'Sugar gliders' - the new domestic pets (?)

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Sugar gliders - a species of possum native to New Guinea and Australia - are becoming popular as domestic pets.

"With soft brown eyes, fluffy fur and their amusing acrobatics, they are seen as ideal pets."

Perhaps. But for £150 you are lumbered with a creature that needs to be let out at night to glide around (up to 200ft), craves attention (and is prone to depression should they not receive it) and makes a noise "similar to an electric blender".

Sounds pretty high maintenance Wink

Online report in today's Daily Mail (source for photos: Daily Mail, 12.09.08, page 3)

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

Perhaps. But for £150 you are lumbered with a creature that needs to be let out at night to glide around (up to 200ft), craves attention (and is prone to depression should they not receive it) and makes a noise "similar to an electric blender".

Yeh, but they're wicked cute Smile

I'm sure my dog would love to eat one.

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@Walter Hinteler,

We had sugar gliders for several years.

They were fun, but high maintenance as you say.

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@DrewDad,

Do they poop all over the house when you let them loose? Hamster turds were annoying enough when I was a kid, but a flying hamster would be even worse.

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@rosborne979,

They can be trained to poop/pee on paper when you bring them out.

The problem is that they are VERY social animals. That's also the attraction, of course, because they will attach to you. But if you attach one, you have to spend a lot of time with it; some people even carry them on their bodies.

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@Walter Hinteler,

I think we went overboard with the sugar glider fad. We've got the damn things flying around all over our rooms now. I think we bought too many.

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@DrewDad,

Hello i have 2 gliders and i would love to train them to use the bathroom before i let them climb all over me! How do you train them to do that? Thanks!

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@Walter Hinteler,

They should be left alone, in their natural habitat.
Surely there are more than enough varieties of domesticated animals available for humans to adopt? Legally.

I do agree, though. Beautiful little creatures.

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'Sugar gliders' - the new domestic pets (?)

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