- How much does a sugar glider cost? Price is highly variable depending on color. It starts at $450 for a standard gray glider and goes up to $3000 for a carmino sugar glider, with most gliders ranging between $450-$1200. Pricing is pet pricing and is for a single glider. For more information, check out our Colors and Variations page.
- Do I have to own more than one? Yes, sugar gliders are highly social and do not thrive on their own. They easily become depressed and can start over grooming and even self mutilating. Because of this, we sell all our gliders in pairs. We will only sell single gliders to someone who already has a glider at home.
- What do sugar gliders eat? Sugar gliders require a balanced fresh food diet plus vitamins and kibble (for dental health). There are several well researched sugar glider diets out there including TPG, BML, O-HPW or GO-HPW and Critter Love Complete. Pellet diets are not sufficient to meet all a sugar gliders needs. We use TPG at Colorado Sugar Gliders.
- Can sugar gliders be potty trained? No they can’t. They cannot be trained to go in a litter box. However, they do have habits and patterns and therefore potty accidents can be kept to a minimum.
- Are sugar gliders easy pets? This question is a little harder to answer. If you are thinking that they are going to be like a hamster, you are going to be disappointed. They have stricter cage and diet requirements than hamsters, and are not as mellow. Sugar gliders can make wonderful pets, but if you are expecting them to be an easy pet, that is always happy to see you and wants to cuddle, and requires little attention, then they may not be the pet for you. However, if you do you research and know what to expect, their care needs are not overly complicated.
- How long do they live? 10-15 years
- Will they get along with my other pets? This really varies depending on personal situations, but remember that sugar gliders are prey animals. They will naturally be afraid of other, larger animals. And many other pets, like dogs, are naturally predators, so their predator sense can be triggered causing them to attack. While it may work in some instances to introduce your sugar gliders to your other pets, I do not recommend it as a rule and would definitely never leave sugar gliders alone with other pets. As far as smaller pets, such as mice or birds, go, while sugar gliders are prey animals, they are also omnivores who may feed on small birds and rodents in the wild. We do not recommend introducing your sugar gliders to pets such as these, as some have done so to the detriment or death of their mice or birds.
- Are sugar gliders easy to bond with? Many factors affect this: age of the glider, how often it was handled when young, personal temperament of the glider, patience of the person trying to bond with it. Sugar gliders are not puppies. They are not guinea pigs. They take time and patience to bond with. They need to know that they can trust you. Give the process time. Crabbing does not mean that they hate you. They are just scared.
- I got a female sugar glider from my friend and want to breed her. Will you sell me a male to breed with her? Only if she is lineaged in The Pet Glider Database. Unlineaged sugar gliders can very easily be inbred and this will cause a number of health issues both visible and invisible. Even if you don’t intend to sell the babies, sugar gliders should never be bred unless they are both lineaged. We will only sell gliders for breeding if we can see your other glider’s lineage and verify that they are not related.
- Do I have to have an exotic vet? While sugar gliders do not require any vaccines, you will need an exotic vet who is able to treat injuries/illnesses if and when they occur. Since sugar gliders are prey animals, they are used to hiding their illnesses. It is very important that you have an exotic vet nearby that you can take your glider to as soon as you notice a problem.
- Do they need a big cage? Relatively big. We recommend 2’w x 2’d x 3’h minimum cage size for a pair of gliders. Of course bigger is always better. Make sure bar spacing is no more than ½” apart or they will escape.
- Are sugar gliders good pets for kids? While I think sugar gliders can make great family pets, and my own family (including 4 children) love our gliders, I never let our younger children hold or play with our sugar gliders without supervision. Gliders are small and fragile and can easily be squeezed or dropped by a well-meaning 5 year old. They also have sharp claws and will occasionally nip, making them unsuitable for very young children. Their care needs also require an adult to supervise.
- Do sugar gliders smell bad? They do have a bit of a musky smell. It isn’t bad per se, but it is unusual. Intact males have the strongest smell, but all gliders have scent glands so will produce some smell. Also, just like any animal housed in a cage, their smell is often associated with the fact that they pee and poop in their cage.
- Do sugar gliders bite? Most sugar gliders will nip from time to time. They do this for various reasons—tasting you, testing you, annoyed with you, afraid. Usually the bites are not hard and do not draw blood, but they can still hurt.
- Females are more friendly and will get along better with other gliders right? While intact males can be somewhat more aggressive, neutered males and females are virtually the same. They smell the same. They get along equally well with each other. They are equally as friendly. Neutered males don’t scent mark any more than females. Any differences they have are going to come down to the individual personality of the glider, not its gender.
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We will discuss the process in more detail and get you started on the road to owning your first Sugar Gliders.