In Reply to: For sale and Breeding messages posted by Jane on July 24, 2000 at 19:47:10:

I think one of the biggest causes of the "Unwanted Glider Syndrome" (UGS) is ignorance. They were impulse buys. And I will admit, when I saw my first sugar glider in a pet store it just stole my heart and I wanted to bring it home right then and there! (How many of you didn't experience this feeling at least once?) Luckily I couldn't afford that kind of an impulse buy, but many people can!! (However, luckily for the glider, if I had bought I would never have given up on it, I am just not that kind of person and everyone that knows me knows that!)

And often times, when pairs come up for sale, people who couldn't make that first impulse buy, see this as an oppertunity to "come up even" on their purchase by selling the babies. Hey, I thought about that too! While, at this point they may know something about the care of a sugar glider, they may not realize how often this leads to UGS!! They also may not realize how much this will effect their lifestyle and there are people out there who just can't (or won't) make sacrifices in their lifestyles for their gliders. This is understandable, I am one of few people who now that, for instance, would pick where I lived, worked, or went to school bases on my animals. They also may not fully realize the time commitment involved in being a glider parent!

So, what we (as glider lovers and responsible glider parents) are fighting is lack of glider education! Anyone have any ideas how we can change this?

Kerry (with Jack and Gus-Gus)

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