Sugar Glider Environment
Sugar gliders need a very large cage, with a minimum of 4 foot high by 2 x 2 recommended. A large barred cage such as an indoor aviary aimed at finches or other small birds can be used for pet sugar gliders, although the bar spacing on most parrot cages is too wide for sugar gliders. Some arboreal vivariums can be adapted providing they are modified to add additional ventilation. These have the added advantage of allowing easier monitoring of temperature.
Sugar gliders love pouches to nest in as well as soft hammocks. They usually prefer these placed higher up the cage, although you can provide a selection. Wooden or plastic nest boxes can also be used, it is important to have as many nests in the cage as gliders as well as to allow for the fact they may all be piling into the same one.
Wheels are an excellent addition for sugar gliders, with good brands being the Wodent Wheel or Stealth Wheel. Willow Trellis are useful to add for climbing if you are modifying a vivarium, as it is also safe for them to chew. Apple and Eucalyptus branches are safe woods, providing it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides. Java wood and cork tubes as sold for reptiles are also good additions.
Sugar gliders do need frequent cleaning and have quite a strong, musky odour. Good substrates include Aubiouse, Carefresh, Back 2 Nature bedding, and Megazorb.
Sugar gliders are masticators - meaning they don't actually swallow food, but rather suck out nutrients and will spit out remains such as seeds or pulp. This means that they can be very messy with their food and it is important to remove the remains promptly to avoid them spoiling in the cage.
Sugar Glider Diet
A Sugar Gliders diet is quite complicated, requiring plenty of variation and research. It can be a very disputed subject!
Sugar gliders in the wild would naturally feed upon insects, bird eggs, birds, lizards and other small animals. They also would eat acacia gum, ecalyptus sap, manna, honey dew, nectar and pollen. Sugar Gliders are masticators and so suck the nutrients from their food rather than swallowing them, spitting out the pulp and seeds. Not only can this be messy but means that too much hard food or pellets can actually damage their jaw.
Their diet can be quite time-consuming to prepare, although some food can be prepared in bulk and freezed in smaller portions for later use. Fruit however is best served fresh since a lot of nutritional value is lost once frozen, and should not be frozen longer than a week. It is important to offer variation to prevent selective feeding. Sugar Gliders will have their own food preferences so may need experimenting to discover what recipes worth for them.
Some keepers use a modified version of the Leadbeaters mix used in Zoos although some keepers say sugar levels for this are too high. Other popular variations include Bourbon's Modified Leadbeaters (BML) and high protein wombaroo diet (HPW). American and UK diets are quite different, in part due to the differing nutritional value found in available mixes. Cat biscuits for example have much higher nutrional value in the UK.
Water
Water must be constantly available and is best supplied in a bottle.
Calcium
It is vital they receive sufficient calcium to prevent health problems, with a calcium:phosphorus (ca:p) ratio of 2:1. Calcium supplements such as glidercal or Rep-cal can be sprinkled on their food. Calcium levels are important to prevent brittle bones, hind leg paralysis or nutritional osteodystrophy.
Fruit
Avoid grapes and offer citrus only once or twice a week. Items such as apple, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, fig, melon, pawpaw, pear, pomegranate, kiwi, raspberries, sharon fruit and tomato can be offered.
Protein
This should be a minimum of 25% of a Sugar Gliders diet with some keepers advocating more around 50%. Protein levels are particularly important for breeding females. This can be met with various insects, boiled eggs (high in prosphorus), day-old chicks, turkey, and pinkie mice.
Babyfood/Yoghurt
Some keepers provide baby food mixed with water to their gliders. You can also offer yoghurt with live cultures. The sugar content in these items should not be excessive.
Sugar Glider Colours
Colour variations include Albino, Black face, Buttercream (creamy brown with yellow/cream coloured head), Calico, Champagne, Chocolate Apricot, Cremino (Creamy Albino), Dark/light Cinnamon, Leucistic (White with black eyes), Lion (golden honey with dark brown/red features), Mosiac, Platinum and White faced (blonde/cinnamon/grey), White tip.
A lot of variations are only available in America. Leucistic is emerging in the UK, but is still extremely rare.
Sugar Glider Behaviour
Sugar gliders are very sociable animals and must be kept in a minimum of a pair. A lone glider can be prone to serious self-multilation that can even lead to death. It is vital therefore to keep a keen eye on a lone glider and match them up with a new friend as soon as possible.
It is important to regularly handle your sugar gliders, with many owners using bonding pouches or bags to help this. A sugar glider that has not been regularly handled may display behaviour known as "crabbing" where they give a surprisingly, loud warning call
Vocals
Sugar gliders can be very vocal, and not very sociable in the hours they chose this either! the first examples below are sugars glider making a barking call (at 4am & 6am!) the other is the more disturbed, warning call often known as "crabbing".