Do Sugar Gliders Make Good Pets

Do Sugar Gliders Make Good Pets
There are many things to take into consideration when trying to decide on getting a pet and what kind of pet works best for you and your lifestyle. Owning a pet brings several added responsibilities into your life. Feeding, grooming, walking, and attention are all things to consider before diving into being a pet owner. Pets are a lot more than a fashion accessory.

One animal that not a lot of people consider when choosing a pet is the sugar glider. Sugar gliders are considered an exotic pet but they are very social and tend to bond tightly to their owners. Glider owners often carry their pets in a pocket or bonding pouch, as well.

That all sounds great but what, exactly, is a sugar glider?

A glider is a marsupial. After birth, they are vulnerable and very dependent on their mothers. They spend most of their time inside their mother's pouch during this time.

They have opposing thumbs which they use to grasp branches and anything else they can climb on. Gliders love to climb and will need vertical space inside of a cage to do so.

From their wrists to their ankles stretches skin, or pantagium, which is used as their glider in the wild. They are often seen gliding from tree to tree in their natural habitat. However, this pantagium is very flexible and allows for normal walking and climbing.

Sugar gliders are native to Indonesia, Australia, and Pap New Guinea. A full grown glider has a body around six inches long and a tail that is also about six inches long. An adult glider weighs about 5 ounces. Their lifespan in captivity is from ten to fifteen years. They are also nocturnal so they will sleep most of the daytime.

Sugar gliders are very sociable. If you have time to give them ample attention they will do very well. If you don't have constant attention to spare you might consider buying gliders in pairs. Be aware that pairs of the opposite sex that are not neutered will procreate rapidly, though.

Gliders make great pets and are quite easy to care for. With the right person they provide the perfect companion.

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Sugar Gliders: Tiny Acrobats

Sugar Gliders: Tiny Acrobats
In the last decade or so, the popularity of sugar gliders as pets has grown considerably. The small size of these furry acrobats, their personalities, their plush fur, their large eyes, their agility and their ability to bond closely with humans have attracted legions of new sugar glider devotees.

What is a sugar glider and where did they originally come from? Sugar gliders are small marsupials and members of the possum family. They are found in Australia, Tasmania, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Their scientific name is Petaurus breviceps. Most sugar gliders these days are captive-bred and not wild-caught.

Like their larger marsupial cousins, kangaroos, sugar gliders have a pouch where their infants grow and develop. Their young are called "joeys," as are the young of kangaroos. You may come across the term OOP while researching sugar gliders on the internet. OOP means "out-of-pouch" and it indicates how long the joey has been completely out of his mother's pouch. Joeys are ready to go to a new home at approximately 8 weeks OOP.

Sugar gliders are approximately chipmunk-sized, measuring about 9 to 12 inches long (including their long tail), and they weigh about 3 to 6 ounces as adults. Their normal color is steel gray to brownish with a black stripe down the back, but selective breeding in captivity has brought out other color variations, including albinos. In captivity, they can live as long as 15 years, although 8 to 12 years is more usual.

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