Does anyone here have Sugar Gliders?

[tulagirl]

Okay so I have always kind of wanted one of these. I have no idea if I will ever get one, they are very expensive I see.  Can you tell me about them, what you like and maybe share some photos?  I am interested in personal experiences with these little guys.  They are so precious.

[Thunderwing]

I had one! Reality is, you should have at least two, they need the company of their own kind. I got mine at an auction, after wanting one for years.

They are sweet, snuggle, and fun to have. They are also very stinky and messy (they like to fling their poop and it gets all over the wall behind the cage, and it is smeary and sticky!) Mine was also very vocal, and would often bark through the night. A breeder told me it was because he was lonely, which makes sense. (I did get a mate for him, but they ended up not getting along, and had to be separated again).

[tulagirl]

I had one! Reality is, you should have at least two, they need the company of their own kind. I got mine at an auction, after wanting one for years.

They are sweet, snuggle, and fun to have. They are also very stinky and messy (they like to fling their poop and it gets all over the wall behind the cage, and it is smeary and sticky!) Mine was also very vocal, and would often bark through the night. A breeder told me it was because he was lonely, which makes sense. (I did get a mate for him, but they ended up not getting along, and had to be separated again).

Yes I had heard that before.  Oh my goodness slinging poo?  I thought they were supposed to be cleaner than rodents?  So I must have gotten that one wrong. LOL  So probably if you get one, get them two from the beginning I guess.  This is very good information. 

[LovelyLittlePony]

We had a family of sugar gliders for 13 years

We bought a female, male, and the male's sister from a breeder in Florida when I was little. We brought them back to Michigan and ended up having 3 babies over the years.

Like mentioned above, they are VERY messy and stinky. Really stinky. We never had a problem with poop flinging, but maybe we just got lucky But if you clean regularly this shouldn't be a problem. We kept ours in an old bird cage and we pinned a large sock to the top of the cage and that's where they slept, we would change the sock every week and they loved sleeping in it !

I'm not sure what we were "supposed" to feed them lol, but we just fed them leftovers and whatever we had in the house really. Fruit, yogurt, cereal, granola, etc. We would put it all in a dish at night and they would pick through it. They loved fruit loops the most lol.

Ours only came out at night as they are nocturnal, and would "scream" during the day if we made too much noise and woke them up. But we would still hold them during the evenings when they were mostly awake.

The babies are just the cutest !!! Ours ended up having 3 babies all together, we sold all 3 but it was still plenty of fun having them while they were just babies When they were babies we would take them from their mother during the day and keep them in a sock pinned to the inside of our shirt, this is what gets them used to humans and makes them friendly. We would then return the baby to its mother at night and they sleep inside the mothers pouch just like baby kangaroos !

Sugar gliders can live for quite awhile, our last sugar glider died after us having him for 13 years, so if you plan on getting one plan on having it for awhile

I also agree with what was stated above, definitely get more than one ! They get very lonely and are much happier with a friend.

Sugar gliders are super fun pets to have, but personally I've had all the sugar glider time that I need in a lifetime lol. They are very snuggly and cute and adorable, but they may seem to get boring after awhile especially when they spend most of their time sleeping during the day. But overall it was a lovely experience to own them, and I'm sure you would have a lovely experience too if you decide to get some

Good luck in your search for them ! I know they are quite pricey, especially since it would be better to get more than one. Hopefully you find a good deal, I would check craigslist as many people get sugar gliders and then decide they no longer want them.

Best of luck !

(I don't have any pictures of mine at the moment since it's been awhile since we've had them. If I find some later, I'll be sure to post them )

[h1m3.]

I would love to have one too! But there are super rare and I have no idea where to get one (two) in here blaah.
Tula you need to get one for me too LOL

[SnorkMaiden]

My friends had sugar gliders for a few years. They were extremely cute, but yes, very messy and rather smelly, even though my friends cleaned the cage regularly. I don't think they had any issues with waste-flinging, but the cage pretty much always looked dirty, even when it had only just been cleaned. The biggest problem my friends faced was that the two sugar gliders didn't get along. The female would try to play with the male, but he ignored her. She pined for proper company so badly that my friends eventually gave her to someone with another sugar glider, and they instantly made friends. The male was much happier on his own, strangely enough.

[tulagirl]

Oh boy this may not work for me. I go to bed at 9pm every night.  I would never sleep if the gliders made noise and with RA you need your sleep.  The only time I would have to play with them would be during the day.  Sigh...I may just have to forget this cute little guy for a while. I know they live a while.

We had dwarf hamsters for a while and my R2 loves them so much.  They don't life too long, but they are super cute and fun to play with.  I wonder if there is a tiny dwarf rabbit about the size of a teddy bear hamster??? hmmmm

[joce]

I had them for years but gave them to a friend when I got my new house.

They are very cute and I loved their noises! I also used to be a night person and part of getting rid of them is I work days now!

They do tend to be nippy. Even the ones handled all the time.

 Was neat talking to doctors at work that live where they are from. They said they are such pests and they would hear them outside chattering and then slam on the roof lol.

 They are cheap here. I have them offered to me all the time because people knew I had them and see them on Craigslist 75$-150. You want a giant cage though and not a tiny bird cage that people put them in.

