Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A friend of mine bought two 6 month old sugar gliders to keep in his dorm room at school. Unfortunatly his roomate is savagly allergic, so I said I would take them.

My first question is how social are they with other gliders? If I split them up by giving one away would they be heartbroken solo?

Second: Am I supposed to keep the lights off all night while I play with them? The only thing light effects that I have noticed is their reluctance to wake up. But if they are wide awake and running around and i turn the lights they don't even notice. I leave them off most of the time for now because i'm not sure if it can damage their nocturnal eyes or not.

Third: One of my gliders is a 100% never ending ball of energy. Doesn't stop moving for more than a second at a time.
The other one seems sluggish in comparison. Goes to sleep sooner and wakes up later. Moves around slower and cautiously, sniffing everything before he moves closer. He is also very wary of our hands.
I wonder if I have two gliders on opposite sides of the spectrum, or if one of their activities is more common than the others. Do you think the one that is less active is possibly sick in any way?

Last question: Biting. They seem to nibble (hard) on skin any time they come in contact with it, mainly fingers, knuckles, and the back of your neck.

These bites do not seem agressive but its hard to tell. I've read the best way of detering biting is to blow at their face and perhaps a stern NO. Do you have any other suggestions/information about their bites?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated...

Thanks!

the nibbling? the lady at the rescue where i got my girls from said it's part of bonding....yeah, like embedding themselves into my bones, ya know??? - - OW!!! some of the little love bites arent' that bad, but you never really know when a bad one might come, and then it's like 4 tiny little needles being jabbed into your flesh. they say to not pull away, but so far, the flapping and shrieking that seems to be a part of my natural responses, is un.overridable....i'm working on it. considering oven mitts.
from what i've read, and seen, i think it would be a bad idea to seperate the kids. i think it would be kinda cruel. i never really thought about it like that before, but i had one bird, and then got a second, and in retrospect, i felt bad for not having another birdling around for him in the very beginning. i think the same applies to any animal. dogs, birds, gliders, elephants, whatever.
oh, the best thing we've discovered so far for the running off of the insane amount of energy little cricket has , has been getting a reeeeeally big silent spinner or wodent wheel. it's the funniest thing ever to watch, and talk about eating up some manic energy! wow.
but i'm new, we've only had the two girls about a month, and they were from a rescue. we've got two joeys on the way, though, so we'll get to try some out from go, and see how THEY turn out.
and whatever zoolady tells you? do it. =]

HAHAHA!!! THanks Lizzee. You made my day. lol
You are pretty funny you know. I was picturing your shrieking and flapping around. ROFLMAO Way too funny!

Ok, so, 6 months old. both boys? I dont think you mentioned if they were both or not.
Interesting also, I have never heard of anyone being allergic to them. They are SUPPOSED to be great for people with alergies. lol Interesting.

Whatever you do DO NOT split them up. If you want to add more to the herd go for it. The more the merrier with these guys. only, if you decide to ad a female...well then you do need to split them up and you will need eitehr another female for the other male, or another male..eitehr way they will always need a friend. Single gliders dont make it long. They get depressed and die. Simple as that. Unless you can have them on you ALL day long EVERY day and preferable night as well, lol. since that is thier play time. Which is not possible. Just dont ad a female and keep them together. They will fight and overmate her and stress her out. But no, do not separate. YOu will have sad, depressed, and eventually dead gliders.

Lighting: As long as your lights arent like being out in the sunlight blinding it should be fine. If they are happy out playing in it, then it's fine. Jsut dont take them outside in the sun unless you have a pouch for them to hide in. That can hurt thier huge nocturnal eyes. As a plus, at night, give them a night light..jsut a small plug in one if you can by thier cage. They seem to like this. Alot of gliders will even cry at night, and this seems to solve it.

The ball of energy glider is obviously healthy and normal....but the other at only 6 months old and not being full of energy is a concern. It COULD be nervous of its new surroundings still. And not so soon to jump around and all. Or it may have somthing wrong... make sure your diet is a good one. I wouldnt think the diet would be the problem since your other is fine. Do you notice anything else? Sneezing? Anything? What is your diet? Is he overweight? Overweight gliders can be lazy...but hopefully at 6 months he isnt! lol Hopefully this is a phase. He needs to get used to his surroundings and destress. It is pretty common. I had a few that would do nothing but sit in a corner for 2 weeks when I got them. They were fine after that. Jsut dont over stress him.
The one with all the energy is fine. Lizzees suggestions were great. The Wodent wheel is alot of fun for them. Put some crickets in a plastic bottle on its side and keep the lid off. They will go nuts trying to get thier paws in to get the crickets. Also meal worms work too. Some people discrourage these insects due to posible parasites. Its your choice. Branches to leap from is a good idea to add. The bigger the cage the better. The more room thy have to move around and even leap, the better.

Biting: Yep! Your new. Your smell is new. They dont know if you are food, a chew toy, or what! So they smell you and "test" you. With thier "love" nips.... Its easier if you get them as smaller babies cause you can get them out of it faster and it doesnt hurt as much! Jsut dont hurt them when they do it. Dont hit or flik them. Blwoing is good. But usually theywill jsut learn over time that you arent food. A GOOD way of getting them over this is to make a pouch with a string attached to hang around your neck. Put the gliders in this pouch and tuck it INTO your shirt. So they are against your skin, can hear your voice, heartbeat, and get used to your smell. Every now and again stick your hand in and pet them...of course you may be growled at and nipped.... but this is all proccess of bonding. Doing this as long as you possibly can every day, you will have gliders bonded to you and no more nipping. It is frusterating and time consuming, but so worth it in the end.
Best of luck.. any more questions, feel free to post.