So with so many people wanting to get a gliders I figure I could share a rough cost on what it will cost you to help you get an ideal if you want to keep researching. I can only offer The rough pricing I spent in the last 1 ( then I cut in half cause we have at least 2 separate colonies right now.)

Cage ( biggest and most important piece) 190- 250 dollars( this is not a high end cage)

Wheel(s) expect to spend 50-60 bucks on a proper glider safe wheel.

water bottle 14 buck for at least 2 ( glass) water bottles to hang in the cage)

toys ( I think we spent about 30 a month on toys at times)

Cage sets( not counting a cage cover ) at least 30 bucks ( times at least 2 we have at least 4 per cage)

Pouches ( this will vary from a cheaper made to a quality pouch ( my wife makes ours and are nice and run about 20 bucks each ( we have 3 each (total of at least 6)

Food This will vary with the diet you use. ( we are using CritterLove diet ( HPW formula) plus veggies and fruits I guessing her e at about 120 a month with everything.
I not counting treats shipping or vet care (which will also need doing for wellness checks.
Without a glider you are already in the area of 530 bucks Now figure in a the other items looking at about another 4-500 with a glider and it goes up more with a second glider. ( specially if you don't get gliders that were raised together.)
I can tell you right now we spend about 400 a month in just food and HPW ( will go up more when the other 2 arrive this weekend)

Now if you need to have your glider taken to a vet for illness or surgery due to injury plan to pay at least 400 bucks at least. I know a lady who spent 3000 trying to save a single glider ( for her daughter) and still end up putting her to sleep as it was too late. ( all due to a PP cage that had a defect )
I will inform you that if you think breeding will make you money ( IT WONT) By the time you find raise and if lucky produce Joeys you will be in the hole at least 3 grand in just to maintain them and There is another can of Trouble that can raise from breeding.

Thank you, very informational post.

As mentioned above, the price will vary depending on the care you give your gliders.

I would like to add something in regards to breeding. Gliders are going down in price given how breeders keep lowering the prices in order to be able to house their joeys. I'll give you an example: I have caramel gliders, when I bought my first pair (as pet only) in 2013 they were $450 each (and that was considered reasonable), I am getting another pair this year(again as pet only) and their price has gone down to $350 each; older gliders are as low as $200-$250 each. Having said so, you can see how you will not be making so much by becoming a breeder.

Even with rare colors you may not be making back much more money. A few years ago creminos were sold for $2500 minimum, now you can buy a cremino in the low $1000s, and older gliders for even less.

Then, on top of that, breeders have to deal with people that will sell a classic gray for as low as $75. The people that offer prices like these keep their gliders in deplorable conditions without lineages of any type, and that is why they are able to offer "such deals"; but for breeders that care and give a proper environment to their gliders, competing against that is impossible, and you just end bankrupted.

I am not saying this to criticize anyone, just to raise a point that should be considered when trying to get into breeding.

The other thing people overlook is vet care. While gliders don't need vaccines, and if kept in a good conditions, they usually stay healthy. A glider can only be seen by an exotic veterinarian, which racks up the price a lot if they get sick with whatever.

For those trying to get a glider as a pet only, the lowering in prices may be a good thing. But the expense of the items to keep a healthy glider doesn't change, it actually goes up with time. As an example again, I'll use myself, though I am one of those that may give more than the bare minimum. In 2013:

1 Large Sturdy cage = $190
2 Cage sets and toys = $250
2 Wheels = $80
2 Bonding pouches = $50
1 Initial check-up = $150

TOTAL = $720

That is without the shipping and the food, and with some discounts.

Now, I have to go through a similar process for my new gliders and the prices are:

1 Large Sturdy cage = $225
2 Cage sets and toys (not as much) = $250
2 Wheels = $100
2 Bonding Colony pouches = $75
1 Initial check-up = $175

TOTAL = $825

That's around %15 increase in price in just 2 years. It may not seem like much, but it can hurt your pocket. Meanwhile the gliders' price have changed by around %30 (or more like %28.5), which again, can be good news for pet owners and bad for breeders.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it offers some perspective.

This is awesome! Thanks you two for all the hard work.

Mechnut - what does PP cage stand for and what was the defect? (Im curious and paranoid lol)

Out of honest curiosity- what on earth are you feeding your gliders that costs you $400/month? Or how many do you have?

I have 2 gliders, using CritterLove Complete, with fruits and veggies every night and even with the cost of kale, turnip, green beans, sweet peas, oranges, mangoes, papayas, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, okra, turnip greens, bok Choy, raspberries, and a few others slipping my mind at the moment, I've spent a TOTAL of $30 on fruits and veggies and I think my 1lb bag of CritterLove wasn't terribly more than that... So $70 total? And that's for the 2 months I've had them, and have a ton of f/v in the freezer right now.

Everything else is incredibly informative. I didn't realize how much I was spending on these guys LOL

PP cage means PocketPet's cage a well known and not well liked glider "broker". At one time the cages they were selling were Toxic resulting in a lot of sick and even dead gliders. Since then they have changed the material used for their "starter" cages but some of us assume some of the old toxic ones may still be floating around and being used. There are just so many people that try to recoup their loss of money and resell their cage with out telling unsuspecting buyers of the danger of the cages.

@courtneyparke

I think Mechnut450 has a couple colonies, But I only have 2 gliders and honestly I think there is more glider food in my fridge and freezer than there is people food and that's not even counting all the "snacks" on top of their cage lol.

