Sugar Gliders in the Home

Temperature:

64-75F. Can cope with occasional temperatures up to 88F but not over, and not prolonged. Avoid locating their housing in direct sunlight, next to a heater, drafts, or cooling ventilation.

Cage requirements

Before you buy any cage, you should consider the following: food placement, bedding, shelter, and exercise area. Make sure food holders are large enough to keep food in but too small for your pet to sit in and possibly soil the food as they eat. Always replace perishable items on a daily basis. Sugar Gliders also need a nest box or pouch to sleep in during the day and protect them from the sunlight. This is important since prolonged exposure to sunlight can kill a Sugar Glider. If you mount the nest box up high in the cage, make sure there is room for your pet to climb on top of it. Make sure that bedding material is natural and doesn't pose a threat to your pet. Your Sugar Glider should have a cage that will allow plenty of room for exercise. The wire spacing should be no more than 1/2"x1.　 We recommend a minimum cage sixe of 24x24x36” high.　 Wire should be stainless powder coated, PVC coated, or high grade epoxy coated for ease of cleaning and to avoid zinc poisoning. There should be a wire bottom with catch pan to allow droppings to fall through.

Pouch:

Sugar gliders have tiny, sharp claws that can easily get caught on cheap fabric and threads. Loose threads can also get caught and wrap around their tiny paws. If this happens it will quickly cut circulation and could possible lead to death. Pouches are an important accessory, pretty much a necessity, in your gliders cage. They should be made of high quality, non-balling polar fleece with double layered fabric so that all the stitching is between the two layers and not accessible to a gliders claws. Many of the inexpensive and even more expensive pouches currently available on-line are single layered, single stitched, low quality polar fleece with inexpensive hanging clips that rust after a wash or two. Even pouches advertised as “glider safe” are not all that safe. Do not cut any corners when choosing a pouch.

Cage Substrate:

Paper Towels, Carefresh litter, Aspenwood, or Fir. NEVER use pine or cedar chips as a waste substrate.

Toys:

Sugar Gliders have a natural need to play. Visit our store for a nice assortment of sugar glider toys.

Exercise wheel:

Equally important as choosing a high quality pouch. Use caution when purchasing an exercise wheel. Hamster wheels are unacceptable because gliders claws and tails can easily get caught in them. Wodent Wheel is the recommended wheel of choice for gliders. Ensure it has the gliderproof sleeve covering the inside bar of the wheel.

Branches:

Washable bendable plastic branches are best.

• BEST: Eucalyptus, Banksias, Leptospermum, Grevillea, Acacia, Melaleuca, Callistemum, Hakea
• TOXIC: Almond, Apricot, Black Walnut, Cherry, Peach

Gliders and Plants:

Please download our Toxic Plant document with a listing of plants that are potentially dangerous to gliders.

Gliderproofing:

Gliders cannot swim, gliders will get into tight dark places, and gliders seek heights such as curtains, beams and stairs. If your gliders get lost, do not panic. They will seek out a dark place to sleep. Put their pouch in the room where they were lost. Chances are they will be sleeping in it in the morning. If not, check shoes or any other dark hollow places. This has happened to us twice. The first time we found the glider sleeping in the bottom of a shoe. The second time we found the glider inside an empty roll of toilet paper. The easiest approach is to shake things. When the glider gets alarmed it will usually crab and give away its hiding spot.

Q: Can Sugar Gliders have free roam of your house?

A: Gliders can roam the house but　should never be left unattended. They can and will chew on some furniture and love to climb up drapes. They can be left out of their cage, they just need to be watched. When a glider tires of being out of their cage they will generally return on their own.　 GLIDERS CANNOT SWIM so be wary of open water and toilets. I guess our wives were right all along after all! Leave the toilet seat down!

Q: Can sugar gliders be "potty" trained?

A: Everything you read would suggest that gliders cannot be trained.　 However, we have a customer that really was able to train their glider to go in a litter box!　 We have not　tried this ourselves but we　will be more than happy to　share their secret if you drop us an email and ask.

That said, gliders are quite predictable though. Similar to humans (and probably every other creature in the animal world! lol) the first thing a glider will want to do when they wake is to hit the bathroom. If your gliders are sleeping, remove them from their sleeping pouch and put them on the side of the cage. Within 5 minutes they will completely relieve themselves. They can be handled after this time with little chance of being soiled on.

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