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Feeding | Cages & Nesting | Toys & Play Time | Cleaning | Breedingtop
Feeding With the name Sugar Glider it is not hard to figure out what they like to eat. Anything that has a sweet taste to it they tend to chew or lick. In the wild they eat fruits, tree saps, some bugs, and small baby rodents or birds.We feed ours a wide selection of fruits and vegtables such as apples, pears, grapes, raisins, mixed nuts (no salt, never give a glider salt!), blue berries, melons, plums, golden kiwi (when in season), green beans, and corn on the cob (not dried). A special note about corn though, while they love this, it does give a strong odour as the corn juices will quickly ferment and also gives a strong smell in their urine, so we recommend feeding this to them the night before you plan to clean their cage completely, not just tray cleaning. We don't feed ours baby birds or rodents, but you can buy what is called "pinkys" from a pet store. Pinkys are day old dead mice which are common to give to lizards and snakes. Instead of this route we feed ours a selection of protien foods which includes: boiled chicken, mealworms, crickets, locust or grasshoppers. Don't put the bugs in the cage live though or they may crawl out before your glider can catch them. The best way to kill them is to put them into a sealed container and put them in the freezer. This way they are both fresh and easy to store and prolong the shelf life for them. You want to keep a selection of fruits and protien foods for them so they have a selection and do not become bored with the same foods over and over. Also this will help make sure they get a balanced diet of vitamins. A single glider will normally eat what is equal to just about a 1/4-1/2 of a golden delicious apple in a night. So you may have left overs in the morning, especially if your giving them a selection of fruits. You will quickly find out how much you need to slice up and place in their food dishes. Since we have colonies of the gliders in two cages ours go through what is equal to about 2 golden apples in a night per cage. You need to account for about 40% protien and 60% carbs, but if you have a pregnant or nursing glider then you need 50/50 diet. You'll find that your glider doesn't have the best table manners either, but this is their nature and can not be taught any different. They normally will grab a portion out of their bowl and head to a place where they feel secure and chomp away. They normally do not eat the skins, so the next morning you'll find these in the bottom of the cage.You'll also find that the cage bars will have small bits of left over food on them from their paws or where they was sitting. You'll need to wash the cage about once per week depending upon its size. I'll get into more details about the cage later on though. Water always needs to be fresh and clean. You'll want to change the water every day and no longer than every 2 days. A simple small water bottle will do the job. We don't recommend putting water in a dish. The gliders can knock it over, evaporate quickly, or the worse thought is poop in it while running around above in their cage.
Here is a quick recipe to make up some "Glider Goo"... it stinks but they love it and it is all they need when it comes to the vitamins.
Stage 1:
1/2 cup Honey (do not use honey cone, raw, or unfiltered)
1 egg boiled
1/4 apple juice (not frozen or baby juice)
Blend the above well
Stage 2 (add to the above):
2 ounces of plain yogurt
2 ounces of any fruit juice
1 teaspoon of Rep-Cal Herptivite vitamin supplement (blue label in white container) DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THIS SUPPLEMENT, local pet store should be able to order it for you.
Blend the above well again
Stage 3:
2 teaspoons of Rep-Cal Calcium Supplement, Non-phosphorous, with Vitamin D3 (make sure it has the D3!) Pink label in white container.
2 1/2oz jar of stage one or two heinz chicken baby food
1/4 cup of wheat germ
1/2 cup of dry heinz baby cereal (mixed or oatmeal)
Blend all together well
Stage 4:
Pour into plastic container and freeze. This amount should last a single glider at least a month. Give to them a tablespoon every couple of days along with their normal diet of fruits and veggies.
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Cages & Nesting The bigger the better is the case here. Gliders love to jump and glide. So you want cage that is tall, not short and wide. An aquarium will not work and neither will a hamster cage. We use tall bird cages. These cages give them plenty of vertical room to scamper, run, jump, and play. Also the wire is coated which keeps the rust away. You do not want a cage that will rust or that has galvanized wire. The glider can get urinary infection from galvanized wire. Also a great benefit is that we can remove the trays in the bottom of the cages and easily clean them during the week. With 4-5 per cage it is a daily task for us. If you only have one or two then you may get away with cleaning out the bottom every few days. We don't recommend putting anything in the trays such as paper or litter. They will shred the paper up and wood chip litter (cedar) can be harmful to their breathing and not to mention goes everywhere when they jump in it. We simply leave our tray as it is. Since gliders like to be high as they can be, they tend not to run about in it. Ours only go down to the bottom to grab fruit they may have dropped or take a run in their excercise wheel.
