A happy pet sugar glider will be perfectly content to ride around in your pocket all day long. However, even though sugar gliders are genetically hard-wired to be highly sociable creatures, this easy bond doesn't come automatically. To establish such a deep, trusting relationship, it is useful to know a little about how the sugar glider interacts with others of its own kind in the wild.
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a naturally social marsupial resembling the North American flying squirrel. In their natural environment, they live in colonies of up to seven adults and their young, making a group of 15 to 30 in total. This social group is constantly together, feeding, caring for the young, and marking and defending its territory.
Because the instinct to trust goes back to the sugar glider's days in the pouch as a blind joey, physical contact is tightly tied to scent when it comes to bonding. Thus the first step in establishing a trusting relationship is to spend time with your sugar glider, at least a couple of hours every day and early evening, and to leave scent markers of your presence for when you can't be physically there. For the sugar glider, security means being enveloped in a darkened area within a familiar, trusted scent, so place a scrap of fabric with your scent into its bonding pouch. As well, find an old shirt you don't plan on using anymore for any other purpose. Wear it for a day and a night, sleep in it, and then never wash it again. This will become the cover for your sugar glider's cage, and later you will use it to help the glider become accustomed to being carried by you.
You don't want this scent to become associated with anything bad, only with good things. Sugar gliders respond poorly to negative feedback of any kind, so be careful not to startle or scare the sugar glider in any way, especially during the first months of bringing the sugar glider home, when everything is still new and strange. It may lunge at your approach and even try to bite, both signs of defensiveness and anxiety. It is normal for a newly arrived sugar glider to be anxious. Wouldn't you be?
Until your sugar glider is secure within its new surroundings, don't attempt any direct physical contact. Instead, let the sugar glider become familiar with your presence and accept you slowly on its own terms. You will know when this has happened because the sugar glider won't start chittering anymore as you approach the cage. Always move slowly around the cage, avoiding sudden movements and eye contact. Talk to it softly throughout.
Your first contact with your sugar glider will be through feeding it. Always leave a tiny bit of fruit in the cage every time you come near, and let it learn slowly that like your scent, your presence means good things. After it stops showing signs of anxiety in your presence, you can start placing your hands in the cage. Start with just a finger, topped up with a bit of fruit, and wait for it to come closer and lick it off. This will take time. Resist the urge to push the finger toward it. Always let the sugar glider come to you.
This is the point when a sugar glider is most likely to bite. What has happened is that you moved a bit too quickly and it got scared, or else it was not quite ready for a new intrusion into its secure space. Resist the urge to jerk back or to speak sharply. A sugar glider's bite is only a brief pinch, and probably won't even break the skin. Instead, leave your finger where it is and keep talking to it in a soft, low voice. Don't leave the sugar glider alone, and don't start wearing gloves around it. The last thing you want to do is to block away your scent!
When the sugar glider is secure with the presence of your hands inside its cage to the point of walking across your hands and exploring your fingers, you can begin to hold it while it is in its bonding pouch. Again, make sure that the sugar glider is completely secure with this stage before taking the next step, which is to take the sugar glider out of its cage during the day.
To do this, first close the doors and windows of the room or make an enclosed area inside the room, such as a pup tent. Put on the cover shirt over your own clothing, tucking it in at the waist to make a pouch. Then take the bonding pouch and place it into the pouch you just made with your shirt, speaking gently to the sugar glider throughout. Be alert to any signs of anxiety. If your voice and your light touch is not sufficient to ease them, place the pouch back into the cage and just hold it in your hands until the sugar glider relaxes again. The first time you try this, it should be out of the cage for no more than half an hour. Gradually increase the time, until the sugar glider is so relaxed with you that it falls asleep. Sugar gliders are nocturnal, so it will be a bit sleepy anyway and less likely to begin exploring and maybe escape. Even so, do not leave the house with the sugar glider during this time.
This is the longest part of training your sugar glider, and the hardest. It may help to keep other people away from your sugar glider until it has become completely secure with you, to the point of seeking you out when something startles them.
If you intend to pocket-train a sugar glider, this is the point when you gently take the sugar glider out of its pouch and guide it toward your pocket. Remember, handling the sugar glider always means keeping your hand open and letting the sugar glider sit in it and cling to your fingers, without confining it in any way. Always let the sugar glider be in control. Another method is to use a shirt with a pocket instead of a bonding pouch inside the cage, so that the sugar glider learns to sleep in that pocket from the beginning. Use the shirt you have worn that day, and replace it every day.
Once security has been established, you can start playing with your sugar glider. Being nocturnal, it will spend most of the day sleeping. As soon as it wakes up, you can feed it and then spend some quality time with your sugar glider, allowing it the freedom to explore your house and get some exercise at the same time. Your sugar glider will soon be launching itself from the tops of bookcases to your shirt. You may want to keep its claws trimmed, since it will want to climb over you, and its claws are naturally sharp. A good rule of thumb is that daytime is for bonding, nighttime is for play.
Once you have established trust, never betray it. Sugar gliders isolated from their social network or otherwise deprived of social contact will become depressed. Early symptoms of depression are lack of appetite, sluggishness, and a general lack of interest in its surroundings. Do not take these symptoms lightly! If allowed to continue, these symptoms will only get worse, and in the end your sugar glider will die.
But give it the attention it craves, give it one or two sugar glider companions for nighttime play, and you will have a happy, healthy, friendly pet for years to come.