A Sugar Glider with its membrane fully extended, gliding from one tree to another:
These are our 2 beast-daughters, Sugar and Baby the Sugar Gliders (See pictures below). They are both just over 1 year old, and we've had them for a year this May, since they were about 1 month old. They can live up to 15 years, but on average the captive glider lives about 12-13 years. They come from Australia, New Zealand and parts of Indonesia. Due to the coloring of ours we know they are from Southern Australia (the ones from more Northern areas are brown in color and larger in size).
Sugar Gliders are arboreal (tree dwellers) and nocturnal (the sleep all day and get up around 10 PM). They are also Marsupials which means that the carry their babies around in a pouch. The name "Sugar Glider" was given to them because they eat (in the wild) the sugary sap of a certain tree indigenous to the area; and the glider part of the name comes from their gliding membrane that runs along the sides of their body from their wrists to their ankles. They use this to glide from tree to tree in the wild (and here in our house they use it to glide from the coat rack to the bed). Because they are arboreal they have very sharp claws that enable them to climb absolutely everything, including our textured walls (we have to clip them about once a month to keep them from tearing up our skin too badly).
When it comes to their diet they are opportunists, and omnivores, meaning that they will practically eat anything. In the wild they eat bugs, small rodents, vegetation, etc. We feed them fruits and veggies along with special pellets to ensure they get the nutrients they need. We also feed them a piece of meat once in a while, and on Youtube we've seen people feed them lizards and pinkie mice, but we don't do that because we think that's messy and disgusting. Anyway, they have big personalities and are very gregarious and curious (they love to get into everything and tear it up), but somewhat shy with new people and are afraid of other animals, and their smells (because they know their world through smell, which helps them avoid predators in the wild). But they are fun to take out on adventures (like grocery shopping or on an errand) in their carry pouches. Since they are so curious they have a lot of fun. One last strange thing about them, around midnight they often start barking, and it sounds like a little dog.
The natural born killers on the prowl:
Sugar attacking her prey, the crunch berry:
Sugar's adorable pathetic look that she uses to get our sympathy:
Tommy and his favorite daughter:
The deer caught in the headlights look:
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