Sugar Gliders: Everything about Purchase, Nutrition, Behavior, and Breeding Book

Preface     5
Meet the Sugar Glider     7
What Is a Sugar Glider?     7
The Petauridae Family     7
Possum or Opossum     8
Subclass Marsupialia The Marsupials     9
Characteristics of Sugar Gliders     11
General Appearance     11
The Skeleton     12
Body Temperature     12
Body Weight     12
Intelligence     13
Is a Sugar Glider the Right Pet for You?     15
Think Before You Buy a Sugar Glider     15
Considerations Before You Buy     17
State and Municipal Regulations     17
A Male or a Female?     17
How Many Gliders?     18
Finding Suppliers     18
Pet Selection     21
What Age?     21
Selecting a Healthy and Suitable Pet     21
Housing and Equipment     25
Size of the Cage     25
Cleaning Considerations     26
Location of the Cage     26
Temperature     27
Inside the Cage     27
HOW-TO: Build Your Own Cage     32
Living with Sugar Gliders     35
Bringing YourPet Home     35
Handling Your Pet     35
Letting Gliders Out to Play     36
Sugar Gliders and Other Pets     38
Sugar Gliders and Children     38
Sugar Gliders and House Plants     39
Escapees     39
Biting     42
Sugar Gliders and Strangers     42
Vacations     42
Diet     45
Fruits and Vegetables     45
Red Meat, Poultry, Eggs, and Tofu     46
Live Treats     47
Pinky Mice     48
Dairy Products     48
Dry Cat Food?     49
Nuts     49
Water     49
Balancing the Diet     49
How Much to Feed?     50
Alternative Diets     51
Dietary Supplements     52
Specialty Products     54
Reproductive Biology     57
External Sex Characteristics     57
Internal Reproductive Anatomy     57
Reproduction and Development     58
Raising Your Own Gliders     63
A License to Breed     64
Choosing Breeding Stock     64
Sugar Gliders of a Different Color      65
Colony Breeding vs. Breeding in Pairs and Trios     66
Record Keeping     67
Housing Colonies     67
Replacing Lost Mates and Introducing New Animals     68
Pets as Breeding Stock     69
When to Breed     69
Handling the Babies     71
Weaning Babies     72
Avoiding Inbreeding     73
Neutering     73
HOW-TO: Hand-Rear a Rejected Joey     74
Health Concerns     77
Nutrition and Health     77
The Importance of Hygiene     80
Parasites     81
Bathing Gliders     81
Stress-Related Illness     82
Recognizing III Health     83
Quarantine     83
Finding a Veterinarian     83
Understanding Sugar Gliders     85
Sugar Gliders in the Wild     85
Vocalizations     86
Body Language and Behavior     87
Natural Enemies     88
Scent Marking     89
Information     90
Glossary     92
Index     94