Wild caught sugar glider.

Question
QUESTION: Hi...I'm from Malaysia. Recently, my uncle had give me a pair of wild caught adult glider. So, I need some person to help me answer my few question.
1) Can wild glider be tamed? How?
2) How can I know the age of it by looking at their appearance?
3) When will the glider stop breeding?

ANSWER: Hello,

Yes, your gliders can be tamed, but it will take a lot of time and patience. The objective is to convince them that you are not scary, and that having you around brings pleasure and nourishment.  For now, get a pouch/purse to put them in, and wear the pouch next to your skin during the day when they are sleeping.  You want to get them used to your scent.  Don't try to handle them yet.  Next, try holding them from OUTSIDE the pouch.  Just cup them in your hands.  They will probably fuss, but do not back down.  Continue doing this until they no longer fuss.  Get some licky treats such as applesauce or yogurt.  Put some on your finger and put it at the opening of he pouch to see if they will lick it off your finger. The idea is to get them to trust you.  When they are readily eating from your finger, start the next step:  While they are sleeping in the pouch, put your hand INSIDE the pouch.  Cup them as you did from the outside.  At this point you may get some bites.  They don't trust you yet.  Don't back down.  You don't want them to think they can get you to go away by biting.   keep doing this until they are comfortable with you holding them.  Get some treats such as fruit or yogurt.  While holding them, bring them part way out of the pouch to eat.  Keep doing this until you have them completely out of the pouch.  All this could take weeks or months.  It took me four months to tame my first one.  He was captive bred and still a baby.  Your adult wild-caught may take even longer.  

Note:  While you are taming your gliders, never chase them.  Either coax them with treats, or just leave them alone.  The best time to get them out of the cage is when they are sleeping in their pouch.  If one gets out, try using a butterfly net or toss a towel over it to catch it.  Again, don't chase.  If it runs away, make sure the room is safe, close the door, and just wait.  Remember, they can't swim.  Make sure toilets are closed, aquariums are covered, etc.  The glider will find a nice spot to sleep (usually up high).  You can look for its sleeping spot during the day, or listen for it running around at night.  Leave food and water out in a good location for the butterfly net. Be patient.  

The age can be estimated by the coloring of the underside.  If it is white, the glider is young.  If it is dark yellow or brownish, it is older.  The male's scent glands will be large and rimmed with brown if he is older.  Also look for scars or other marks that would indicate a long life.  

My gliders stop breeding at about 6-8 years of age.  If the female has had babies, you will be able to clearly see the pouch.  If she hasn't, the pouch will be hard to find.

You can get a head start on taming babies.  If the parents will let you, stroke them as soon as they are out of the pouch.  Do NOT take the joeys from their mother.  The joeys can be handled as soon as the parents leave them alone in the pouch.  As that time you can hold them for short periods, extending the time each time. It would be best to keep your hand and the babies where the parents can see them.  Parents, especially the mother, get upset when they don't know where the babies are.

Check out my website for further information:

http://bstephan11.googlepages.com/

Good luck.  Please keep me informed.  It must be exciting.  Do be patient.  Do you have photos?  

Betty

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


My Sugar Glider.   QUESTION: Hi,

How are you? Hope you can still remember who i am. I am the guy that asking you the questions about wild-caught Gliders.
I saw my Gliders mating last week night. My question is
(1) Do i need to stop my bonding process(I'll take them out  from the cage when they are sleeping in the pouch and they will be together with me.) to avoid giving to much stress to my female glider?
(2)I am keeping 2 pairs of Gliders and they are living in a same cage. Do I need to separate that 2 pairs?
(3)Is it we can know the health of the Gliders by looking the color of their nose?
(4)Any other advices for me about pregnant glider are welcome.

Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi,

So your bonding is going well?  First of all, in a few days the tiny babies need to crawl into the pouch and establish themselves there.  Once there, nothing should happen, since they are firmly attached to the teat.   Papa gliders make wonderful parents, so you should keep papa in the cage with mama.  

Are your two males brothers?  I can't believe you have two pairs in the same cage.  Unrelated males usually do not get along.  You definitely need to split up the two pairs.  The other male and/or female most likely will not allow the offspring of the other pair to live.  

Continue bonding.  How is it going? Things should be much better by now.  Hopefully they will be calm by the time the joeys come out of the pouch.  

I have never heard of the color of the nose being an indicator of health.    You can tell more by the fur, ears, and eyes.  The fur should be silky, not dull.  Eyes should be bright, and the ears should be perky.  A glider with dull fur, dull eyes, and ears hanging down is not a healthy glider.  Also be alert for hind legs drooping.  Hind-end paralysis is common among gliders, and is caused by a lack of calcium in the diet.

Gliders don't need any help with their young.  You can help by giving both gliders extra protein, and by ensuring the female gets enough calcium through yogurt or supplements.

Having joeys is exciting.  Please keep in touch!

Betty

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
Thanks for your answers. My gliders are more comfortable with me now as I can hand feed them but they are still crabby. The two males are not brothers but they never fight before and they will sleep together in a same pouch. However, sometime the younger male will warn the older male when he come near to the foods. I'll put them in different cage later.
How can I help to make my male glider's hair in the center of head grow? I know it is normal to an adult glider but is there any treatment for the hair loss?
Can I just feed my gliders veggies and fruits? Or I need to choose a diet such as BML,HPW,Suncoast and etc.?
Any suggestion of more simple diet? I can not buy any supplement such as Rep-cal in Malaysia as there are not many people keeping this exotic pet.
Can the gliders still walk and jump if they are having Hind-end paralysis? My gliders always jump and run in the cage during mid night,are they ok?

Thank you.

Answer
Hi,

I would still separate the males.  Things will be different with joeys around.

The hair loss is part of being male.  It is the male's major scent gland.  He uses it to scent-mark his family members and his home.  It is the male's way of identifying his family.  If gliders come around who do not have the scent, they will fight.  The only way for the bald spot to go away is to have the glider neutered.

Gliders are omnivorous.  They MUST have protein in their diet! They can eat chicken, eggs, meal worms, crickets, and other small animals.  I feed my gliders BML. I suggest that you make up the recipe with as many ingredients as you can find.  You can order the supplements from sugar-gliders.com  Zookeeper's secret is a good staple diet, and can also be ordered from sugar-gliders.com. Be sure your gliders are getting calcium.

You would notice the gliders' hind end drooping if they had hind end paralysis.  It sounds like they are fine.

I hope this helps.  Please keep in touch.