Pets?

The Sugar Glider was brought to the USA for the exotic pet trade in 1990s (Brust,2009). The 2018 size of the USA Sugar Glider population is unknown, but it makes up a proportion of the 3.5 million exotic mammalian pets kept in private household (American Veterinary Medical Association,2018). Well known for their inner sweetness and social nature, Sugar Gliders have started to gain popularity in UK and Europe being present in households from only a few years ago.

Sugar Gliders are intelligent, playful and active as well as sweet and cuddly if they are properly socialised.

They love to snuggle in your hand and in your t-shirt for nap time and adore to be stroked until they fall asleep. They bond deeply and they call and wait for you. They enjoy spending time running, climbing and gliding on you and sharing enrichment activities with you.

Are they good as pets?

If a good pet for you is, like for us, an animal who looks for your company, plays with you, being loyal with a big individual personality as well as independent enough for you not to be there 24/7 without him/her/them suffering for it, adaptable and easy to travel with...then Sugar Gliders are fabulous pets!

Be aware,this doesn't mean that they are the lowest maintenance or the cheapest to look after, but to be honest, no animal is if cared properly!

As for any new pet, you will need to know, understand and adjust to their specific needs, considering expenses in advance too.

We are confident in you doing your own in depth researches on them any for any clarification feel free to raise the topic up during our conversation.

Food for thought

We feel like underlining a few points for your attention to help you understand if Sugar Gliders are suitable for you and your lifestyle:

They will need an exotic vet, who specifically have experience with Sugar Gliders. Even if they won't need vaccinations and you will rarely visit the vet during their life, note that this particular kind of vet is more difficult and more expensive compared to the general one.

Part of their diet and enrichment require a specific preparation from you.

In case of getting a male with no breeding intention, he will need to be neutered; in case of deciding to home a male with another male, neutering might be needed too to avoid territorial and aggression potential issues. No worries, it is a very common operation please feel free to ask us more infos if needed.

Males have several scent glands which are used to mark their territory, when they are not neutered they release a specific scent during marking their territory, be sure you are ok with this particular musky smell.

Some Sugar Gliders tend to pee on you (few drops) or mark you from time to time and it is their way to say " you are mine and part of my crew ".

They are nocturnal (you can change their day/night circle, even if we suggest you to leave it as it is) so they will be more active at night/morning and they will need to spend time with you mainly at this time. The good news is that because they are happy in their same species companion company too, that doesn't mean you will need to spend the full evening/night with them.

They make funny and cute noises, from time to time they can be vocal during the night, for example barking for your attention.

You will need to trim their nails often.

They attached to all the family members with their own little preferences, but they are not suitable for young children.

They cannot be free with other animals within the same space for safety reasons.