by Aliyeus J

Created on: February 25, 2009

There's no doubt about it, sugar gliders are adorable little creatures, and to look at them, most anyone would want one. But do they make good pets? That is an excellent question, and there are lots of things to consider before deciding rather or not you want to take one of these little rascals on as your very own.

Originating from Australia, New Guinea, and the Bismarck Archipelago, sugar gliders are an exotic animal. For this reason they are not legal everywhere here in the USA, and your first step should be to find out if you are able to legally own these animals where you live. The laws on this issue are changing constantly, so the surest way to go, is to simply check with the USDA animal care in your region.

Now that you have that information squared away, lets move on to the cost of sugar gliders. There can actually be a steep range in prices for these Marsupials, although a normal, grey, young glider will cost you about $150 at the pet store or coming from a breeder. All sugar gliders are basically of the same quality, but the price will go up with the more exotic looking ones. And this just refers to their coloring. The more colored a sugar glider is, the more exotic they look, and therefore prices go up to starting at about $250, but can set you back as much as $1000 to $2000. You can also find completely white gliders, but they are rare, and do fall on the very expensive end of the price range.

There is the maintenance cost of sugar gliders to view with your financial considerations as well. Their diets are more complex than that of some other pets, and they will most times take live food or at least a sort of dead, processed, cricket food. In addition they take much produce that you will need to spend some time preparing yourself, and they also have supplemental protein foods that they need, treats are nice too. The total cost of this care for your glider will usually run about $50 a month.

Gliders are very social animals, and most pet shops or breeders will mention this, while highly recommending that you buy at least two gliders at once, as they are much happier in pairs.

They do live about 10 to 15 years, so you must decide if you want to dedicate this amount of time and energy to owning one of these pets. They require much attention, which comes with their being very social animals, and if you have a single glider, it is suggested that you spend as much as 4 hours a day with the pet, which may seem extreme, but gliders have been known to become depressed,

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