I had a bad experience 11 years ago with my colony (still with first colony since 2010) with all the good and bad I will choose to get another in the future One of my twin babies got pneumonia due to my heater randomly shutting off when I was out late at night one time and she passed away at the age of 3 when it happened And after that I was paranoid with the heater so I got that fixed and prepared my room even more for these kind of situations but hasn't happened since and when we do lose power in the winter I have a setup for that From ilwhat I learned throughout the years is that they need their own room space or at least shared with their owners at best so they don't feel lonely at night I made my whole room glider proof before I got mine and my sleeping space was theirs so if anything happened I wasn't worried and only left anything in my room that is safe around gliders so I set up my tv and PS3 Wii PS2 and even had some handhelds and watched some movies and play games while they play for hours it was a sacrifice but it was worth it especially that they used to run from my left hand to my right hand on command they might not be as affectionate as some animals but once they are bonded they sleep on ya lol I kept some important house rules 1. Safe room 2. Toilet seat down 3. No unmonitored animal in the same room. 4. No cats (gliders are genetically allergic to their saliva) 5. Cage bars must be smaller than a half inch (these guys can squeeze through bars if it's not meant for small animals) 6. Cage can't be small, I used Zeno Empire 3 for exotics and small animals and at rare occasions for traveling a cage the size of 3feet and 4 feet (which meant increased play and outside of cage time) only used when I'm at a parent's I usually stick to tall big cages with small bar space and zip tie any loose ends in the cage 7. No planning on traveling unless they go too and it's not too stressful for them. 8. Make sure cage is away from windows due to possible draft 9. Use sheets of beds for covering of the cage with the front exposed and in emergencies a loose sheet for the front when it's the winter but with some air space only for harsh weather nights Can be thin soft sheets for warmer weather and in summer only one thing sheet but only covering half the cage from the back so when they eat their food mix it doesn't splash on the walls 10. Diet (this is top 3 most important along with room and toilet seats) Never give dry food or pellets even if it says it's for sugar gliders. All fresh food and no dry mealworms but if there's no fresh ones you can settle with dried soldierfly larvae until you can calcium and phosphorus levels are very important and funny thing it's the opposite for rats. Calcium has to be a lot in gliders while pH has to be low or it will cause calcium deficiency so both fruits and vegetables have them but vegetables are the ones that has less calcium and high pH so it must be given not too much but it's still important and green peas is not bad I found but a mix of low phosphorus with some is good and for fruits you gotta avoid acidic ones like oranges and lemons but blueberries are the best for gliders amongst some other fruit but not all berries are good for them and not all grapes are either (grapes should be given as a once in a while treat and can also help with dehydration) but berries cherries and sometimes watermelon(too much and they will have bladder issues so another rare treat) And the most important ingredient is the lead beaters diet but if you can't find all the ingredients you can go with ohpw which is high on honey so make sure the gliders teeth is clean lol and it's very important when choosing to get them juice or yogurt is that the yogurt is best Greek and not slim or diet or low fat and look at the ingredients and use the website glider central or other glider communities to see which additive is dangerous for gliders (some might have citric acid like lemon but it's too little to affect them if you are doing leadbeaters diet) For the juice it's very important that it's 100% and don't worry if vitamin d or c is added as long as it's no added sugar or you can get a juicer (no green apples and no green grapes they are toxic red apples and red or dark grapes are safe but too much of them can cause issues since they are like treats of fruits) Avocados are safe as treats once in awhile or if they had too much calcium they are high in pH but acceptable once in awhile (I used it to make my old ones gain weight when they were losing it but not too much maybe like a teaspoon once every 2 weeks in one night sitting or every week I once did it for a few days but made sure they got calcium with vitamin d (can be reptile) but only use the vitamin d calcium when it's with high pH food when it's not high pH regular calcium powder is fine daily I would sprinkli a bit on their leadbeaters or ohpw mix (the mixes are wet and you can make a batch and freeze it) it lasted me a month with 5 so it should be good for 2 gliders and it's not as expensive to make as most stuff but ohpw is cheaper because you have less ingredients to buy eggs and honey and bee pollen with the glider mix you can order online high protein wombaroo this will be the protein and rest of the gliders vitamins so it's more important than fruits and vegetables and easy to find And not too many mealworms 11. Keep pairs unless one is like 15 years