Hi, I have just started looking into owning a glider and I have a few questions, but first a little about me. I am a pet owner I have three gerbils and a hamster. I love these small furry critters and when I looked into sugar gliders I fell in love. I know they are not rodent's and understand they are more care than my other pet's. I live in a smoke free home and have the means to feed and sustain all my "babies". Anyway the questions are:

1. Is a sugar glider worth owning. (I want to be sure I will be committed before purchasing a glider.)
2. What kind of cage and supplies do I need? I'm not a fancy person. I just need supplies that are of a good quality, but not over the top expensive.
3. Where is a good place/site to get my glider from if I decide on purchasing one? I would like to purchase a baby girl.

They are great pets but they require a lot of your time. They should be taken out of their cage every day.

You need a very large cage. Look at exotic nutrition's website or critterlove.com for cages. They need to be 3 or 4 feet high 2 feet wide and 2-3 feet long. (Somethings like that) You'll need fleece pouches, toys, glider safe wheel, bonding pouch, more toys lol.

Try to find someone giving away a glider. There are many out there even babies. Keep doing research on this website. Last of all always get more than 1 glider. They should never be alone.

Thank you! I will definitely do some more research and thank you for answering my biggest question about the cages.

How would this cage do? Is it too much, too little, or just right?
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Welcome to the forum and thank you for doing your research before bringing sugar gliders into your home.

1. Is a sugar glider worth owning. (I want to be sure I will be committed before purchasing a glider.)

Definitely worth owning - but you will find them much more high maintenance than you hamsters or gerbils. Healthy, well cared for gliders also live much longer than your other palls. They are a long term commitment because they can live up to 15 years

2. What kind of cage and supplies do I need? I'm not a fancy person. I just need supplies that are of a good quality, but not over the top expensive.

The Brisbane cage is the smallest I would recommend for TWO sugar gliders. If you can afford to go larger the Congo Cage is a good choice.

http://www.sugar-glider-store.com/brisbane-cage.html

http://www.sugar-glider-store.com/newstca.html

There are no adequate prepackaged foods sold in pet stores for sugar gliders. There are a number of widely used feeding plans you might consider using. All of these have a nectar like staple that provides the protein, vitamins and calcium gliders need to remain healthy. The staple is fed with a wide variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables each night. One batch of the staple will last 2 gliders about a month and it is stored frozen in ice cube trays.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/Staple-Recipes.html

You will also need a glider safe wheel (very different from your other pets) because gliders have long tails that are easily broken by unsafe wheels. I have links to several on my web page.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/FAQ.html


3. Where is a good place/site to get my glider from if I decide on purchasing one? I would like to purchase a baby girl.

I strongly urge you to purchase TWO gliders from the same breeder or owner. Gliders are colony animals and really do need a companion of their own kind to share grooming, warmth while sleeping, and play time at night while their human companions are sleeping.

Last bit of information - you may find it necessary to house your sugar gliders in a room away from the hamsters and gerbils. Gliders would consider them to be prey and if the gliders ever had access to either - they could do some serious damage or even kill them. Even with all cages secured, the presence of the other animals in the room might cause your gliders to spend a good bit of the night either crabbing (a very angry noise) at them or just barking all night long. Gliders sound like tiny dogs when they bark and it is loud enough that I can hear my gliders through the bedroom wall.

It was the Brisbane cage I was looking at. Also, thank you for the information! I knew they were more work to take care of than my other critters. I feel ready to advance! Another question, is it possible to introduce glider's by the "split cage" method? I have done this successfully with gerbil's before. Would glider's adjust the same? Also, what wheel do you recommend?

Splitting the cage to house two gliders until you can introduce them to each other can work but only if the divider is something they cannot reach through - they would grab each other's tails or even bite between the bars if they can reach each other.

If you get two gliders from different sources the 30 day quarantine is recommended which means NO CONTACT between the two gliders until both have had well check ups with a vet and two fecal tests 30 days apart to ensure that neither has parasites to share with the other. If introductions are done before the second fecal testing there is a chance that parasites were in a dormant phase at the first testing and then both gliders would need to be treated if either has parasites and they have been housed together.

Getting a 2nd glider later does not always work out - sometimes 2 gliders are just not compatible cagemates and will fight so that they cannot be housed together - leaving you with two cages and two gliders in need of a companion.

If at all possible get two gliders that are either young joeys from the same breeder, or two that have already been introduced to each other and already are best friends. You will then not need to mess with (or worry about) introductions.

Young joeys that are 8 to 12 weeks OOP are usually quite easy to introduce to each other and very often the breeder will do the introductions for you before you pick them up. If they are from the same breeder you would not need to do quarantine because if either was exposed to parasites - the other probably was too by being in the same household.