high but too big is not a word in glider vocabulary. The bars of the cage should be no more than 1/2 inch by 1 inch to prevent escape of your glider or joey: where there is a will, there is a way and they WILL find it! They will need branches, parrot toys( avoid toys with raw hide as it can cause blockages in their intestines), cat toys ( no catnip, it is poisonous to gliders), a wheel (an open wheelthat they can't get that can't get their feet or tails stuck in such as a "wodent Wheel' which you can buy on the internet) and lots of non-toxic vines to put around their cage for cover and play. They will need a pouch (made of polar fleece which you can order of the internet)(one will be provided with your joey but you will need a few more for cleaning purposes) or some pet stores. They need temperatures of between 65 - 75 degrees F or 18 - 24 degrees C. Water bottles should be used and changed daily and food dishes should have 3 section: one for fruit and veggies (outlined above), one for bml (recipe above) and one for worms. I find it easier to have 2 sets of dishes so I don't need to wash and reuse daily, this way, I get up in the morning, remove the dishes, empty and rince them, put them into the dishwaher and if I don't have enough for a load, I don't have to wash them because I have clean ones already.

ADVICE AND SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR ALL CUSTOMERS

For more information, contact me and I will send you a brochure via email.Please put brochure in you subject line.