In Reply to: New glider, need to know more.. Help!!! posted by Nicole on October 17, 1999 at 22:51:04:

Well, there are lots of different things that will occur to you over the next few days and weeks...here are a few things i encountered...

first of all with diet...the gliders are somewhat flexible, if you get variety and remember that you cant feed them onions or onion powder or chocolate. Most any fruits and veggies are good...that will probably be easy for you and then throw in some baby food...usually stage 2 gerber is good. you have to watch the calcium so you will want to add leadbeaters to the diet...probably about one tablespoon a night. So long as you add the protein (meat babyfood, boiled chicken (no spices)), you will be fine. It would also be good to keep brisky's in the cage at all times along with the fresh water.

I have used honey on my finger tip to bond with mojo.
It is also recommended that you let your new glider get used to his environment for a few days before trying to pick it up and stuff. You can talk to him and get him used to your voice. Also, dont show him off much to start with, cause it will confuse him...just let him get used to you. Wear a shirt all day and sleep in it at night (one that you dont mind not wearing again) and this will be his shirt...you can put this shirt over the pouch area of his cage so that he gets used to your smell. This will help with the bonding process.

Make sure you glider proof any room that the glider will be in...they dont know to hold their breath so no standing water (toilet, sink) should be left uncovered. Get the baby plug covers for all the plugs in your house, cause the glider might stick their tongue in there and get electrocuted. Never let your glider play unsupervised...maybe in a hamster ball in the room with you, you can let up a little on the worrying, but these little guys are pretty curious, so they can get into a lot of trouble really fast.

Hamster balls apparently make good toys for them, although mojo still hasnt quite figured out what he is supposed to do, but I just started putting him in there for a few minutes at a time. You might want to invest in one.

They are nocturnal, so they will sleep most of the day and be awake at night to pester you:) Sometimes they bark if they want to communicate. Turn the light on and hopefully they will stop for a while. Otherwise it is cute.

If your glider tried to bite you, you must take the bite and not pull away, or the glider will learn that it works and continue to do so. Crabbing is not going to hurt you although it sounds horrible.

This is all for now...hope it helps some... and carolyn macpherson's book is great, so I recommend that you get it, also. Find a vet right away that knows how to take care of sugar gliders also.

good luck and have fun with your new baby!
Heather and Mojo:)

: Today I got a new sugar glider. I dont know much about them,
: and was reading this site. Please tell me what to put in its
: cage for entertainment for it.. I dont know if it is a male or
: female either. Is it easy to tell? It is not tame at this point
: but hopefully will tame down soon. If you can offer me any
: valuable information about my little friend, I would appreciate
: it tremendously.. Nicole

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