Today my sugar glider, Jack, died. I found him this morning acting very strange. First he was trying to sleep in his food bowl so I put in in a different pouch thinking he might need some alone time from his cage mate, Rose. Then I came in an hour later and saw him on the bottom of the cage. He was clenching his hands and feet then unclenching them and shivering. I picked him up and started to cuddle him. I gave him some water which was followed by him vomiting. My sister came home (he is actually hers) and then took over watching him. My sister said she saw puss on his genitals before he died. About an hour ago he died. We were planning on taking him to the vet tomorrow in hopes he would get better today.

I've been feeding them fresh fruits, vegetables, glider complete pellets, and instant-HPW HIGH-PROTEIN SUGAR GLIDER FOOD. I sometimes add honey, more protein, calcium, and/or extra vitamins to it if I haven't made it for a while. Which I recently found out I shouldn't do and have stopped as of yesterday when I found out. The one thing that was weird is some of the snap peas were purple. We checked the others we have, but none were purple. We are still going to throw it out for safe measures. The food we were using for the last week were food from my father's friend's garden.

The cage is kept as clean as possible and the tray is cleaned out at least once a week.

I'm not sure exactly what could have been the problem, but if you have an idea I would love to know. I have other sugar glider and I don't want it to happen to them. If you have an suggestions on how to take care of them I would love to hear it.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Perhaps you should consider a wellness check for Rose.

It is always best to follow directions exactly when mixing the nectar, so your babies get the proper balanced nutrition.

That's the plan. We are trying to get a hold of the vet which is difficult. We are watching her in case she shows the same signs as Jack. I was already planning to fix the diet before he showed signs of sickness. When he started to show signs he then died four hours later. Only a small small part of him was turning brown when I decided it was time for a diet fix up. He also could have had a health problem from his previous owner. I just wish I knew what the problem was instead of having to guess.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I took Rose and him to the vet. He looked at the body and at Rose and said they look healthy and isn't sure why he died. He didn't seem to know a lot so there might still be a problem. I'm going to try fixing up the diet and see if that works for the brown coloring and hopefully avoiding another death.