The Gliders bedding we use is simple to say the least. An old t-shirt and a hanging basket frame. You'll see other sites that advertise these nice cute hammocks, cloth pouches, cloth tubes and so on. Gliders can't be house broken and tend to go pee or poop where ever they are standing at the time. These cloth houses or modified chinchilla houses no matter how cute they are just don't work. They quickly become more of a pain than cute sleeping pouches when you have to wash them every other day. Also wooden houses we do not recommend either. Reason being is the wood will soak in and absorb the odours. So our advice here is go find yourself a nice metal or plastic frame for a hanging basket and a old t-shirt. Hang it up in the cage high as you can and watch your glider quickly disappear in to it. With the open sides of the frame the air flow can get in and dry out any damp spots...I think you get the picture. This drastically cuts down on any odours. You'll enjoy it more, your glider will enjoy it more, and so will your friends when they come over to visit. As a hint you may want to use a old t-shirt that you have worn. This will get your scent on it and help the glider bond with you better.
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Toys & Play Time The only toys that we have found our gliders to play with is the Wheel for excercise. We've tried toys that hang from the sides of the cage, tunnels, and so forth and this just doesn't interest them to much. They much prefer to be running about the side of the cage or in the wheel. Most of all though out of the cage and you become the "Human Toy". Just be sure that you do not have any other animals in the room and that the door is shut. If you are in a room with a fireplace, make sure that they can not escape out the chimney. Even worse they can get near a open flame. The reason I say this is because gliders are curious and very active. So don't be surprised one moment yours is sitting on your shoulder and the next moment it has just taken a 10ft jump to the curtains, your friend, a chair, or a picture frame. Gliders will normally go to the highest point they can reach in a room. Which for most is going to be picture frames or curtain poles. Gliders are nocternal animals by nature so they are most active in the evening and through out the night. So your best place of putting the glider is somewhere outside of your bedroom, otherwise you'll become nocternal as well! The good thing is that gliders normally do not chew on items like rodents do. If your wanting to hold and stroke your glider then the best time to get them out is going to be during the day. Find a shirt with a pocket and after the glider has had a run around on you they normally will look for a place to sleep. So a shirt pocket or a cloth pouch called a "bonding pouch" will work well for you. By no means though decide to go for a stroll outside with your glider in your pocket. Otherwise you could be chasing your glider across the garden and up trees and bushes. The bonding pouches would be ideal to use here since most of them have zippers on them.
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Cleaning Keeping the cage clean is very important. You do not want a dirty cage. This can cause sickness in your little friend. So clean the cage bottoms out on a regular basis and give the entire cage a scrubbing once a week. Having a cage that you can take apart or get out the door easily is ideal. This makes quick work with a hose, brush, and some soap. You'll want to use soap that is anti-bacterial and also biogradeable. This will hopefully kill germs and bacteria, but at the same time will not harm your glider should some of it be left behind on the cage and they have a taste of it. So be sure to rinse the cage well.
Many people have custom cages built... this is great, but do remember cleaning needs to be easy and not a all day job. Unless you like to spend your time doing such and that you'll be doing such for many years since the life span is up to 15yrs.
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Breeding
Where do we begin........... This is one very longgggggg process. Females go into heat for 29 days. There is no set time of the year, but normally they breed twice per year. Though on occasion they may breed up to 3 times. The gestation time is around 16 days. The litter size is normally 1 to 2 joeys, though on occassion there will be three. The female has four nipples and once the gliders are born they make their way towards the pouch. The gliders when born are about the size of a grain of rice. The female will lick and flatten out the hair between the rear to the pouch which makes it easier for the joey to make it to the pouch. Once inside the joey will lock onto the nipple and will stay there attached the nipple for about 40 days. Don't get curious and try to see them. If knocked loose from the nipple they may not be able to grab hold again and starve to death. The leave the pouch at about 70 days, but still get a piggy back ride either on Mom or Dads back. You'll find that they seem to take turns in caring for them. With one getting food, then coming back to the nest and the other one comes out for food. After about 110 days the joeys become weaned and leave the nest and start venturing on their own. We have noticed that they normally search for food on the bottom of the cage that the others have dropped. They tend to do this for about 2wks and then begin eating regulary from the hanging dishes with the rest of the colony. Our guess is that they feed on the bottom as this keeps the older ones from stealing the food or that the joeys just aren't strong enough to hang onto the bars and eat as well.
Now the males let off a scent which is used for marking their territory and also for marking the female. The scent isn't a strong one, but you can tell it is there. Normally with a healthy diet and proper care this has proven to reduce the scenting to not even noticable. You may also buy sprays to go on their food which will help reduce the scent as well. Do NOT use this on their food while the female is nursing. They seem to like the flavour of this and will often try to take it direct from the spray nozzle.
You can also have the males neutered which will help reduce the scent if you find it to be to strong or if you have a male and female, but don't want to breed.
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