old and difficult to bond with others at that point I'd spend more time with it and let the others have their free time too 12. Water bottles break (always have a backup water bottle and a small dish like soy sauce dish size filled with water at the bottom of the cage 13. No bedding except hanging beds made out of fleece and during cold seasons you can put a shirt down at the bottom of the cage and wash the cage daily and sometimes nightly and doesn't have to always be soap you can use a wet rag after emptying the mess in the cage and give it a few wipes like 2 to 3 times to be sure and wash the cage once in awhile to be sure because the mix might splash everywhere so don't leave it under the lowest platform but under the other side so they don't jump on it by accident and they prefer bowls to be placed on the side so they can eat upside down hanging on the bars and always have a wheel that has no holes on it and no piece that their tails can get tangled in. Usually plastic silent wheels have these. 14. At least spend 2 to 3 hours a night with them but it's ok to do it longer especially if they choose to sleep outside their cage while their brothers and sisters play (this is why a whole bedroom with hole proof is the best spot for a cage and I always worry when I go to people's places with them so I kept them in huge closets or in someone's room with heat if I'm worried about the cold I use the blanket on cage technique If there's no animals in a house I leave their travel cage in a warm spot with no windows or very far from it like the opposite side and I hold them when I'm there (as long as the cage is glider proof and escape proof it should be completely safe even if someone left the toilet seat up lol) I used mini locks with bars that bend to clip in place so they can't open them I'm that paranoid lol but Zeno cages usually come with clip cages but extra locks and zip ties for the cage bars especially first and second floor cage walls have to be zip ties to each other 15. Have a much fun with them and check up on their health daily and once in awhile their hydration level by the skin technique vets use All this I want to share because I believe these animals are one of the best I've ever raised and I believe you will be able to in the future and I encourage you to try when the time is right but definitely a bedroom and heater is the perfect spot for a cage and save 3000$ for possible vet trips and you should be ready especially when you have less animals but if you have a bird it's best they are in separate rooms and since they have separate sleep time it's manageable There's some great people out there with knowledge that will be willing to help it's just not an animal that everyone can handle but it's actually a domestic breed that's not from Australia but they also eat Acadia powder from Australia and it's also an important part of the diet with some specific tree sap that's safe for them one is maple syrup but not too much There's some amazing glider stories on owner posts check them out and one lady had a 24 year old glider which is a record breaker but unfortunately not documented except she had her vet records but I guess she didn't want to share it
Also make sure when owning them when you are living with people and see how they react with them and if someone is mean towards others they'd be mean to your pets behind your back I learned this dating luckily what happened to one of mine was treatable and I don't tolerate people around my pets lol so I'm loving with someone who also cares about animals
I had a bad experience 11 years ago with my colony (still with first colony since 2010) with all the good and bad I will choose to get another in the future
One of my twin babies got pneumonia due to my heater randomly shutting off when I was out late at night one time and she passed away at the age of 3 when it happened
And after that I was paranoid with the heater so I got that fixed and prepared my room even more for these kind of situations but hasn't happened since and when we do lose power in the winter I have a setup for that
From ilwhat I learned throughout the years is that they need their own room space or at least shared with their owners at best so they don't feel lonely at night
I made my whole room glider proof before I got mine and my sleeping space was theirs so if anything happened I wasn't worried and only left anything in my room that is safe around gliders so I set up my tv and PS3 Wii PS2 and even had some handhelds and watched some movies and play games while they play for hours it was a sacrifice but it was worth it especially that they used to run from my left hand to my right hand on command they might not be as affectionate as some animals but once they are bonded they sleep on ya lol
I kept some important house rules
1. Safe room
2. Toilet seat down
3. No unmonitored animal in the same room.
4. No cats (gliders are genetically allergic to their saliva)
5. Cage bars must be smaller than a half inch (these guys can squeeze through bars if it's not meant for small animals)
6. Cage can't be small, I used Zeno Empire 3 for exotics and small animals and at rare occasions for traveling a cage the size of 3feet and 4 feet (which meant increased play and outside of cage time) only used when I'm at a parent's I usually stick to tall big cages with small bar space and zip tie any loose ends in the cage
