I might be getting a white face!

[Jay_Bunny]

Hahaha, I bet that caught your attention. And no, I don't mean my face, a white face....sugar glider.

A normal sugar glider looks like this...

http://www.chrisabraham.com/sugarglider-thumb.gif

I have two boys that look like that. They were originally housed with a female white face named Gizzy when they lived with the couple that sold them to us. Now they have a new baby on the way and don't have time for Gizzy anymore. Since they knew us, they asked us first if we wanted her and told us to make them an offer. They will include Gizzy's cage as well.

^Above is a normal glider, but this is a white face...

http://www.mysugarbabies.com/family/sirlance.jpg

See the difference in the face? And Gizzy is an absolute sweetheart. Very playful and loves people, and we've been in love with her ever since we met her. We secretly wanted her but thought the couple would never part with her. Now they are, and we are so overjoyed that we might actually get her.

[Jay_Bunny]

Oh wow! He wants us to pick Gizzy up tonight! *faints* I'm offering $300 for her and the cage but I told him I'd go higher. Waiting on a reply. I'm so excited. What if I am bringing her home tonight. OMG! Picture night! If you guys could see me now. I'm almost bouncing around the room like a kid with candy.

[python.princess]

lmao! are you a little excited? congrats on your new addition! she's beautiful!

[Jay_Bunny]

Well thats not her, but an example of a white face. She's home now. Definatly does not like car rides. I'm about to prepare their dinner so I might get some pictures of her at meal time. On tonights menu, carrots, cantalope, and plums. Mmmmm. Not to mention the BML. I'm so excited to have her home. He's taking $350 for her and the cage. I get the cage on Saturday since its my day off and the only day I can take the time to go get it. She's staying in a travel cage until I can get the bigger cage here.

[Jay_Bunny]

I got a few of her. She's being kind of shy at the moment. New home and all. Can't wait to take her out to play tomorrow. Uploading the pics now.

[Jay_Bunny]

And dinnertime! ^

[chris B]

How are sugar gliders to care for? I heard they're messy? i'd like to get one in the future though.

[chris B]

Also do you have to keep them in pair's or can they be housed by themselve's.

[Blu Mongoose]

They sure are cute!!

[Jay_Bunny]

They absolutely have to be kept in pairs. It is possible to keep them alone, but you would have to devote hours a day to playing with them. They are social creatures that live in colonies in the wild. If they do not get the right amount of interaction with you or other gliders, they will get depressed and start mutilating themselves (chewing off tails, fingers, ect).

As far as care, they are not too difficult. Food wise, they require 1 tablespoon of fruit (per glider), 1 tablespoon of veggies (per glider) 1 tablespoon BML (per glider, pre-made protien source) and insects. I choose to go the hard route and I cut up fresh fruit every night. I'm about to start making thier dinners a week at a time so all I have to do is reach in the freezer and pull out that nights dinner, take out of ziplock and serve. (They don't mind frozen meals)

They are messy creatures and have a habit of dropping thier food outside the cage (which is now causing me to have an ant problem). The first thing they do when they wake up at night is to go to the bathroom, and they go a lot! Much like rodents, they defecate and urinate quite often. Cleaning the cage once a week is a requirement to reduce smell. Males tend to smell worse than females and it is a musky smell, but I've gotten used to it. I only smell it really when its time to clean the cage. Other people smell it upon entering the room.

They require lots of toys and stimulation. Its been recommended to me to get lots of toys and switch them out every few days or so to keep them from getting bored.

They do require interaction with you, as you become one of thier colony. They treat you like a family memeber and bond with you much like a dog does. Mine aren't there yet, but the couple that sold them to us had gliders that would bark (sounds like a small yappy dog) and bark until they came upstairs to feed and play with them. They are very noisy at night. I keep mine two rooms away and I don't hear them, but because they are nocturnal thats when the fun begins.

Vets for gliders are hard to find since they are considered an exotic and are illegal in some states. (California, Georgia, Alaska, Penn., Mass.) If you do not live in one of those states and already have an exotic vet, check with that vet to see if he/she treats gliders.

Males can be housed together in small groups, and females can be housed together in small groups. You can house males and females together, but it is very hard to keep the peace when the males are intact. They will fight over females and have territory disputes. Not good. We plan on possibly having one of our boys neutered so we don't have aggression issues from either of them since Giz has to go in thier cage (no room for two cages).

Other than all that, they are little balls of pure energy at night. They are very funny to watch and play with. Definatly worth all the hard work.