This past summer I was at a state fair and saw this adorable creature. The company selling sugar gliders told me this was the perfect pet. They said you could just have one, if fed it their special diet would not smell and they go potty about every 4 hours. The whole time I held this glider(thirty minutes) it did not go potty, had no odor or bite. So stupid me bought a female, and by the way she was probably way to young to ween but I had no clue at the time.

Fast forward one month....started to do a little research and found out that the information that this company told me did not jive with what I was reading... I bought her a male friend (not neutered) from a breeder. She did warn me about odor and how fertile they can be. I thought well just one litter and then I will neuter him.....

Here we are now with two bonded gliders about 7 -8 months old that smell horrific, the male goes potty ten times more than the female and the urine is just lovely. I go back and forth wanting to keep them or sell them.

I posted an ad on craigslist I have had many interested buyers but after talking with them something makes me hesitate. My husband says that I am crazy and I have just believe that they will be fine. In the meantime I am still interviewing people who are ready to buy them if I just say the word.

I would encourage you to neuter your male and keep them if possible. The odor will be alomst completley gone from the male and if you do stagered cleaning then there is not the need to remark the entire cage and contents. Finding good educated homes is not easy and the chance of them finding one they will stay in forever is not very favorable I am afraid. Chances are that selling them as a breeding pair will seal their fate and thats all they will be. Neutering will at least allow people to see them as pets instead of a product that produces. So if you do sell them, which I hope you decide not to do, then have the male neutered first. The other thing to consider is that these gliders know you, they will have a hard time going to a new home and it will be stressful for them.

I have 2 neutered males and 3 females. I clean their cage once a week and they it doesn't smell bad. I would suggest you get the male neutered to help with the smell. Also, how often do you clean their cage, toys, and pouches. If you over clean then the male will mark everything like crazy.

neutering will help with the smell, also what diet do you have them on? Diet can affect their smell too.

Don't feel bad - This is a familiar story to us. You were simply misinformed.

Everyone is right about neutering. This reduces the male's "aroma" to almost zero. Also, the staggered cleaning that AngieH mentioned is something to try. If you clean everything at once, the male is compelled to go around and scent mark everything all over again. Try cleaning pouches one day, toys the next, wheel the next, etc.

Hopefully, you won't give up on them. We know a lot of neat tricks to make living with gliders much easier. Maybe we can help!

Little boy gliders really do smell!!! I recently got an unneutered male, Benji. After having 3 girls for 2 years, I couldnt believe how badly he smelled - that one little glider could be so POTENT!!! Seriously, I could hardly stand to be in the same room with him.

After his neutered, the odor is gone - except for the slight musky smell gliders naturally have.

I did backoff on cleaning the cage, I read that could be the cause. However it is still strong, especially the pouches they sleep in. I am going to do as suggested and neuter the male and go from there. They are not picky eaters so far, I guess I am lucky there. I give them fruits and vegetables that are safe for them and a souce of protein every night. As I said they will eat ANYthing that I put in there. For protein I use chicken (boiled), egg, crickets or meal worms. Yogart, I give sparingly and I sprinkle vitamins and calcium on their food. Is there any thing or food that I should change?

well remember that gliders cannot control when they pee or poop so they will go potty in their pouch so remember to wash it but not the same time as the cage or toys.

Remember, even tho we may not like their smell, they find it very pleasing. It is instinctive to mark their "territory". They are exotic animals - and exotic means "wild".

I have found that if you clean in stages it helps as they dont feel like
they have to remark everything to give it their scent.

Take all fleeces items out and wash one day - a couple of days later, take all toys out and wash, a couple of days later - wipe down 1/2 of the cage - a couple of day later, wipe the other half down. Clean the drop pan every 2 or 3 days.

Getting the male neutered will improve things drastically!!! There is always going to be somewhat of a slight odor.

As far as cleaning goes, that part I learned from the others on this site. The smell is part of owning these exotic guys, I am sure of. It just has been hard because I did bite off more than I can chew, due to lack of research. Now I do not want them to be a mistake for someone else, so as I said in earlier post, I have been interviewing interested buyers and no one seems to fit the perfect owner. For example: One lady wants to breeds them and I asked would she sell just one glider to someone if they only wanted one. Unfortunateley for her, she gave me the wrong answer, she said "yes". So they are still here with me until then. Another person that inquired about them said she has just one glider, I asked if they would eventually be put together with that one glider. She said "Oh no, she is happy being with us, I would keep them seperate. Again, wrong answer for her. Am I being to harsh? I could never be a breeder, it is too stressful!

Are you being to harsh??? Absolutely NOT!!! It's so refreshing to come across someone who actually cares enough for their gliders to interview and ask questions of prospective owners.

If you do not want them to go to as a breeding pair, the best thing you could do is get him neutered. Then there would be no worries about it.

Only place them locally - and do a home visit. That will sometimes tell the tale. But unfortunately, after they leave, you will have no control over what happens to them.

I agree with Rita, you are doing a good job. It is important that these little guys stay together, otherwise they are likely to become depressed. These guys need to be in a good home and i'm happy that you are trying to find them one instead of just giving them to whoever.

i agree, im happy you are interviewing people, that makes all of us feel better cause we know that thier are alot of gliders mistreated out there and atleast we know you are trying to prevent that. But like everyone else said, the smell will go away after you get little man fixed, i believe then you would change your mind about finding them a new home, if smell is the only reason. Keep us updated on the neuter and what you decide.

I also agree. Keep doing your home work about rehomeing them. If u don't want them to get abused by having to many babies I would have the male neutered. Thus helps with the smell in turn u might want to keep them. And two they will not breed like rabbits, that is if they stay together in their new home. I plan on check out neutering Maverick as a little man he had realy no smell but as he gets older he is starting to stick.

