They need adequate protein, fresh fruit, and sources of calcium, so they can be expensive to feed.Īnother thing to consider-gliders are social creatures, so they should have a buddy if you won’t have time to spend with them every day. You won’t find many commercial glider foods on the market, so you need to buy a number of different ingredients to feed your glider every day. Being marsupials, gliders like to sleep in pouches and holes away from bright light. The cage should have multiple water bottles and food bowls, and plenty of toys and lounging spots. Sugar gliders need large cages-like a birdcage-with space to glide around and play. What Else Do I Need to Own a Sugar Glider?īut there’s more to the cost of a sugar glider than the purchase price. Related: Where To Buy a Sugar Glider Pet? (Plus an Overview Of The Best Places).Keep in mind that different colors earn higher prices. Baby sugar gliders (8-12 weeks) are a bit more than sub-adults (12 weeks) because older gliders are more difficult to train. If a sugar glider is legal in your state and locality, you can find them from private breeders, some independent exotic pet stores, and rescue organizations. Image Credit: gayleenfroese2, Pixabay Where Can I Get a Sugar Glider? The store sells toys for rodents and birds, both of which may be great for sugar gliders, cages, hammocks, and other cage décor. Keep in mind, if you intend to get a sugar glider, you can find a lot of the supplies at PetSmart. Some states also require sugar gliders to come from licensed breeders, so your pet isn’t legal if you rescued it or got it from an unlicensed breeder. In some states, they’re only legal if you obtain a permit, which the state doesn’t offer easily. Currently, sugar gliders are illegal to own in California, Hawaii, Alaska, Pennsylvania, and counties and localities in other states. Though there’s no official statement from PetSmart about sugar gliders, the general consensus is that pet stores don’t often sell them because they’re an exotic pet and not legal everywhere. How much are sugar gliders at PetSmart? While s ugar gliders regularly run about $200 to $500, depending on the breeding and coloration, they’re not sold at PetSmart at all. The pet is illegal in many states in the US and breeders must be licensed, so you’re not going to find them in every pet store. In addition, they’re not the easiest to find. Like other exotic pets, sugar gliders are not the ideal pet for everyone and require very specific care. They’re cute and playful, bond strongly with owners, and glide around like flying squirrels. Sugar gliders are bred and kept as pets.Sugar gliders are adorable marsupials that resemble flying squirrels, Native to Australia, the sugar glider gained popularity as a pocket pet. Though threatened by feral animals, bushfires, and land clearance for agriculture, sugar gliders are considered to have stable populations in the wild. They’ve also been observed systematically searching tree cones for spiders and beetles. They feed on nectar, pollen, acacia, and eucalyptus tree sap. Sugar gliders have a flexible diet that can vary according to location and season. That, along with short periods of reduced body temperature called torpor, helps them save energy on colder days. To keep warm, sugar gliders sleep huddled together. In parts of their range, winter temperatures can fall below freezing. The young stay with their mothers until they’re seven to 10 months old. Females have one or two young, called joeys, at least once a year. In addition to forests, they’ve also been found in plantations and rural gardens. Sugar gliders nest in tree hollows with up to 10 other adults. They have mostly grey fur but their underbellies are white, and their heads have black stripes.
As nocturnal animals, they see well in the dark with their big black eyes. Often compared with flying squirrels-rodents with similar bodies that can also glide-sugar gliders are more closely related to other marsupials like kangaroos.
Their “wings” are made from a thin skin stretched between the fifth forefinger and back ankle, and they use their bushy tails as rudders as they soar through the air.
These common, tree-dwelling marsupials are native to tropical and cool-temperate forests in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Sugar gliders are palm-size possums that can glide half the length of a soccer pitch in one trip.