They can drown so keep toilets closed. I ordered my food from a place in Florida. Forgot the name and no link in my phone. Also got my pouches and cages through them.

Just talking about them makes me want them but can't justify it not being up at night. They are very neat critters!

 And pairs are best because in reality your not going to be with them when they are up.

[kellyponyfeathers]

I'm a former vet tech and have had gliders for 13 years.  3 out of my original family of 4 gliders (mom, dad, and 2 sons) have died of age-related causes over the years.  I'm down to my last one; he'll be 12 next week, and seems to be doing OK on his own so far (probably because he's old and calm now).

I've loved having them, and I love to show them off, but really I don't recommend them as pets.  I've worked VERYVERY hard to keep mine alive over the years.  They can last a long time and have happy lives in captivity if you take REALLY good care of them.  Sadly, most people don't, and they don't even know that they don't know what they're doing.  Joce is right; lots of glider owners discover that they're a lot more work and not as much fun as they expected, and then they end up not wanting them, and I always think that's horribly sad and unfair to the animals.  There used to be a shelter in Missouri for unwanted gliders; don't know if it's still around.

Before I forget, the Florida sellers mentioned above are Suncoast Sugar Gliders.  They're pretty good; I've bought lots of equipment from them over the years.  Their site has info about glider care and deciding if they're a good pet for you.

I'll echo what everyone else has said and add some more info.  Yes, they're nocturnal.  Yes, they almost always need the company of their own kind.  Best to buy at least 2 when they're about 3 months old so they'll bond.  Yes, very large cage is needed $200 - $400, plus lots of other stuff.  They can be stinky, and they're tropical animals and need warm rooms about 75 degrees F; they won't do well in a chilly basement.  They need proper diets:  fresh fruit, insects, a mixture I make myself, and other things.  They can become quite tame with the right handling, but many people try but don't do a good job, and their gliders become frightened and bite.  They need care from an experienced exotics vet.  Pairs can breed like crazy, resulting in overcrowded cages of inbred gliders, so it's best to neuter the males before their numbers get out of hand (expensive surgery $$$).  I remember reading a panicked online post from an owner who didn't neuter her gliders until it was WAY too late, and she couldn't afford another cage or all the neuter surgeries she needed.  Gliders are even ILLEGAL in some states (like California, Alaska, and Georgia).  And quite a few cities and counties have local laws against all exotic pets, even harmless ones like gliders.  I've had had to move sometimes for jobs and have had trouble finding a place where I could keep them legally.  For a while I commuted an hour from the next county over.  Yes, they can be seized and euthanized by animal control if there are local laws against exotics.

I've loved all my gliders very dearly, and I'm glad to have owned them.  But then again I didn't know what I was getting into; it's been a lot harder than I expected.  When my last one dies, I don't want to get more.  Again, I really don't recommend them.  But if I haven't managed to scare you off and you're still crazy enough to want some, drop me a PM and I can give you more advice.  But please do more research online first so I don't write a thousand pages of it.

[Majesty]

I thought sugar gliders were wild animals, it's like those people who have a tiger for a pet.

[Kanchii]

You definitely want two, they will be pretty unhappy by themselves. While they are super cute and soft, most are not all that friendly and would rather be hiding than hanging out with you. They might hang out in one of your pockets, but aren't usually big on actually snuggling. They are really messy, and really stinky. They need a big cage with a lot of stuff to climb on and hide in. They need fresh fruit and yogurt every day as well as a pelleted food and some bugs. Your best bet is to find somewhere you can get a couple young babies and keep them in a bonding pouch and handle them a lot from the time they are young so that they will hopefully be tame when they grow up. Also, if you're a light sleeper at all and can't put them somewhere with multiple walls between you, they'll probably keep you up at night.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I thought sugar gliders were wild animals, it's like those people who have a tiger for a pet.

Yep they are firmly in the exotics category. 

But then again, most of our domesticated pets are some form of exotic wildlife that people brought into their homes.  Like cats!  :-p  Guinea pigs!  Most birds, unless you live in a jungle or Australia....  most lizards, again unless you live in those habitats...

I can't handle sugar gliders.  They are adorable but I cannot handle all the screeching and peeping and poo-flinging and hammock-bouncing and such at 2:30 am when I need to sleep.   The only nocturnal animals I can have as pets are fish. 

[DazzleKitty]

I had to look them up and they are absolutely adorable. But based on what I have heard from people here.....not for me.

I think a better alternative would be rats. The only downfall is that they have a short life expectancy.

[kellyponyfeathers]

As someone who has worked with animals, I agree with DazzleKitty: Ratties make wonderful pets. They're very sweet and easy to care for.  I've had ratties too!

[NovelNerd]

Ratties are wonderful, but I wouldn't say they are necessarily easy to care for, finding a proper breeder with lines containing my mostly healthy babies is difficult. Then of course having to follow specific things to avoid any URI issues is a nightmare. Females are so prone to tumors. I've probably spent more in vet care for my rats in for example a year than three years for my dog. I lobe them though and they make amazing companions. I currently have nine and just live them. Just need to realize they are also money eaters. Everyone goes in thinking rats will be cheap and simple and it's so far from it.