Downsides to owning a sugar glider

Even though having a sugar glider can be rewarding, it is also very hard.
Diet: Their diet doesn't consist of pellet food. They actually need fruits and vegetables daily and need live insects to eat such as meal worms. So is you are squeamishness around insects, that may be a problem.

Housing: Sugar gliders usually jump from branches, so they cannot have a small enclosure. There are laws regarding what size cages you must have if you own a sugar glider.


Messy!: Sugar gliders are not very clean animals. When sugar gliders wake up, the go to the bathroom and cant help it. They climb their cage and pee/poo all over the cage and are very messy eaters.

Smells: Sugar gliders can be stinky animals. They have scent glands just like ferrets or skunks, except they do not smell half as bad. They mark with their pee, and in a few day will have to have their cage cleaned.

Verbalization: Sugar gliders are nosiy in the night sense they are nocturnal. They are usually awake when you are asleep and can be very nosiy.

Biting: Sugar gliders are small animals and mostly defensless so they do tend to bite when they are scared or feel trapped. Their bites can be a nibble or can be SO BAD you have to get stiches.

Companion: Sugar gliders are very loveable animals and cannot be alone very long. Even if you buy two I reccomend playing with them for AT LEAST two hours a day.

Reproduction: Sugar gliders can breed constantly in captivity. Sometimes 2-4 times a year. This is a lot of stress on the girl sugar glider, and are you ready to take the huge responsibility of lots of babies?

Live: Sugar gliders are very long living animals that live around 15 years. You have to take a lot of commitment and time.

Abandon: You should know what you are getting into before you get a sugar glider. So many people are realizing how much work they are and abandonig them.

Health: Sugar gliders can get weird problems that cost a lot to fix, and it might not even work. This can be a financial problem.

Cost: So after all of this there is the cost. They can be quite exspensive when you are first getting one or if yours has a health issue. So before you buy a sugar glider, put the downsides in your  perspective first.