This wednesday I will take him to the vet for neutering. Anything I should know about? I wish I could take her with him, he will freak out being alone and so will she.

They should be fine. They'll do the surgery pretty quick after he gets there so he'll be feeling REALLY good. He'll still be groggy when you bring him home so by the time he realizes where he is, he'll be home again. She'll probably sleep through the whole thing at home!

http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16183&whichpage=1

Rita is #1 on my list if for some reason I wasn't able to keep my gliders! I would have to be on the street starving of course before I would even consider that... :)

I don't think you are being to harsh either! We love that you are being picky and interviewing people. Just go watch utube on sugargliders and see some of the awful things people do and you will be satisfied with yourself I am sure! Thanks for caring and taking your time to rehome or for just doing research.

Should I just feed them both early evening then they both fast for his surgery? Any suggestions?

When Benji was neutered, the vet told me to feed him normally - and take his food away from him early in the morning. But some vets say nothing after midnight - so call the vet and see what he/she prefers.

The vets office told me today feed normal for the night but no treats in the morning.

That's exactly what I was told too.

Well tomorrow is the big day for Mr Jingles (neutering). Sure glad he does not know it is coming. My vet said to feed as usual, no restrictions. I thought it was odd with other animals no food past midnight. I am going to ask them to trim his nails while he is under.

GOOD LUCK! let us know how it goes!

Tho im not a sugar glider owner (yet ), i do know why the vets dont require a restriction with the feeding of your glider before nutering. All they will be giving him is an injection of a sleep medication that will last for about 15-20 min. With this, they do not haveto put the animal under general anestesia (uugh STILL cant spell it and i have worked at a vet clinic for years!) like isoflouraine. The problem with iso is that it can make an animal aspurate or throw up and then breath it in. Hense the reason why they ask for no food after midnight. Thankfully this will not happen with the injection. And snipping the little guys take no time at all! Thought you would like this fyi! And i hope i will be able to join you guys in the wonderful parenting of these fuzzballs!

All the vets I've been too and seen photos of put the gliders under with a gas, and it lasts much longer than 15-20 minutes. I'm not trying to say I know more than you because I probably don't but Neo had to be under for at least an hour for all his xrays and mulitple problems. If you look through Kazko's photos and I think many of Kissed82 you will see most gliders are put to sleep with a gas. ?

Im sorry.. like i said, im not a glider owner so i dont know the full extent of glider surgery.. we neutered about 7 gliders in my stay at the vet clinic and they were give a injectable anestetic which as i stated before, only lasts 15-20 min. We also use this method frequently to neuter kittens bc it is a very quick process... But i also know that when they gas these little creatures, they dont intubate the animal(or put a esophogeal tube in their throat) which means if an animal aspurates, theres no chance in the aspiration to go back into their lungs causing pneumonia. When they are intubated, the risk is increased and so vets reccomend no food or water after a certain time to allow food to pass into the large intestines. But like i said... I am NOT a glider owner but hope to be one soon. I would love more info about them If you have any great advice!:)

When I took Weasel to the vet over a year ago due to a growth on her pouch - she was such a little snot and would NOT allow the vet to take a look. So rather than stress her further, he gassed her. I went into the operating room with him and he put a bell shaped glass container over her whole body. Oh, it broke my heart to see her look at me and struggle to get out before she fell fast asleep. It didnt take her long to wake up - and was she ever scared and mad! Poor baby.

Benji was also gassed for his neuter in the same manner - by a different vet. He slept for about an hour before he woke up. Unlike Weasel, he was a perfect little guy when he woke up.

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Originally posted by Crystalwinds

Im sorry.. like i said, im not a glider owner so i dont know the full extent of glider surgery.. we neutered about 7 gliders in my stay at the vet clinic and they were give a injectable anestetic which as i stated before, only lasts 15-20 min. We also use this method frequently to neuter kittens bc it is a very quick process... But i also know that when they gas these little creatures, they dont intubate the animal(or put a esophogeal tube in their throat) which means if an animal aspurates, theres no chance in the aspiration to go back into their lungs causing pneumonia. When they are intubated, the risk is increased and so vets reccomend no food or water after a certain time to allow food to pass into the large intestines. But like i said... I am NOT a glider owner but hope to be one soon. I would love more info about them If you have any great advice!:)

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No, no you worked at a vet I just assumed I was wrong. I've never had a vet tell me to take food out of the cage the night before. I would rather for an injection be something quicker. As you probably know when gliders are gassed (maybe even injected) they are usually groggy and don't have such a great grip on things and can dehydrate easily. I am not sure if injections have the side effects. I know when Neo came back from the vet he need a blanket put on the bottom of his cage because he couldn't grip things very good and would fall.

But again, neo was at the vet a lot and usually put under longer than your normal neuter.

Washi and Kioko were neutered last week; I don't know what kind of anesthetic was used, but both boys were awake and alert 45 minutes after they went in. They were in a large critter box, the kind made of the clear plastic, and the pouch was in there - well, they were out and somehow clinging to the sides of the box, it looked like; bright-eyed and scurrying around, not slow or groggy at all. When I had Shikoni done a few years back the (same) vet said no food or water after midnight, so I did the same with the new boys. Surgery was at 8:30; plenty of time for food to pass through.

Dizzy had his neuter just awhile back, and he was like a drunken sailor for a couple of hours. When he came to, it was all of a sudden. I was holding him in his pouch when he freaked out. His neuter was laser. Wonder if that makes a difference ...