Entrance hole should be 40-50 mm in diameter. The nest box size is 200 mm x 200 mm x 450 mm high. When they are provided with fresh browse and branches. Sugar Gliders will make their own nest within the box. The more nest boxes that can be provided the better, two would be fine for a pair or a trio of Sugar Gliders. Nest boxes can be lined with fresh wood shavings or a similar bedding material.
Nest boxes should be provided as an alternative to a hollow log, simply because they are usually easier to access, to clean and replace if necessary. Think about where you place food, stainless steel food bowls hooked onto the wire can be moved around the cage, which will increase your Gliders activity and stimulate them at the same time. Also consider a network of climbing branches suspended from the top of the aviary. The larger the gaps between branches will encourage gliding. Furnishing the aviary depends on the space you have, securing branches to the wire or planting them in the ground straight up and down to mimic tree trunks is a good start. Wire used on aviaries is 12 mm x 12 mm x 1.4mm thick, weld mesh. Wood exposed to the Glider will be chewed and treated timber should always be avoided. For the construction of a Sugar Glider aviary steel tube would be the best material. Increased floor area of 1sq meter per extra animal. Current recommended enclosure requirements are 7sq meters for 2 animals and 3m high. House requirements - When housing any species, the larger the enclosure the better. Sugar Gliders are a vocal species with a vocalisation range from barking, shrilled yapping and a defiant gurgling chatter (usually heard when disturbing them while in their nest box). Cream to grey underside/belly, with a grey and black tail sometimes with a white tip. ariel is kept in small numbers and has avoided being hybridised and successfully maintained a pure subspecies.ĭescription - Sugar Gliders are bluey grey in colour with a dark dorsal stripe. P.b.longicaudatus this sub species’s purity is questionable and has been hybridised with P.b breviceps for many years, there are still pure longicaudatus kept. P.b breviceps is the most commonly kept of all the sugar gliders. Individual members of the Marsupial Society do recognise, record and maintain pure sub-species of the 3 that occur in Australia. Under current licensing laws sub species are not recognised or required to be listed.
#SUGAR GLIDER LIFESPAN LICENSE#
You need a Basic License to keep this species in Victoria. In captivity 5-8, however they have been know up to 10 years, the oldest known animal lived to 14 years. In the wild their life expectancy is 4-6 years. P.b.longicaudatus, Queensland and P.b breviceps, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania (introduced in 1830’s). ariel, Northern Territory extending into Western Australia. The sub species occurring in Australia are, P.b. Three occurring in Australia and the other four in New Guinea. Sugar gliders are bred and kept as pets.The Sugar Glider Petaurus breviceps has seven sub-species. Though threatened by feral animals, bushfires, and land clearance for agriculture, sugar gliders are considered to have stable populations in the wild. They’ve also been observed systematically searching tree cones for spiders and beetles. They feed on nectar, pollen, acacia, and eucalyptus tree sap. Sugar gliders have a flexible diet that can vary according to location and season. That, along with short periods of reduced body temperature called torpor, helps them save energy on colder days. To keep warm, sugar gliders sleep huddled together. In parts of their range, winter temperatures can fall below freezing. The young stay with their mothers until they’re seven to 10 months old. Females have one or two young, called joeys, at least once a year. In addition to forests, they’ve also been found in plantations and rural gardens. Sugar gliders nest in tree hollows with up to 10 other adults. They have mostly grey fur but their underbellies are white, and their heads have black stripes. As nocturnal animals, they see well in the dark with their big black eyes. Often compared with flying squirrels-rodents with similar bodies that can also glide-sugar gliders are more closely related to other marsupials like kangaroos.
#SUGAR GLIDER LIFESPAN SKIN#
Their “wings” are made from a thin skin stretched between the fifth forefinger and back ankle, and they use their bushy tails as rudders as they soar through the air. These common, tree-dwelling marsupials are native to tropical and cool-temperate forests in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Sugar gliders are palm-size possums that can glide half the length of a soccer pitch in one trip.