We went to the store one night to get a couple things for dinner, we ended up buying 2 things for us and 60 worth of stuff for the gliders lol. It can add up pretty quickly lol When we first got them we thought sweet they will be cheap to feed we pretty much buy the same stuff already hahahahaaaaaa. These babies are spoiled rotten when it comes to food and anything else

the pp defect was the shelf in the cage had a wire that was cut (wrong) and let a needle like piece and the glider cut her foot and tail on it and the infection spread fast.( multiply trips to the 24 hour vet ran the price up quick) we have 6 gliders and ( I have 2 more coming ) go though a lot of food ( and it was to been 200 not 400 lol) I was talking on the phone with a coworker about snakes when I was typing. I remember seeing someone say they had something like 80 + gliders for their personal pets and I can only wish I had that kind of resources to care for them.

Wow, 80 gliders, that's quite the work they would require.

My breeders, who also run a rescue, currently have around 50-60 gliders under their care. Just for food they spend $100/month on staple (they are given huge discounts and don't have to pay for shipment) and around $70/week on fruits and veggies; that ends up being around $400/month on food alone. But to them, the hardest part is finding the time to dedicate them in order to socialize these gliders, especially the rescues.

And vet bills is something you don't even one to hear about. They are currently taking care a glider that had to have it's tail and left, back leg amputated, plus all the medication he required; even with discounts from the vet, this glider's medical bill runs up to $3,000+

I can't even imagine how 1 person alone can take care of 80 gliders all by himself/herself.

Hey rustypossumfart I don't remember what part of the country your at. But here in florida we have farmers markets year round that we frequent.

It got me thinking one day about how much my local rescue spends on fruits n veg considering how much I know we spend on just two... So I contacted the farmers market people and a few of the vendors now donate BOXES of fresh fruit and veg to the rescue.

Most vendors cut up "sample" fruits and veg and have some "sample" left over at the end of the day and a lot of their produce gets bruised from transporting and can be deemed "not sellable" but it's still fresh produce, So they either feed it to pigs or cows or just toss it on the compost. Now a few of the vendors gives all that produce to the rescue once a week.

The rescue gets so much Sam almost needs a second fridge and freezer to store it Anyway, if you have markets even just in the summer time this kind of arrangement can really benefit a rescue...

It does take some time to prep and cut the produce and some pf ot does need to just be tossed out, but not very much of it. Anyway it's just a thought that might help your local rescue too.

I am in Georgia. But that is a really good idea, I'll bring it up to them this weekend when I visit, see what they say. They live in a more remote area, so I don't know what they have around,, nonetheless is worth trying.

Thanks Leela!

That what we do visit the farmer market every weekend we are off together. ( once or 2x a month if lucky.) I wish I had a rescue that could use the help ( I clean animal pens at work so doing so at a rescue would not be any different ( outside of me being a little slower than most people) I have plenty of time since I only work 3-5 hours a day so I got the rest of my day either idle or doing house cleaning.

ok here some Fresh info. I am receiving 2 gliders tomorrow. so I figure I add some of the cost they will be needing for supplies.

New cage ( found a little smaller than our larger cages ( must check to se if fits in room after QT )
wheel
water bottles( picking up at work )
fleece items ( cage sets and such ( in-house special from my wife) )
wellness check planned for late Tuesday
added food supplies and such for them
looking at least 500 bucks

( wife will going to kill me when she sees I took it from savings on sunday, so if mia a few days I sleeping in the cold shed as she spoils the new kids ) lol
I shall be taking short videos of the gliders as it goes with these w2 to larger share with a everyone.

Update this , The 2 glider never came ( the member could not bring herself to give them up and has been working around keeping them she plans. I did receive 4 other glider ( plus one later this week that ll got home ready for them once i deem them ready and i been working with them so much I think i smell more like a glider than a human these days. but I love it)

I figure once most of our snakes are either passed on or re homed ( wife seems to only want to keep set ones for special breeding projects ) I may turn my attention to more rescue based work with my free time as i plan on this summer to be my last year grass cutting on my days off ( I might keep a few just to make sure my grandmother and family cared for and 1 up here that been paying me well) then it all glider based for me since we won't/dont have kids and I will be spending way too much time at home.

I just purchased my first pair of gliders this month here is the breakdown of what I spent:

Essentials:

• Gliders - 2 @ $225 a piece = $450


• Cage - $160 + $60 shpping = $220


• Cage Set - $40


• Water Bottle - $15


• Food - $60 (Pricsilla Price Diet)


• Bonding Pouch - $15


• Playcube - $20


• Wheel - $65


• Extra Shipping - $25


• Initial Vet Check - $125

Total Essentials: $1035

Extra's:

• Various other toys (random stuff) - $150


• Fleece rolls (to make my own stuff) - $40


• Meal worms - $15


• Nail clippers - $15


• Other small stuff - $40

Total Extra's: $260

Total Total: $1295

I estimate that with the food and the extra toys that I will buy on a monthly basis that monthly they will cost me roughly $60-$100 per month.

Unless you go the route we have and get things a little at a time. We had no wheel to start out, didn't know we had to get one. Then we got a baby raptor because it was the smallest and only one that would fit in our cage.

That was $45
we got 2 bonding pouches with the whole shmear we got first; 2 gliders, dishes, water bottle, blankets. The breeder said no toys at all at first it will only hinder the bonding process as joeys. (I'm not saying he was right, just that is what he said). So we purchased toys a little at a time starting at the 2 month mark.A toybox (free)full of lids and rings off of pop bottles and milk jugs, plastic armymen that we had for a game of my husbands' , and plastic lids off of insuling syringes.

Then gradually we bought things a few at a time as we found them: hanging rope bird toys for $10,a pouch off of ebay for $13,
and then last summer a Madagascar cage on sale for $169.
Just saying it can be done for cheaper.