7. No planning on traveling unless they go too and it's not too stressful for them.
8. Make sure cage is away from windows due to possible draft
9. Use sheets of beds for covering of the cage with the front exposed and in emergencies a loose sheet for the front when it's the winter but with some air space only for harsh weather nights
Can be thin soft sheets for warmer weather and in summer only one thing sheet but only covering half the cage from the back so when they eat their food mix it doesn't splash on the walls
10. Diet (this is top 3 most important along with room and toilet seats)
Never give dry food or pellets even if it says it's for sugar gliders. All fresh food and no dry mealworms but if there's no fresh ones you can settle with dried soldierfly larvae until you can calcium and phosphorus levels are very important and funny thing it's the opposite for rats. Calcium has to be a lot in gliders while pH has to be low or it will cause calcium deficiency so both fruits and vegetables have them but vegetables are the ones that has less calcium and high pH so it must be given not too much but it's still important and green peas is not bad I found but a mix of low phosphorus with some is good and for fruits you gotta avoid acidic ones like oranges and lemons but blueberries are the best for gliders amongst some other fruit but not all berries are good for them and not all grapes are either (grapes should be given as a once in a while treat and can also help with dehydration) but berries cherries and sometimes watermelon(too much and they will have bladder issues so another rare treat)
And the most important ingredient is the lead beaters diet but if you can't find all the ingredients you can go with ohpw which is high on honey so make sure the gliders teeth is clean lol and it's very important when choosing to get them juice or yogurt is that the yogurt is best Greek and not slim or diet or low fat and look at the ingredients and use the website glider central or other glider communities to see which additive is dangerous for gliders (some might have citric acid like lemon but it's too little to affect them if you are doing leadbeaters diet)
For the juice it's very important that it's 100% and don't worry if vitamin d or c is added as long as it's no added sugar or you can get a juicer (no green apples and no green grapes they are toxic red apples and red or dark grapes are safe but too much of them can cause issues since they are like treats of fruits)
Avocados are safe as treats once in awhile or if they had too much calcium they are high in pH but acceptable once in awhile (I used it to make my old ones gain weight when they were losing it but not too much maybe like a teaspoon once every 2 weeks in one night sitting or every week I once did it for a few days but made sure they got calcium with vitamin d (can be reptile) but only use the vitamin d calcium when it's with high pH food when it's not high pH regular calcium powder is fine daily I would sprinkli a bit on their leadbeaters or ohpw mix (the mixes are wet and you can make a batch and freeze it) it lasted me a month with 5 so it should be good for 2 gliders and it's not as expensive to make as most stuff but ohpw is cheaper because you have less ingredients to buy eggs and honey and bee pollen with the glider mix you can order online high protein wombaroo this will be the protein and rest of the gliders vitamins so it's more important than fruits and vegetables and easy to find
And not too many mealworms
11. Keep pairs unless one is like 15 years old and difficult to bond with others at that point I'd spend more time with it and let the others have their free time too
12. Water bottles break (always have a backup water bottle and a small dish like soy sauce dish size filled with water at the bottom of the cage
13. No bedding except hanging beds made out of fleece and during cold seasons you can put a shirt down at the bottom of the cage and wash the cage daily and sometimes nightly and doesn't have to always be soap you can use a wet rag after emptying the mess in the cage and give it a few wipes like 2 to 3 times to be sure and wash the cage once in awhile to be sure because the mix might splash everywhere so don't leave it under the lowest platform but under the other side so they don't jump on it by accident and they prefer bowls to be placed on the side so they can eat upside down hanging on the bars and always have a wheel that has no holes on it and no piece that their tails can get tangled in. Usually plastic silent wheels have these.
14. At least spend 2 to 3 hours a night with them but it's ok to do it longer especially if they choose to sleep outside their cage while their brothers and sisters play (this is why a whole bedroom with hole proof is the best spot for a cage and I always worry when I go to people's places with them so I kept them in huge closets or in someone's room with heat if I'm worried about the cold I use the blanket on cage technique
If there's no animals in a house I leave their travel cage in a warm spot with no windows or very far from it like the opposite side and I hold them when I'm there (as long as the cage is glider proof and escape proof it should be completely safe even if someone left the toilet seat up lol) I used mini locks with bars that bend to clip in place so they can't open them I'm that paranoid lol but Zeno cages usually come with clip cages but extra locks and zip ties for the cage bars especially first and second floor cage walls have to be zip ties to each other
15. Have a much fun with them and check up on their health daily and once in awhile their hydration level by the skin technique vets use
All this I want to share because I believe these animals are one of the best I've ever raised and I believe you will be able to in the future and I encourage you to try when the time is right but definitely a bedroom and heater is the perfect spot for a cage and save 3000$ for possible vet trips and you should be ready especially when you have less animals but if you have a bird it's best they are in separate rooms and since they have separate sleep time it's manageable
There's some great people out there with knowledge that will be willing to help it's just not an animal that everyone can handle but it's actually a domestic breed that's not from Australia but they also eat Acadia powder from Australia and it's also an important part of the diet with some specific tree sap that's safe for them one is maple syrup but not too much
There's some amazing glider stories on owner posts check them out and one lady had a 24 year old glider which is a record breaker but unfortunately not documented except she had her vet records but I guess she didn't want to share it
Also make sure when owning them when you are living with people and see how they react with them and if someone is mean towards others they'd be mean to your pets behind your back I learned this dating luckily what happened to one of mine was treatable and I don't tolerate people around my pets lol so I'm loving with someone who also cares about animals