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Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps). |
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Companionship and Housing Gliders
Gliders are naturally very sociable animals, in the wild they would
live in large groups of between 6 and 16 animals. In captivity however,
many are kept on their own which leads to depression. When they are
depressed, their immune system is low and they are susceptible to illness.
They will become stressed which may then affect their mental health,
this manifests itself in repetitive behaviours such and constant back
flips or over grooming. In severe cases the glider may begin to self
mutilate. Gliders have been proven to suffer from serotonin deficient
depression, in laboratories this is brought about by simply housing
a glider on it’s own. If you do decide to keep only a single glider then you must ensure you have plenty to keep your glider occupied when you cannot be around and you must spend all day with him/her and much of the evening and night so your glider has socialisation and playtime, rather than just sleeping on you. Bearing in mind Gliders are arboreal, a tall cage is required, these can range from £100 upwards. The kind you buy are better than homemade wooden ones simply because they are easier to move around, and keep clean. Gliders (especially the males) will scent mark everything so the cage will need to be scrubbed regularly. You will find they urinate all over the bars and they’ll manage to stick fruit to them too, as well as all over your walls. Cages must be a minimum of 4ft high by 2ft wide by 2ft depth, a general rule of thumb is - the bigger the better! The bigger the cage the more likely your gliders are to display natural behaviours such as gliding. The bars should be no more than 15mm apart, any wider than this and babies could easily slip through, as could some adults, the wire should also be coated. I personally do not like to see a cage stuffed full of toys, this takes up gliding and jumping space in the cage. A few ropes, bridges, branches and ledges to jump off and on; and a wheel but NOT A WIRE WHEEL. A Wodent Wheel is the ideal kind for gliders, it is enclosed so the glider won’t fall out (or be shot across the cage), they are ASPCA approved and due to the lack of moving parts is one of the safest wheels you can find, there are of course going to be accidents, but the number of accidents caused by wire wheels is too significant to ignore. There are also inserts available for Wodent Wheels to keep claws down. Live branches are an excellent addition to the cage, the glider can run along them and display natural behaviours such as stripping bark and gouging holes. You could drill some holes along the branch and fill with acacia gum or the odd mealworm or waxworm, this is great enrichment for gliders and I’m sure you’ll be amused by the happy noises they make whilst eating their discovery!!! Any branches must be cleaned and non toxic, you should be 100% positive that they have not been treated by fertiliser or insecticide. To clean brances use an animal friendly disinfectant such as F10 and boiling water and then used a wire brush to srub off the lichen. Branches from Apple trees are readily available and safe to use, even better would be branches from Acacia trees or Eucalypt trees - you can also use the blooms from these, the gliders will love either destroying them or they may just discover the nectar :o) which is also an excellent addition to the diet. In the wild they use Eucalyptus leaves to line their nest, so you may wake up one morning to find your lovely leafy branches are now stripped and sticking out of the pouch or nestbox. You can buy Acacia and Eucalpyt trees here: http://www.eucalyptus.co.uk According to Dr. Stephen Jackson, Melbourne Zoo, All species of Acacia (for the sap), Banksia, Callistemon, Corymbia, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca (for nectar or pollen) are suitable for Sugar Gliders. For a pair of gliders I would recommend having 2 sleeping quarters available. In the wild they live in tree hollows lined with leaves where they will all snuggle together so it’s nice and soft and warm. I use pouches, mainly because given the choice of a wooden nestbox or soft pouch the gliders will choose the pouch. It is important to keep claws short though as they can get stuck in the material, while most of the time the glider will back up and free himself, occasionally they’ll pull a claw out. It’s important to remove fraying or tatty pouches, gliders have been known to become tangled up and some have perished (NOT in my collection!!!). Cleaning the cage and toys is important to the health of the gliders but also to keep the smell under control. I would recommend cleaning on a rotational basis. If you clean everything in one go the male in particular will go mad re-scenting everything. So, on week 1 wash the pouches, week 2 wash the toys, week 3 scrub the cage, this will hopefully stop the male going on a scenting frenzy. I recommend F10SCXD for cleaning, it is superb and completely safe for all your animals. Don’t go mad though - remember some bacteria is good as it helps to build up the immune system and keep it healthy. As cleaning products are developed to be more effective in killing bacteria, so the bacteria becomes more effective in building up resistance. Don’t overdo the cleaning, just keep the cage and contents clean and smell free. I remove and replace the bedding weekly. Depending on the type of cage you use the gliders may not physically come into contact with the bedding, in my cages a grill seperates the two. I use wood shavings to soak up the urine and absorb any smells, I only use bedding that is suitable for small animals, you could also use aspen or paper. Another thing to watch out for is flaps in the cage
- they are designed so the bedding/waste tray can be easily removed,
but for a glider it makes a useful escape route! So wedge it shut, or
raise the grill so the glider cannot get through the gap between the
bottom of the cage and the grill. SAFE PLANTS UNSAFE PLANTS These lists are by no means entire but they are cross
referenced from 3 other lists.
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