I am building a cage for my sugar gliders. I bought one and was not happy with it. I was planning on building it out of PVC and PVC covered mesh. Does anybody know if gliders have a habit of chewing on PVC and is it poisonous to them? Also I really love the look of wood but I don't want it soaking up their odors. Is there any type of coating I could use on the wood that would prevent it soaking up urine while still being non-toxic?


Thanks Everybody!

well, the pvc coated mesh your referring to as poisonous, is metal wire coated with a pvc rubber, and i dont recall details of which company, because, i chose to just completely stay away from any type of pvc coated metal.

that being said, i used (like many others on here) what they call "hardware cloth" typically sold at lowes,homedepot, etc in the landscaping section.

www.lowes.com/pd_157763-13113-751397_4294936085__?productId=3457514&Ntt=hardware+net&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Dhardware%2Bnet&facetInfo=

that is 100% plastic, no metal. and the plastic is safe. the only problem with going this route, is if you have chewers. i was fortunate enough, mine dont have much of a chewing problem, *knocks on wood*. what you could do, is buy a cageset off ebay already made from the hardware cloth (or buy a roll and make stuff yourself) and try it out as cage items to see if they chew it. my gliders will chew army guys but not this mesh, i dont think theyve ever even tried.


and as far as the wood, there are ways i guess that you could coat it to not soak up the urine, but pvc is cheaper and easier to deal with imo.

Good reply!

I am a cabinet maker and I chose PVC. There are coatings you could use on wood that would be safe and effective. Mine have never tried chewing the plastic mesh. There are also sources for the 1/2 x 1 14 gauge wire mesh that is heavy enough to stand alone without a frame.
Happy Landings!

I actually have built and am using a PVC Cage with Mesh. It's a relatively inexpensive alternative to traditional wire cages and allows you to "customize" the dimensions (mine is 36" x 21" x 76"). The Gliders seem to love the space this cage provides them with. :) However, the mesh can also make it a pain in the butt to clean (debris and food getting caught between mesh and PVC piping). You also will not be able to hang really heavy cage items, it will tear the mesh (I found that out the hard way, lol).

If you have any questions, you can shoot me a message. :)

Thanks everybody! Your posts were so helpful. I think I'm going to go with the pvc and mesh. This cage is going to be a monster because I'm making it a double with a removable divider in the middle. That way I can have 2 families in essentially one cage (as long as they don't try to attack each other in between the mesh).

Yes, please be careful - I ended up with several injured Gliders doing just that.

Oh yea I'm more thinking along the lines when my gliders have babies again I can separate them so that they don't inbreed.

That is just it, iF they are good enough friends to not try to eat each other thru the mesh, they are good enough friends to share a cage. Also, if you put two families on either side of a mesh divider that is more incentive to try to penetrate the mesh. Am I making sense? I do not say such often, but I think this is a recipe for unhappiness/disaster. I know any of my groups if I tried to move them in "next door" with only a mesh panel between, there would be blood and death. Be careful!

Oh no I understand completely, that is why in my cage design I am also going to have a tray. So they can be completely separated if need be. I also have 2 other separate cages in case. If they didn't get along of course I wouldn't put them right next to each other.

Cool! Ya had me goin there for a minute. I have found plenty of stupid ways to let gliders get killed. No body else needs to be dreamin up any more!

Happy landings!

Haha! Yea I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my babies health.

I finally finished the cage....

Its massive. 6 ft tall and 3 ft wide. They are loving it. I didn't add the second tray like I wanted but in the future I could still divide it I'll just have to be extra careful. I would probably have to make it solid so that they can't bite through it. But ill tackle that hurdle when I get to it.

I also got my gliders and easter basket with treats, new dishes and a tunnel...They love it! They refused to leave the tunnel. I diffidently have bottom dwelling sugar gliders.

Images! Pictures! Photos! How am I going to poach all your good ideas if there are no pictures!

Will do, I left my camera at my brother's house. I will be getting it back today and will be uploading some stuff.

That is my new sugar glider cage to the left of the old. Look at the size difference. The whole front except the foot on the bottom is ALL door. It only has 2 platforms but It has tunnels that I made out of the hardware netting. And don't worry about the bird perches that are in the old cage. They weren't in it before. I just put them in there for my parakeet.


6ft tall
3ft wide
2ft deep

130 ft of 1/2" pvc
2 rolls of hardware netting
1000 zip ties
About 50 elbows, including about 14 specialty elbows.
A small amt of pvc glue (don't worry it's not accessible for them to chew)
An old tray from a parrot cage.
A PVC cutting tool. About $14
This cost right about $175 and it was 100% customizable.

It still needs a little work. For example the doors are slightly off so I'm going to have to tweak them.

OH yea sorry the pic isn't better quality. Since I don't have my camera I took a pic on my phone, which sucks.

Nicely done! I'm a cabinetmaker and the PVC door frames kinda worked me a little so don't feel bad. You got the mesh nice and tight too. I do not know if it is important or not, but I was told a zip tie every three holes. I guess as long as they stay IN the cage it does not matter if it is three holes or five! All in all, Great Work!
Happy Landings!

Thank you. We just put zip ties however far were needed. As long as there isn't 1/2 in gap were fine. With the doors there is a gap at the top, slightly over 1/2". I was just tying it shut. But what I'm going to do is cut a large enough piece of hardware fence, zip tie it at the top and have twist ties on the front so I can easily access the cage. Cus I'm a 5ft girl. So I have to get on a chair every time i need to get in the cage. Unless anybody has any other suggestions for an easy safe fix

I made my doors just a tiny bit bigger than the opening. Then put a stop behind and a handle in the middle. This way I just tap the door in place and no latch or twist ties required. I have also seen people run the mesh just past the opening OR use closed cell foam pipe insulation...

Awesome job!! The space difference is phenomenal...they have to be loving it! Did you design it yourself?

We found a similar design on line and my fiance built it, but he decided to wing it and did it all 100% our own design.