Welcome to My Little Sugar Glider.

I have been owned by sugar gliders since 1997.  On this website, you will find some information I have collected over the years pertaining to the proper care and feeding of these unique little creatures. Sugar gliders are tiny marsupials (slightly larger than a good sized hamster) that are native to Australia and Indonesia.  They are similar in some ways to their American cousins (the only native American marsupial) the opossum.  My main focus is to educate people properly on these animals, before they make a decision to include them into their lives. These pets are long-term commitments. The life expectany in captivity can be 10 to 15 or more years if cared for properly. If not cared for properly, life expectancy could be 3 years or less. They are also very social animals, so it is highly recommended that they be kept in pairs. I personally will not sell single gliders unless you already have one at home needing a companion.

When it comes to breeding gliders, too many varitables and things can go wrong with breeding. In my experience, I waited 8 years before I graduated from having a pet only pair to my first breeding pair. I felt I needed to learn a lot about them before I got t that point. Too much is needed to be learned from the animals and I have seen too many people get in over their heads in the first year with gliders.

When purchasing a glider from me, I do have a short application that I like all to fill out. This tells me how much you know about gliders and how much I need to teach you before you take the animals into your home. I will expect for you to be completly set up with the proper cage, food, supplements and accessories. You may either purchase a food and supplement starter kit directly from me, or one of the mail order links I have provided on my links page. It needs to be done before you bring your babies home.

I also ask for your name and address not because I am noisy, but because first of all, I need to know if I am selling to a person of age and if gliders are legal in your comminity.

If you are a minor, I will consider selling to you only if your parents contact me. I need to know that the animals are going to be considered members of the family rather than the "kid's pet." Owning animals that requires this much maitenience, needs to be a family affair. Not only will you have to spend quite a lot each year to feed it right, but also wellness check ups with your exotic vet and emergency visits can be costly. Your parents would have to understand that if something happened to your glider, they may have to lay out a lot of money to make it well again. If you parents are not willing to do this, I will not be able to sell you the gliders.

Also, it must be discussed in your home what will happen with the gliders if you decide to go to college. Gliders are not the best dorm pets as they will keep you and your roomate up all night. Someone has to care for it at home and make sure they take them out and play with people each night so they don't become afraid of humans.

I also check with your vet to make sure you take your other animals for regular wellness check ups and not just for emergencies. This applies to both minors and adults wanting to adopt from me.

Lastly, I need to call the humane society in your area to make sure gliders are legal in your town. Many people buy gliders and they are not aware of the local ordinances. Some states do not permit gliders either. This would include, California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. If you live in any of these states, please do not contact me. I will not sell to you.

I want your first experience with gliders to be enjoyable and disaster free. I also want the best homes possible for my animals. That is my goal.

There are also quite a bit of food requirements and supplements that have to be purchased on a regular basis for optimum health and well-being of your gliders. These items are discussed later in my website. Places to purchase these items may also be found in the link section of this site.

There are only a handful of "vet approved" diets out there. Gliders need a careful balance of calcium to phosphorus. If they get too much phosphorus, it cancels out the calcium they need to absorb to be heatlhy leaving them malnurished. Many gliders die within their first year because their owners did not do the proper research on feeding them and getting the approved diets.

Approved diets are only as good as they are used. If you change one little thing in the diet, the balances can be thrown off enough to do harm to the animal. The diets must be followed to a "T" in order to be sucessful and keep your animals healthy.

The gliders that I keep are my pets. I enjoy raising up babies. The sales of the babies go right back into the care and maintience of these guys. I sell only to homes that I approve. Check with me on availablity of joeys, since they are very limited.

At the current time, I have some normals, white face blondes, white face lions, lions and hets (gene carriers) for platinum, leucistic (black-eyed whites) and Creminos (Albino "T" gene).

I am a small hobby breeder, so I am able to spend time with each baby so they will not be wild.  They will be nice and spoiled so that when you bring your little animals home, you will be amazed at how wonderful they truly are.

All the gliders that I breed have come from known breeders. They have lineage (pedigree) 4 to 5 generations back so they are safe to breed. Babies from me will never be inbred. I do not provide lineage for pet only gliders, since it is understood that you will not be breeding them. If you are a breeder or experienced glider person that wishes to breed, the lineage will be provided upon request. Prices for pets start at $150 each and go up depending on rariety of color.

