By Peggy Scott
The common name of a certain little marsupial may reflect certain aspects of its diet and top mode of transportation, but sugar glider could just as easily refer to the animal’s sweet personality and the ease with which it floats into the heart of its owner. While this diminutive pet may require more specialized care than some of its pocket pet brethren, the sugar glider’s agreeable disposition certainly qualifies that extra attention as time well spent—for the right person.
“The sugar glider is for a little more dedicated owner,” says Stefan Wawrzynski, operations director for Brisky Pet Products in Franklinville, N.Y.
“To begin with, an expensive hamster is maybe $20, but a sugar glider costs, even wholesale, from $99 to $200,” he says. “A complete set up with hamster? Maybe $60. And a sugar glider setup? You probably won’t find one for under $400.”
Wawrzynski says the difference isn’t just monetary. With an exotic small pet comes a more exotic list of needs.
| A Gift of Honor |
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When it comes to gifts, we all know that it’s the thought that counts. But what about an unorthodox way of showing affection? That can be the case with a sugar glider who truly loves its human.
“The highest compliment a sugar glider can give is to climb up on you and urinate on you,” says Stefan Wawrzynski, operations director for Brisky Pet Products in Franklinville, N.Y. “That glider is marking you as ‘his’ or ‘hers’ and warning other sugar gliders that you’re taken and they better stay away. Your pet sugar glider doesn’t know there aren’t other gliders in the area who might try to take their territory. It’s an honor, really.”
When a customer takes home a sugar glider, be sure to warn them about this surprise they may encounter.
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“It’s definitely a non-mainstream pet,” Wawrzynski says. “I would put it in the league of a fancy bird. The diet alone is much more specialized—you don’t find their food and supplies at most big-box chain stores. They’re more of a specialty. It’s a big-time commitment to raise them properly.”
One truly invaluable service that a pet retailer can provide is to try to match the right type of animal each customer’s lifestyle and situation, thus improving the odds that the new owner-pet relationship will blossom and last.
Sugar gliders are classified as exotic pets, and laws vary from state-to-state and even city-to-city. Some places require permits; others require a license. In some states, sugar gliders are legal only as pets and breeding them is a whole different matter. Consult state and local laws before obtaining sugar gliders to sell.
Flights of Fancy
Native to parts of New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia, the sugar glider (also sometimes called a gliding opossum) measures a mere 5 inches to 6 inches from head to toe (the tail doubles that), and this pet hardly tips the scale at an average weight of 5 ounces. Coat color is usually gray with black-stripe accents and a white belly, although breeders have produced albino, blond and white varieties.
The sugar glider’s monkey-like face is dominated by large, round eyes that are well suited for its nocturnal lifestyle—the little animal is able to see in the dark.
Like all marsupials, the sugar glider’s babies are born tiny and live the first part of their lives in their mother’s pouch, where they continue to grow and mature until it’s time to emerge.
The sugar glider is probably best known for its ability to use the furry skin flap that runs the length of its body from foreleg to hind leg (the patagium) to parachute from one perch to another, such as from tree to tree. It’s been estimated that, with the right wind and angle, a sugar glider can glide up to 100 feet. Once the glider reaches its destination, opposable “thumbs” on the hind feet help with tractability.
Living the Sweet Life
Because sugar gliders in the wild live in small colonies, they are naturally social animals who need company—whether in the form of another sugar glider or a human companion willing to spend time with them. Some experts recommend keeping sugar gliders in pairs of the same sex, or a female with a neutered male.
“A lot of people recommend pairs because they need interaction because they’re pretty social,” Wawrzynski says. “They like company. This is a curious creature that will approach other animals like other pets in the house and other animals may not interact appropriately, so you have to be careful.”
To keep a pair, it works best to raise them together starting when they’re young. If a potential sugar glider owner decides to keep a single pet, he or she needs to realize that the animal will look to him or her for companionship—and these animals have their own schedule. As pet expert Lianne McLeod says on exoticpets.about.com, the sugar glider, as a nocturnal creature, is most active at night. For some owners, this fact is seen as something to change.
“People want to retrain them to follow our schedule and this is hard to do,” Wawrzynski says. “You have to manipulate the feeding schedule, lighting, their whole biorhythm, and that’s a lot. That’s why people need to think about whether the sugar glider’s natural biorhythm will fit their lives. They need to think ‘How do I enjoy this animal when it’s getting up at 9 p.m. and I’m ready for bed?”
Wawrzynski says it isn’t impossible to bend your schedule as well as the glider’s schedule just a bit, and that there are clever ways to make the situation work.
“The sugar glider bonds easily with people and you can take them places with you in a bonding pouch or shirt pocket,” Wawrzynski says, noting that the more time spent with a new pet, the quicker it bonds to the owner and becomes quite tame. While these are far from aggressive animals, sugar gliders do have sharp little claws and their teeth can give a little nip if the animal is scared or unfamiliar with its handler, so the sooner owner and pet become friends, the better.
Retailers should make sure customers are aware that sugar gliders, with their delicate structure and special needs, aren’t really appropriate children’s pets—unless Mom or Dad is willing to supervise all interaction.
When a sugar glider isn’t out on the town inside a pocket, it would be comfortable in a wire enclosure no smaller than 2 feet by 2 feet—bigger if possible, and taller is better than wider or deeper. They are active animals, so an exercise wheel is a must, as is a nesting box with corncob bedding, ladders to climb and branches to explore.
According to the International Sugar Glider Assn.’s website, having access to fruit trees is a beneficial because the sugar glider needs to climb and chew on live tree branches. But, some fruit wood, such as almond, apricot, peach, cherry and black walknut, are toxic to gliders. Never use pesticide-treated wood.
Probably the area of sugar glider care that is most important and most controversial is that of diet. The ISGA recommends a diet of 75 percent fruit and 25 percent protein. Fresh fruit and veggies are usually well-received, and protein sources include mealworms, crickets and boiled eggs.
Some glider keepers swear that baby food is what keeps their pets healthy. A vitamin supplement is strongly encouraged because vitamin deficiency can lead to serious health problems. The sugar glider, luckily, is an omnivore, so there are many options available—the problem can be finding a consensus as to what the “right” diet is.
With the proper care and a good diet, a sugar glider can live up to 12 years or so. Wawrzynski believes the key to a good, long life for a pet is information.
“[Recommend customers] read as much as they can so they know what they’re getting into,” Wawrzynski says. “Even reading about someone else’s mistakes can be really helpful—they’ll know what not to do. And the more someone can think like their pet, the better the relationship will be.”