Diet

Theoretically, there are many different diets that sugar gliders can eat.  Personally, I follow the diet that was recommended/endorsed by Pocket Pets.  This diet includes pellet food, vitamins, “Glider Gravy”, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and sometimes yogurt.  The reason that my sister and I chose to put our sugies on this diet is because it is an all-around healthy diet, is odor-free, and is easily accessible to get my hands on. 

The main food source that my sugies eat is pellet food.  I buy the pellet food straight from the Pocket Pets website in a combo package along with the vitamins.  The Pocket Pets pellet food and vitamins costs about $3.50 per month, which in comparison to other kinds of animal food is very inexpensive. 

The Pocket Pets Food & Vitamins

Along with a daily fresh source of pellet food, I give my sugar gliders a serving of fresh fruit (or sometimes vegetables) every night.  Tinki and Telly’s favorite fruit treat is by far green grapes.  Since Tinki and Telly are so small, I dice up the fruit that I give them and serve it to them in a second food dish.  Every other night (as directed by Pocket Pets), I sprinkle their vitamins on top of their fruit.  I put it on their fruit to make sure that they are consuming it as they love their nightly fruit treats.  Before I give my sugar gliders anything new fruit or vegetable to eat, I research it to make sure that it is sugar glider safe.

This is how I chop up the fruit/vegetables that I give Tinki and Telly.

In addition to the regular servings of pellet food and fruit/vegetables, I will sometimes give my sugar gliders plain yogurt.  They go absolutely crazy for it!  I will also mix in some powdered “Glider Gravy” which is another Pocket Pets product that provides additional vitamins and minerals.

This picture shows the powdered "Glider Gravy".

As for liquids, I give my sugar gliders a 50/50 combination of water and 100% apple juice.  I give them this combination, rather than plain water because the apple juice provides extra sugar for energy as well as sensory appeal.  I do not believe that my sugies would stay as hydrated as they are if they only had plain water because they (as all sugar gliders do) love sweet things.  I give them their water/apple juice in a typical “rodent” water bottle, attached to the outside of their cage.

The exact water bottle that I use for Tinki and Telly.

The Language of Sugar Gliders

Here is a pretty good video that goes over the different noises that sugar gliders make.  

            Personally, I have only heard my sugar gliders bark, crab, and "sneeze".  My sugar gliders bark on a daily basis, right before they tuck themselves in for bed around seven in the morning (they are nocturnal).  Based on their habits and personalities, I think that it is Tinki barking at Telly and it is because she is telling him to calm down and go to bed.  I have only heard Telly crab and he only did it on the day that we brought him home.  I think that he crabbed at my sister and I because he was scared and wanted to portray himself as a vicious giant, rather than a cute little fur-ball.  Since sugar gliders are so tiny and really do not have a way of defending themselves against predators, they use crabbing to try to scare the predator away from them.  When sugar gliders crab they make themselves look bigger than they actually are, expose their teeth, and make a very loud, distinctive cry that can actually be very intimidating.


Here is a video that my sister and I found on YouTube and watched when Telly crabbed, and we had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it.  It was a good reference video to learn that crabbing is a natural and normal sugar glider noise.

Telly Needs a Friend

            As everyone should know, the most important thing that you can do before adopting a pet is researching the type of animal you are looking into getting.  As I stated in my first entry, my sister and I had no idea what a sugar glider was, let alone how you take care of one.  However we made sure that we were capable of taking care of a pet sugar glider before we finally decided to get Telly.

            One of the most important aspects of owning a sugar glider is knowing and understanding that they are social creatures.  In the wild, sugar gliders live in extended family colonies of up to seven adults and their young children.  My sister and I made a pact from the start to have Telly out of his cage every second that we could so that he would not get lonely.  Unfortunately, life gets busy and we were not able to take him out as often as we would have liked.  Also, sugar gliders are nocturnal, and my sister and I are not, so we were worried that Telly was getting bored and lonely at night.

            When we got Telly, we asked the Pocket Pet employees when they would be in our area again and they told us probably not for at least another six months.  This meant that we could not get Telly a friend for quite some time.  A month after we got Telly, we went back down to Manchester to go shopping at the mall, and to our astonishment Pocket Pets was back.  We knew that this was a one in a million chance, so as soon as we saw them we knew that we had to get Telly a buddy.

            After inquiring as to which gender of sugar glider would be best to bring home to our little guy, we found out that it does not matter.  The Pocket Pet employees told us that Telly should do great with either a boy or a girl, and that all male sugar gliders are neutered so there would be no surprises if we decided to get a girl.  After a quick period of deliberation, we decided on getting Telly a little girlfriend.  Once again, we were taken to the cages that housed the baby sugar gliders and when the door of the girl's cage opened up my sister immediately saw the perfect little friend for Telly.  Just as when we got Telly, we did not choose our sugar glider, our new sugar glider chose us.

            My sister and I were so excited to get home and introduce our new baby to Telly, but truth be told we were also extremely nervous how they would react to each other.  Telly was such a social little man that we knew he would accept any sugar glider that we brought home, but we did not know how the new little baby would adjust to a new home that already had a sugar glider.  While anticipating the pending introduction, my sister and I brainstormed names for out little girl.  In the end we settled on Tinki.

Telly on the left & Tinki on the right.

            When we got home my sister took Telly out of his cage and firmly held him in her hands while I held Tinki in mine.  We slowly brought them toward each other and rubbed each of their scent glands on the other one, exactly how the Pocket Pets employees told us to introduce them to each other.  Telly was very interested in Tinki and I could tell that he was extremely excited to have a friend.  Tinki on the other hand was fairly timid and was not quite as sure what to do, but she soon warmed up not only to Telly, but also to me and my sister.

Snuggle buddies from the start!  Telly is snoozing on top of
Tinki while they sleep in their carrying pouch.

            Honestly, Tinki and Telly have adjusted to each other so well that sometimes I forget that we did not get them at the same time.  They truly have a special bond and I could not imagine my life without either one of them!

As you can see it didn't take long for Tinki to feel
comfortable enough to pass out in our presence.