Sugar Glider

I was lucky enough to be the carer of a baby sugar glider.  Sugar gliders are like tiny little possums, fully grown ones are around 15″ from nose to tail, (and there’s more tail than anything else…) beautiful little soft silver grey things with bright black eyes.  They have huge fluffy tails, and membranes between their legs so that they can launch themselves from a branch and glide to a lower one, or to the ground……..it acts like a parachute.  They can also be cranky little critters, terribly noisy, quite aggressive at times, escape artists extraordinaire, and they are nocturnal, which means they love to be up and playing when you’re in bed.  They normally only eat plant matter (and they love sweet stuff!  hence their name) and some insects, but I have been told that they will kill other small animals in self defense, or to defend their young….so definitely feisty little things.

Anyway this little fellow arrived.  He had lost his mum to a cat, but luckily he was unharmed.  He arrived in a sock, which had been tied at one end so he was confined to barracks, which was a very wise move.  I then placed the sock inside a beanie, and he had a snug little pouch.  He was about three quarters grown, so I knew he wouldn’t be in a pouch for long.  I used to take him out of his pouch (very very carefully, in case he made a break for it) twice a day, and gave him a teaspoon of possum formula.  He put his little paws on the side of the spoon and lapped it up, every drop.  At the night time feed, I would also give him a fruit salad of sorts, a couple of slices of banana, a few grapes, a slice of apple, in fact a little of whatever I had, then I would sprinkle a high protein powder over the top, which he would industriously lick off before he ate anything else.  I would give him this after dark, but before I went to bed.  As he got older and more used to us, I would bring him out to the living area.  I would put him on the floor, or on a chair.  He would look around and find the highest thing, and run up it.  If you were standing up, and you were the highest thing, he would run up you, and sit on your head.  You had to make sure you wore adequate clothes, because his little claws were sharp.  After he had sat on your head for a while, he would launch himself off, throwing his legs out wide, stretching those membranes, and glide to the floor, or land on a chair, whatever he was aiming for, and then climb up to another vantage point.  He particularly liked climbing the venetian blinds, right to the top.  Especially if he had a piece of fruit in his mouth.  He would hang from the top of the blinds by his tail, upside down, and hold the fruit in his front paws, and chew it all up.  Then he would have a game with the cords belonging to the venetian blinds.  Then he would launch himself down, grab some more food, and repeat the performance.  Obviously, we called him Tarzan……

Of course, as he grew older, he outgrew the need for a pouch, so we gave him a small box, warmly lined, and he used to curl up in that during the day.  Sometimes he would work his way into the wardrobe, and I would find him curled up in a pocket of someones jacket, but beautifully warm.  He would also come out of his hiding place after I had gone to bed, and glide down from the top of the wardrobe, and land on my chest.  I would wake up to see these bright eyes, studying my face, and this little voice chittering away.  There was no way I could stop him doing this, and at this stage I had no aviary, and there was no other room I could leave him in at night that was secure.  So the easiest thing was for me to move…….so I could get some sleep.  And then it was a case of get the aviary built, or move him on…..and he needed to go to be with another sugar glider, so they could be released together, and at that stage there were none in care, apart from him.  So work continued apace on the aviary, which was needed anyway, but before it was finished, I heard that another one was in care….at last!  The day arrived for him to move, and he was packed in his box with the utmost care, so that he would be comfortable, and so he couldn’t escape!  The idea of him bouncing around on my head as I drove along was not wonderful….We arrived safely at his new home, and I handed him over.  He would be introduced to his new housemate, a female, later, seeing it was still day time, but in the mean time, he was taken to the enclosure still tied in his box, so they could get used to each others’ scents before the actual meeting.  I left them to it, and drove home to reclaim my bedroom…