I live near both Des Moines and Kansas City. I do travel to these cities sometimes on the weekends. I can meet you there if that helps. If you do not live near these cities, we can consider shipping with Continental Airlines. I do prefer railroading the babies with other trusted members of the glider community. We have get-to-gethers different times of the year that make these various railroads possible all over the country.

If I have babies available, they will be posted to my photo page as they become available. Simply click on to the photo of the baby you are interested in, and it will bring up a description, when it was out of pouch (it should be weaned around 8 weeks from out of pouch date) and price as a breeder. I don't discount my females, but I will give a discount if 2 or more males are purchased as pet only. Contact me for details on the ones you are interested in. Neuter contract may apply.

I do require a ½ down, non-refundable deposit to hold any babies.  It is a standard practice with most breeders.  I do have my expenses with these little fellows, and feeding and care can be costly.  If a deposit is received, I can tell other customers that each baby is positively spoken for.

I accept either a postal money order for the babies or an instant payment with Paypal. Please be aware that on a Paypal hold, I can only hold them for 24 hours until the deposit is recieved. On a postal money order, I can only hold them for a week. If I don't recieve your deposit before then, I must place them up for sale again. The remainder of the money owed is due at the time you pick up your baby.

I also moderate a Yahoo group under the name Marsupial_Mayhem.  Feel free to check it out and join if you wish.  We are now almost 300 members strong.  There are a lot of good people on there with tons of information for newbies.  And maybe you have something to contribute too.  I moderate all messages; therefore, there are no annoying spams in this group. There is a link to join the group on my contact page.  You don’t have to have a Yahoo email to join.

Feel free to browse my site and email me under “contact” if you have any questions or wish to speak with me further.  Enjoy.  The main thing here is that you learn from my site and ask me questions if you have any.  I enjoy helping people with their gliders and just want you to have good information about them to keep them happy and healthy.

Gliders purchased from pet stores or fairs are usually obtained from mills. Many are malnourished, underage and carry sickness. Do not buy gliders that are fed either bird food, cat food or an "all pellet" diet. These foods are unheatlhy for them and you should start out with gliders that have always been fed an approved diet to lesson your chances of numerous vet visits in order to get the animal back to good health.

Before purchasing your gliders from a breeder, pet store or fair, you need to consider these things:

1. Are these animals at least 8 weeks out of pouch?

2. If male\female pair, are they unrelated? If so, is the male neutered?

3. Is the person you are buying them from the original breeder?

4. Does the person selling the gliders have any objections to you coming to visit the faciltiy the animals are bred at and seeing all the gliders as well as conditions, before you are ready to purchase?

5. Are the animals and their parents currently being fed a vet approved diet such as BML, HPW or Priscilla Price diet?

6. Have the animals been handled and are they used to human contact?

7. Do the animals come with at least a 30 day health guarantee?

8. Does the breeder give to you a contact name and phone number when you ask for it?

9. If purchasing standard gray gliders as pets only, are they priced at $150-$200 (standard price for quality non-color pets). If not, why?

10. Most breeders will not give out lineage or pedigree papers on pet only animals. It's part of the breeder's assurance and trust with the buyer they will not be bred. However, most, if asked, will show you copies of the lineage papers on the parents when you visit them in their homes so they can show you the animals they are selling you are not inbred. Even pet gliders should be free of the possible health issues many of the inbred animals suffer. Make sure the breeder will show you this information if asked. Remember, it is up to them if they choose to give you a copy to take home.

11. If "No" applies to any of these questions, perhaps it is in your best interest to contact other breeders. You can find a great many of knowledgeable and caring breeders on sites such as Marsupial Mayhem in the Yahoo groups, Gilder Central, and other recommended sugar glider forums. You must log on and join these sites with a screen name in order to speak with the other people on line, but they are all free services and moderated by caring, experienced glider people.

Marsupial Mayhem:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Marsupial_Mayhem/

Glider Central:

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/forum_summary

Sugar Glider Central:

http://www.sugarglidercentral.com/forum/default.asp

For a good description of colors, check out Kris DeRose's glider color page:

http://www.freewebs.com/glidercraze/colorvariations.htm

For the good of the glider.

Danielle G.