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Sounds

Gliders do make many different sounds.

BARKING

The most annoying sound to the owner will be the late night barking. Barking is simply a very loud repeated "bark" that they use to find others. I think they use this as part of their mating practices as well. This must be taken into consideration when buying a glider as a pet for the first time. You will find that the "all night" barking can drive you nuts and keep you awake at night. Best thing to do is to put the cage in a separate room away from people. If the barking is still annoying, you can turn on a light and they most likely will stop.

Temperature and environment seems to have no factor with barking. No one is really sure precisely what it means, but barking is normal and can also be collective. Typically one animal will bark alone, male OR female. I think it is a call saying hello I'm here come to me and not necessarily a mating call. I have noticed that when barking occurs, all the other animals between cages stop and listen as if they are in a trance. This I find interesting. Some may bark back. Perhaps barking is simply singing and they bark when they are happy or content or safe...

One way or another, barking is an advertisement of something and is not a stress verbalization.

CRABBING

Another very common and annoying sound will be crabbing. Crabbing is hard to define, but is not far from how a hamster cries when frightened. It is a repeated screeching that they do when frightened, bothered or provoked.

CRYING

Babies have a way of audibly identifying themselves to their mother by crying. A single baby's cry is very specific between it and its mother, but there can be a wide variety of patterns and sounds between different babies. An offspring will remember its cry for its entire life and will often verbalize when it meets its parent, especially after long periods of time.

HISSING

Gliders use a hiss-hiss-hiss to identify themselves up close. This is most usually a friendly gesture or an "ack and response", but this can sometimes be followed by immediate fighting or establishment of intent and dominance if the animals are not familiar with each other.

CHATTERING

Similar to hissing, this is used up in close contact and is most often heard when a sugar glider is fixated on another or a smell or something new and possibly threatening. I have seen alpha males chatter when running around the cage looking for a new occupant or trying to get at occupants in another cage.

SHRIEKING

When mothers are nusrsing, their nipples eventually get very tender and sensitive and you will most likely see yours doing some shrieking in response. You can tell by their movements that the nursing is bothering them and they would like nothing more than to have it stopped but they usually just take the annoyance and react by shrieking. Very terse "TSST-TSST-TSST" and probably jerking of the body. This is normal and there really is nothing you can do.

The animals will squeek and hiss when playing or fighting and they make many other unnoted sounds while active.

Sounds