The following is basically the words of Val (Jackie_Chan’s_Mom aka Something_to_Believe_In) with a few words from Shawna (USMom). But, it represents all of us at the SUGAR group. Val, Shawna, Myself, Michelle (Peace), Alden (Valkyriemome), Linda (Lsardou), and Kate (thefotokat).



I want to make you all aware of a new organization formed for the purpose of research and study of sugar gliders.

The SUgar Glider Advanced Research (SUGAR) Group was formed from the desire to learn more and know more in order to increase the quality of life of our sugar gliders and to increase the lifespan of ALL gliders. The SUGAR Group is registered as a non-profit organization in the state of Texas. Many months ago, a group of dedicated glider owners came together and began laying the foundation for the SUGAR Group’s initial survey.

The SUGAR Group’s mission statement reads as follows:
The SUGAR Group aims to improve the care and treatment of sugar gliders nationwide by compiling and analyzing data and statistics regarding sugar glider life, care, treatment & death and utilizing that analysis to facilitate the development of improved treatment techniques, care advice, diet, medications and veterinary/rehabilitation care

We are VERY excited to begin compiling data. BUT, this will not happen without YOU. We need every glider owner to consider completing this initial survey and to be open to completing more surveys in the future. WE have already begun working on other surveys which will delve into subjects of glider life on a more detailed and intensive scale. But, right now we have our first survey - one that could be completed by ANY glider owner no matter the number of gliders living in the home. It does take some time to complete, but it is well worth it. Imagine the progress we can make if we only had accurate data and statistics!!!

So, if you are willing to complete the survey, send an email to sugargroup@hotmail.com requesting a copy of the survey. The survey will be emailed to you. You can then print it out, fill it in, and mail it back to us.

We will be making quarterly reports on our findings thus far, with suggestions if they are warranted. Quarterly reports will begin in Feb. of ‘09 - giving us a little extra time to get initial surveys in.
In the future, you can expect to see:
* A website that will be made public once it is fully ready. The website is on hold because it largely deals with some other projects the SUGAR Group will be working on.
* Studies which address diet, breeding, rescues, illness, surgery, colors, etc on a much more detailed scale.
* The Necropsy Effort

So, keep your eyes and ears open! You WILL be hearing from us.

Something that was not mentioned, in our excitement, all of the information provided on these surveys will be entirely confidential. None of your personal information will be available to anyone other than the person compiling the data, and will never be provided to the public. Our concern is not who you are, but the information you provide.

Some of you have received an email today containing two new surveys from the SUGAR group. We are now working toward defining some trends in vet care and in medication usage and we need your help!

We continue to collect initial surveys from those of you who have not completed yours. Please let us know if you need the initial survey sent to you as well. We need as many surveys as we can get to have accurate data! Please complete your surveys and get them back to us as soon as possible.

Look for more surveys in the near future. We are working hard to create several more. We must continue this forward movement if we are to make a difference for our babies!

As a reminder: We also need for each of you to commit to sending in vet information, necropsy reports and lab test results. Without this data, we cannot make changes.
The SUGAR group has also developed a form that your vet can fill out for a wellness check or for a visit with a sick or injured glider. These forms are quick to fill out and will help to provide us with the same information from many different vets. If your vet will be willing to complete this form for us, please request the form in an email to the SUGAR group. We would love to send them to EVERY glider owner and begin receiving them back as well.

The SUGAR group is committed to continuing our research in order to better the care and treatment that we give our gliders now and in the future. Thank you for your participation!


Mods, I hope it's okay that I put this here - we would just love to get as much feedback and completed surveys as possible!

Thank you!!

I filled it out a few days ago.

I would be glad to help out. I am going to be taking my newbies to the vet soon for a wellness check.

Awesome - thank you!!

Join our facebook group to get updates and keep in touch! Error, missing URL. f

Bumping!

Thank you for bumping this. I just sent in my e-mail requesting the survey.

I just sent the request for the survey

Thank you all so much!!

Bumping again! :D

And again! :)

Let's keep those surveys coming!

I emailed for mine as well!!

I sent an email :]

Mee to mee to!

Brenda, have there been any reports out yet? Are you finding interesting info?

Just curious, what qualifications does the group have? Or is the group just comprised of glider owners?

The SUGAR group is registered as a non-profit organization in the state of Texas and is staffed by glider owners as well as professional statisticians, vets, a labrotory technician, a biotechnologist, and several masters level degreed health care professionals.

Got to get a survey. This is very exciting!

This post dropped off the board...so I am helping bump it up again!!

Thanks for the help! Kyro, so far we are still in the gathering information stage. :)

I'm putting my surveys in the mail tomorrow!

Just emailed a request for the survey.

Remember to send an email to sugargroup@hotmail.com requesting your surveys! We can’t do this without your help! Thank you!

yay! just e-mailed my request!

My survey request is on the way!

Thank you!!!

Let's keep those surveys coming in, guys!

Whoops! I forgot about mine! Our printer wasn't hooked up when I first requested them. I will go do that now! Sorry!

Emailing survey request now. Thank you! This is very interesting

Please note that the email address for requesting the surveys has been changed to sugargroupsurveys@hotmail.com. We will still receive your emails if you sent them to the old email address, but please use the new one from now on. Thank you!

If you want to help with our research, please email sugargroupsurveys@hotmail.com to request copies of our surveys. Sugar Gliders and the people who love them will be very appreciative for all your help!!