by Ruth Belena

Created on: March 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

The sugar glider, (Petaurus breviceps), is a small marsupial native to New Guinea, northern and eastern Australia. Its name derives from the sweetness of its diet, and from its ability to glide effortlessly from tree to tree.

In the wild the sugar glider feeds on nectar and pollen from flowers, the gum and sap of eucalyptus and acacia trees, small animals and insects.

The natural habitat of the sugar glider is dense forest with plenty of rainfall, both in cool and tropical climes. It can also inhabit areas of dry woodland.

~ Physical Characteristics:

Sugar gliders are silver gray, with a lighter underbelly, and a dark stripe along the back. The long tail is equal in length to the body of a sugar glider. A fully grown adult is usually about twelve inches long, including its tail.

The sugar glider is an agile acrobatic animal, using a gliding membrane, called the patagium that stretches between the wrists of the forelegs to the ankles on the hind legs. With this membrane outspread, a sugar glider can travel through the air for quite a long distance The sugar glider will use its bushy tail for stability, and changes direction in flight by tilting the left or the right membrane.

Gliding with its feet outstretched, the sugar glider easily grasps hold of a tree upon landing. Its hind legs have a thumb and four digits for gripping. Two of the digits are fused together, for grooming purposes. The digits of the forepaws have sharp claws.

Sugar gliders can make a variety of calls, ranging from a shrill warning yap to an aggressive shriek, and in the nest they make a gurgling chattering sound.

Both male and female sugar gliders have scent glands on their feet, at the side of the mouth and inside the external ear. The male sugar glider has additional scent glands, one on the head and one on the chest between the front legs. He also has an anal gland, and he uses secretions from all his glands to mark his territory.

~ Life Cycle of the Sugar Glider:

Sugar Gliders usually produce an average of two to three young each year. Gestation takes around two weeks, then the females carry their young inside a pouch called the marsupium, on the belly area. Usually only one or two tiny babies are born at the same time, and these will stay on the nipple for up to six weeks.

Young gliders only leave the pouch for the first time at around two months old. In four months they will be independent enough to leave the nest.

Sugar Gliders have been recorded as living for up to fourteen years, but in the wild the average is usually around nine years.

~ Sugar Gliders as Pets

These delightful, easily tamed creatures can be bred in captivity, and they are sometimes kept as exotic pets. Sugar gliders have very specific requirements in captivity. They should only be kept as pets if they can be suitably housed, with full provision for all their needs.

In some parts of the United States it is illegal to own a sugar glider that have not been bought directly from a Federally licensed USDA facility. It is important to check both national and regional regulations where you live, before deciding to keep sugar gliders as pets.

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