When we started discussing sugar gliders in the Pets Forum, my first thought was, “What the heck is a sugar glider?” As it turns out, a sugar glider is a mammal in the marsupial family. Like a kangaroo, it carries its young in a pouch.
Sugar gliders have soft grey fur with a black stripe running down the length of their backs. Most of their length is tail — about half their 10-12 inch body length is tail. They have big eyes and big ears and after looking at my first few pictures of a sugar glider, I kind of want one!
One really neat thing about sugar gliders is that they have five fingers on their hands and four toes with an opposable thumb-toe on their feet. Two of their toes are fused together and used specifically for grooming. And they get their name — sugar gliders — from the gliding membrane that lets them sail from one tree to another.
Sugar gliders in the wild primarily eat the sap from eucalyptus and gum trees, and supplement their diet with insects. Domesticated sugar gliders should be fed mostly fruits and vegetables (about three-quarters of their diet) and some protein (about one quarter of their diet). They tend to favor sweet tasting treats like fruit and fruit juices, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, peas, sweet peppers, and carrots. Feed your sugar gliders fresh fruit, please; save the canned fruit for emergencies only. On the protein side, you can feed your sugar gliders dry cat food, cooked red meat, cooked poultry, or tofu. The advantage of using cat food or tofu is the higher calcium content. Dairy products make a good treat, but sugar gliders tend to have difficulties digesting lactose — so don’t overdo it! Another good treat is live insects, if you aren’t too squeamish about trapping them and feeding them to your gliders. Nuts are all right occasionally — as long as they are unroasted and unsalted. Sugar gliders can be picky eaters.
As house pets, sugar gliders tend to be healthy and long lived — an average life span of fifteen years in captivity! Babies are easily tamed; adults take a little more patience. They are clever, vocal pets who can bond very strongly with their people, and even ride on their shoulders in the house!