Sugar Gliders?

[SilverSage]

Soooo....
I'm thinking about getting a Sugar Glider... It wouldnt be for at least another 2-3 years (They aren't even legal here in Hawaii so we would have to wait even if I wanted to impulse buy). I would obviously do a LOT of general research ahead of time, but I'm not finding much specific to keeping them in a home with parrots.

Anybody done this? Any parrot-specific concerns?

 

[Doublete]

I had a pair that I got off craigslist.
I was heartbroken one evening to come home to both dead.
I have NO IDEA what killed them. They were caged about ten feet from my CAG.

They were fun, a specialized diet, but nocturnal so hard to really play with. And boy did they pee/poop over everything. Cute little suckers though.

 

[Aquila]

My friend has had hers for quite a number of years. Not particularly "friendly" at first and it's taken a lot of time for hers to become relatively hand tame. Not sure if that's just how they are or how it was raised. She takes him over to a vet in Jersey, believe she had him neutered as well. Seems to really love him, and the vet has one as well that stays in his pocket most of the day.

Just like finding a good avian vet, you'd have to find a good vet that deals with sugar gliders.

 

[Doublete]

I had mine for 3 years but I think they were "pocket pet" company which is known to be bad genes. It was just very odd both died at once however my CAG was not affected.
I did however choose not to adopt others because they are simply too fragile of a pet. I deep cleaned their flight and it became home to my lovebird (4 ish years ago?)

 

[Birdman666]

The biggest thing is they're nocturnal. So, not exactly the most interactive pet you can have.

I've never owned one. But they aren't like ferrets, or even cats and dogs that will try to hunt your birds. Don't know in terms of disease carrying... but I doubt it.

 

[Mimsy01]

We had one several decades ago. This was before we really knew much about their care unfortunetly. However he was a sweet little bugger and I used to carry him in a pocket to college.

My neighbors had tiels and I babysat them for a couple weeks when they went on vacation. Taz, the sugar glider, managed to get in their cage, I'm thinking he opened the door, because it had those slider type doors. He didn't hurt them, but he did freak em out a lot...he did his scream..which I don't know how to describe but it's fairly loud and menaced them. Needless to say we got him out and he had to be caged when we weren't watching him. He used to torture my dog too. I had a little doxy/beagle mix, who Taz would jump down to and hold her collar and do his screamy chant making the dog freak out. Luckily my dog was a sweetheart and never tried to harm him, even with the bad manners.

If you had one with such a tude as Taz, I'd not want them to have contact with the birds, especially larger ones who could harm them. They are very very small, even compared to the tiels he was small. He seemed to see himself as much larger than he was. They are very very nocturnal. If you are not up a lot at night, you won't see much of them. Total grump in the day if you touched him he'd make a crazy loud buzzing sound and if you pushed it, you'd get bit.

Makes me kinda miss the little guy. But I'm way more of day person now, so it would never work.

 

[MyFlock]

What about a Chinchilla? They seem to be popular here but I don't know anything about them.

 

[Mimsy01]

I never had a chinchilla of my own, but I had them through are rescue now and then. I ran a ferret rescue for abut 10 years and worked with all neighboring city Humane Societies. On occasion they would convince me to help out with other creatures, chins is one that I had taken in a few times. They are nothing like gliders of course. they are heavy chewers, all the ones I met loved their wheels. They need dust bathes. None that came through that I had were really into getting pets and such. Though I did have a few that were pretty friendly and if I sat in a play room with them they would hop onto my lap. The first one I had came in with a ferret! They were a bonded pair the owner said. LOL This is somethng that I would NEVER do in a million years, ferrets could easily eat a chin. However, these two were really tight and snuggled together and were best of friends. Probably up there with one of the weirdest things I've seen in the animal world.

 

[SilverSage]

Thanks everyone! I thinks chins are cute, but I really have no interest in owning one, honestly. I'm a night owl, but I try to let my birds go to sleep with the sun, so a nocturnal pet appeals to me greatly!

 

[Dinosrawr]

I've been in love with sugar gliders, too! They're just so darn cute. I read up about them, and the only concern I came across is them being housed near birds and making too much noise in the night that might disrupt any sleeping parrots.

I may just have to live vicariously through you if you get them in a few years... I likely won't be able to add them to my household. And if you're a night owl, they sound like the perfect addition for you [emoji4]

 

[SilverSage]

Lol, yes it sounds like it. At this point it is still a pipe dream but I figured I would toss it out the window right now if there were parrot-specific concerns lol.

