Pour Some "Sugar Glider" On Me!

A lot of people who knows me, knows that i have a pretty unusual and interesting. pet. i have a pet Sugar Glider. They are exotic animals, domesticated from the Australian area as as well as New Guinea. I am not going to lie. They are pretty cool! My little suggies name is Mischief. He is a spoiled little brat. As neat as it is for people to have exotic pets, it is not all it is cracked up to be. It is pretty expensive and time consuming. Sugar gliders are special because they are very social animals, because in the wild, they live in large colonies of 13-15 members. As pets it is strongly recommended that potential owners plan on having at least 2. Many breeders often times do not allow people to buy just one. The reason for this is because it is bad enough that these animals have been taken from their natural homes, and domesticated as pets. They often times do not do well alone. Along with other triggers, loneliness is one of the main reasons gliders become depressed. A depressed Sugar glider is a ticking time bomb. they usually begin over grooming and it becomes a OCD problem. it becomes so bad that they will groom all of the hair off of a favored part of their body. this leaves raw and irritated skin, called stress patches. Gliders who become extremely depressed will unfortunately begin to self-mutilate. Mutilation ranges anything from ripping out hair, biting off toes, biting off their tails, to even biting off their own legs. This is often times fatal, and unfortunately it is usually irreversible at this point. Many times, the most humane thing to do is have the glider euthanized. This is very sad, and very hard on owners who have tried to do their best to keep a lone glider happy. sometimes there are instances where a person can only have one glider. It is at this point that the owner either find another home for the glider, with other gliders, or they have to make a major commitment. keeping in mind that captive gliders live 12 to 15 years in good health, owners must be prepared to spend a minimum of 3 to 5 hours a day letting the glider out of its cage, and giving it plenty of attention. it is also important for the glider to be socialized with all people in the household, because all people living under the same roof are, in that glider's eyes. his "colony". I hope this information really opens the eyes of people who think it is no big deal to own exotic pets. I do not discourage the idea of having exotic pets, but i strongly suggests informing yourself about what it is that you are getting yourself into. It is not only for the health and safety of the animal, but for the emotion of the owner(s) who become attached to the animal.