Hello. I got my sugar gliders, Lamar and Luna on the 15th of July. I absolutely adore them, everything is great.

However, once in awhile my male glider, Lamar, will bark in the middle of the night. What I'm confused about is that it's not every night, it's only once a week at most, sometimes not even that. I feed them at night so I don't believe it's that he wants food. Does anyone have any idea why? Is there something he might want from me, or why he would be barking?

Also, last weekend they stayed overnight in a travel cage (about the size of a rat cage) because of an emergency, I couldn't drive home in a severe thunderstorm. However, everything was okay for them though because it was at my boyfriends and I have back up stuff. But they both just went CRAZY staying there. Luna, my female, woke me up at 5:15 crabbing so hard about something. We shut off all access to pets, and the only thing I can think of is the water pump was too loud and bothered her, but that seems unlikely, noises don't seem to bother them at my house, and my brother can be quite loud at that time of night normally.

Lamar was also barking at the same time, and it got so bad I took him out, he ran on my arm and stopped, but as soon as I put him back in he wouldn't stop. I tried to offer him food (meat) and he still wouldn't quit. I then put him in his pouch and sat them both next to me while I slept, and they stopped after about five minutes. It seems unlikely that after less than a month, they are already that bonded to me that they cry for me at night, so does anyone have any ideas of what Lamar and Luna want that I could be forgetting?

OH P.S.

I forgot to mention that at night in my house, when I turn on the tv, Lamar will almost immediately stop barking. This didn't work at my boyfriends though. (Luna never crabs at my house)

Glider Barking......

I have seen a lot of people asking what glider barking means or why do they do it? And I thought I'd touch base on some of the reasons why.



1. Glider's bark when they are new to a home or there are other new animals, smells or noises in their established homes.

2. Glider's have an alert bark as well. They let you/ other gliders know when something isn't right in their home. They've alerted me when a glider has gotten hung up in a pouch or a toy. I've had gliders bark to let me know another glider was loose or once an outside door was open and they barked up a storm till I woke up, saw the back door was open and shut it and they all went on with their normal nightly routine. They can also hear things outside that we may not.... strange animals in the yard, etc. They are also aware of storms that are coming in.

3. Gliders are really good at training us for treats. I had a couple of gliders that barked every night at 3am..... I got up offered treats to try and settle them down and I'd go back to bed. This happened for quite some time till I was made aware that they were training me to get up to give them treats every night. I stopped getting up to that particular bark and they eventually stopped doing it at 3am. Lol.

4. Some gliders like to talk to each other by barking while others I swear just like the sound of their voice.

5. Some gliders like to bark when they are genuinely lonely or bored and are seeking out attention.

Every bark either means something or it doesn't. Barks sound different for different things, so pay close attention to why or when they are barking and you'll soon be able to notice what they want or why they are barking in the first place and you'll be better prepared when walking up to the cage, either with a treat, pouch for bonding time or you will know when something is wrong.

Courtesy of Sherri Lamb ~ Newby's Glider Nook

She just posted this the other day and it was easier than typing it all out and wording it myself before my coffee sinks in

The boyfriends house is a new environment for them so it could have been anything from the different sounds, smells of other pets, the weather, something outside, or just making sure you were still there etc... you were the most familiar thing to them.

I did my research, so I am aware of general reasons of barking, but I'm looking for maybe thoughts on a specific reason why he would bark in these cases because it seems a bit odd, especially when some nights at my house he just doesn't stop, leading me to believe it's something more than just an odd noise, (especially at 4-5 am, nothing going on in our house, and they aren't anywhere near a window, plus I have blackout, sound out, heat cancellation curtains). It's only Lamar as well, Luna almost never barks or crabs (only at the boyfriends was she crabbing--- which could be because it was a weird place).

Your asking a question that really doesn't have a specific answer.

Being that there are so many possibilities and i can only go off your description I can't give you a specific reason. It's like asking a vet for a diagnosis on the phone...

Even here at my own house with my own gliders there are times I can't come up with a specific reason for long barking sessions and no one else can either.

Usually i chalk it up to the moon phase or the girls are in heat, or weather changes which include barometric pressure changes that don't usually affect humans but CAN affect small animals including gliders. Or just the fact that they can bark so they just do for no reason at all.

I also posted about barking last night (see barking during tent time) and I have since concluded that it was probably the weather since it has been raining since yesterday morning. My boys have only barked one other time while I was in the same room and it was Chip in the back of his cage. I still have no idea about that one either. Maybe they are sending messages to other gliders telepathically about their plans to take over the world. I swear they are way smarter than we give them credit for.