Sugar Glider University

BML.  The three most dangerous letters to sugar gliders in North America.

Luckily, most intelligent and educated people who study sugar gliders have never heard of this mixture, which, in the most gentle terms, is to a sugar glider, a noxious, toxic substance.  Unfortunately, however, there are many people, most of whom have been misinformed from the start about sugar glider husbandry, who have not only heard of this so-called "supplement", but actually feed it to sugar gliders.

BML, which stands for "Bourbon's Modified Leadbeater's", was an attempt by some people who owned sugar gliders, along with some animal nutritionists who apparently knew very little about marsupials in general, let alone sugar gliders,  to create a cheap, easy way of feeding their sugar gliders.  However well intentioned these persons were, the result has been disastrous to the sugar gliders in captivity in North America.

It is always with baffled amazement that I observe some of the interesting philosophies and ideas that emanate from some of the people who own sugar gliders, especially those who own sugar gliders in North America.  Occasionally, however, I must take a moment to step away from the computer and try to compose myself and keep from becoming physically ill when I see things that some sugar glider owners are doing, apparently in complete ignorance of and/or disregard for Petaurus breviceps as a whole.

In the United States, any person at all can get a license to breed sugar gliders, in most cases by simply paying a small fee and getting a veterinarian to sign a piece of paper.  Although the license application states that a vet should visit the premises where breeding will take place, this is rarely enforced, and most vets will simply sign the paper without ever stepping foot in the home or facility where the sugar gliders are bred.  In the few cases where a veterinarian will actually go to the premises, most vets know so little about sugar gliders that it makes little difference one way or the other.