Hi everyone. I'm a brand new sugar glider mom of just over a week now and everything has been going flawlessly, however, I have to "go home" which is 5 hours away, for Mother's Day weekend, and will be hesitantly leaving my 2 precious gliders alone for the first time, for 2 nights. I have read in other threads on here that people do leave them for a couple of nights, and that they just leave dehydrated fruits, veggies and chicken breast out for them while they are gone, however, here is my issue that I need your help with.
I have a small issue though, because I live in a small town in Ontario, Canada, with only one pet store, which does NOT carry anything SPECIFICALLY for exotic pets, however they do carry organic dehydrated chicken, and dehydrated fruits, but I am unsure if this particular one I found online will be good for them. The only dehydrated fruit that I have found that they carry, that has no preservatives is "Brown's Tropical Carnival - Fruit and Nut Cockatiel Treats", however, I have no idea how to attach a picture of the product (this is my very first post) as when I tried to attached pic just now it came back with an error 38?)....so here is the link to the website and the specific product I am referring to:
petvalu.com/product/50236/fruit-nut-cockatiel-treats-browns

Hopefully this product will work and be good/okay for my babies for 2 nights!!

Please, I need your help because I am leaving early tonight and need to make sure they are set.
Thank you soooooo very much!!!

Also, I just found his one ad well, but I'm uncertain about all the other iffy aka non-food ingredients:
petvalu.com/product/50604/tropical-carnival-crinkle-crisps-with-fruit-browns

Or.....would I be better off checking my grocery store for dehydrated fruits? If so, and IF they carry them, which fruits would be best to leave for 2 nights?

As for veggies, I am thinking of leaving baby carrots, cut length-wise in half.what other fresh veggies could I leave out for them that wont spoil being set out at room temp for 2 nights?

I've never left my gliders without a pet-sitter, so I can't comment on what's best to do while leaving them alone.

Here is a list of fruits/veggies that don't need to be refrigerated, though, so I hope that helps some. Obviously not everything on this list is for gliders (I don't think suggies like coffee haha) but some of them are good suggestions. farmersalmanac.com/home-garden/2015/02/23/foods-dont-refrigerate/

As for the pet store dried fruit you were looking at, the sulfur dioxide in it is a preservative. It's generally agreed that it's safe for most pets. Sugar gliders are exotic, though, and fairly new as pets so there's a lot we don't about them. Like, for example, whether or not they react to 'safe' preservatives the way most common pets do. So sulfur dioxide isn't definitely bad for them . . . but it's not definitely safe for them either. It'd probably be a better bet to check your grocery store or a health food store if you have one nearby.

KatieDidnt - Thank you so much for your reply! I feel so bad for leaving my new suggies alone, but sadly I wasn't able to set up a babysitter for them. Their previous owner would have but she isn't home until tomorrow afternoon at sometime.#128532;

I wonder if travelling 4-1/2 to 5 hours by car (one way) would be too stressful for them (that's why I didn't bring them this time, being my first time away from them and not sure they would be "welcomed" where we are staying either.#128543; But I don't know if having them in my bonding pouch would be okay for the duration of the trip or not. I really don't want to stress them out unnecessarily either.#128533;

As for the preservatives...yes, you are right. I am uneasy feeding them any preservatives and never have since the day I got them, however, although I am FAR from a sugar glider expert, I feel/think that they would be better off getting their fruit that they need more than the little bit of preservatives that are in the dehydrated food for 2 nights. Does that make any sense?

Again, thank you so much for your reply and the link!

Have a fantastic weekend!

I'm no expert either lol. I think so much about sugar gliders is still unknown that a LOT of things (like the sulfur dioxide) are left up to a glider parent's best guess. It drives me crazy; I don't like being unsure about things!

I used to take my gliders to and from school with me back before I graduated. It wasn't quite as long as five hours (only about 3), but they were perfectly fine hanging out in their pouch for that time. If you travel during the day, I imagine they'd just sleep the whole time? I used to put a few apple slices in their pouch during the trip in case they woke up and wanted a snack, plus the juice from the apple kept them hydrated.

Anyway, enjoy your trip home and have a great weekend! =)

I'm sure every glider has their own reaction, but....

We have traveled by car for several hours (over 8) with a pair of gliders and it went fine. We have even spent the night in a hotel! (Take a tent along.) We drive during the day so they are sleeping and we take a Critter cage (a hampster cage) for the night. Just have to be extra sure they have water and some food to snack on even if they don't eat a lot of it. We try to take juicy/moist food so they get extra water. Change is stressful for them so you just kind of have to try it once to see how it goes. The Pampered Glider sells travel cages that look cool! I don't have one yet.

Also, do you leave a dry food in the cage for them all the time to munch on? If I had to leave them I would add that to the dehydrated fruit. The Pet Glider sells a good one on their website.

Let us know how it goes, **fingers crossed**

I took my little ones on a 17 hour trip last summer (and will be doing so again this year). We put them in a bunny carrier (fabric material with a mesh window) and they did pretty good. They just hid under their blanket together almost the entire time and didn't get up until the last 10 minutes.
We have the critter nation/all living things double high cage and brought half of it with us and they were happy for our week long trip.

Thank you so very much, everyone! You have totally made all of this a lot easier for me, and it helped that my mom, sister & brother are very curious about them, after showing pics and videos of my darling suggies, so the next time we come back down, they will be welcomed here...Not to mention, knowing they the 11 hour round trip drive (4.5 hours Friday and then go back home on the Sunday wouldn't be as stressful for my suggies as I originally thought!
So that takes a lot of stress off of me for next time! :D

Again, thank you all so much for your help and input! It is truly appreciated!!!

Happy Mother's Day!