 

[riddick07]

I had one when I was younger. She was adorable but I had ferrets at the time. I woke up one night to my ferret chasing my sugar glider around the room. Lucky for the sugar glider she was staying ahead by a few inches. I rehomed the sugar glider for her own safety of course since my ferret was just determined for her to be a midnight toy/snack.

I wouldn't think there would be any issues owning them together. I remember the glider being skittish and shy not aggressive.

 

[SilverSage]

That seems to be what I am reading, too. I'm a bit concerned that when I have looked them up on Craigslist they seem to always be for sale at 1-2 years old, somewhat like sun conures. I want to find out ahead of time what sorts of things REALLY lead to them being rehomed (not the oh-so-common excuse "she needs more time than I can give her"), and what pitfalls to avoid, but hey, I have at least two years to find that out! In the mean time I'm warming my husband up to the idea

 

[Doublete]

Honestly I think the most common reason with them is actually people don't have time and get tired of a nocturnal animal that pees all over you when you hold it. They actually have a specialized diet a lot of people don't follow
And I think the newness just wears off.

 

[SilverSage]

I looked up the diet and peeing issue, and I think that it won't even be more of an issue than the birds lol. Same with the issues of cage space, toys, attention, and making sure it doesn't escape, get eaten, or squashed, and trying to find a vet that actually knows something. Lol, not that they are like birds, but it sounds like they have a lot of the same downsides as birds

 

[Mimsy01]

They definately smell stronger than birds, which I don't notice bird smell really unless there is a lot of them and then I can smell kinda chickeny coop smell. However, having one or two isn't really that bad, kept in clean conditions, which you are already used to doing with the birds.

Now that said, I've been to peoples homes who have a lot and they do smell rather strong. Could be their care wasn't optimal, I'm no expert.

 

[SilverSage]

From what I'm reading, I think two would be the perfect number. I had originally thought just one, but it seems like they really do best with at least one companion, but I don't plan to amass a hoard of them, lol, no matter how cute they are!

 

[Mallory]

I had sugar gliders for about a year. Previous owner badly neglected them and fed them a terrible pellet-only diet. Kya crashed from what we believe was organ failure about 5 months in, Luna hung on for awhile but was never the same. We were in contact with a breeder and almost adopted a leucistic joey but Luna was in poor health so we opted not to risk the young joey being too much energy for her. They do absolutely need at least one other glider, Luna was terribly depressed after Kya's death.

We fed them LGRS suggie soup which I would make and freeze in batches, along with tons of variety of fresh fruit, veggies and small amounts of protein (captive bred live insects, eggs, yogurt, bee pollen, boiled plain meats, bloodworms, rarely grain free cat food for their teeth). We also offered a healthy glider pellet in the day but this is optional and you can in no way rely on pellets alone for them.

We had a special glider wheel for them, tons of toys and I taught myself to sew so I could make them pouches, hammocks etc. They appreciated foraging especially for yogurt drops and mealworms. I took Luna with me everywhere in pouches, she would usually sleep the day away. Kya crabbed whenever the pouch moved so she did not often go out with me. Both were grumpy old ladies but both were learning to explore us with the help of treats. They require a ton of time, maybe 3-4 hours a day if not more to keep them truly bonded, and it has to be on their terms which usually means at night.

They do tend to pee on everything. My weekly ritual was to strip the cage, wash all fleece in the laundry, was all toys in the sink with plain dawn dish soap, then bring the cage itself into my shower and scrub all of it down with dawn. This kept the smell to a minimum...I do basically the same now with my ferrets although they smell less as they are litter box trained.

From my experience my amazon is far less work than sugar gliders. Be realistic about the time you have and whether you can provide for their them as their size can be deceiving - they are a true exotic and need very specialized care. You also will need to get a tent or "glider proof" room - much more difficult than ferret- or bird-proofing as they are tiny and can climb and glide. We used a walk in closet as their room which also let us artificially control their "active time" using a UVB bulb.

 

[Mariar]

I have eight of those fuzzy creatures. They are mostly nocturnal, only two pee on me, two bite me...still and my youngest was born in my care and he's the meanest. I am the glider lady, I've been rescuing them for years. My oldest, has lost his family to a bacteria infection from a can of corn. I only give fresh and frozen.he has had three teeth pulled...my boy is 12 and I rescued him when he was a year old. They are expensive and need a lot of out of cage time..just like a parrot. If you have more questions or concerns let me know. Or you can log on to glidergossip.com, I've been a member there for ten plus years...lots of great advice. Hope this helps Dani....you can also find rescues on that site from all over the world.