Sugar Glider University

This article is a follow-up and clarification to the Self-Mutilation article written late last month.

It is Glider University's position that, especially due to the current overpopulation crisis sugar gliders face in America that heroic measures should not be taken in the case of ill sugar gliders.

Why is this our position?

In one of the stories of self-mutilation we read, a sugar glider had bitten into his intestines.  This is horrible!  While we understand that the caregivers may feel very close to their sugar gliders, it is not in the best interest of the sugar glider or the species as a whole to allow this animal to suffer in this manner.  The most humane thing to do would be to allow the sugar glider to be euthanized.

Glider University has consulted numerous veterinarians and zoos when they have questions regarding sugar gliders. Many veterinarians and zoos know very little about sugar gliders. For this reason, especially, extreme care should be taken when deciding whether or not to treat a sugar glider for any illness.

Many times, the best intentions lead to prolonged suffering and additional side effects that are painful and dangerous.  These measures are not in the best interest of the sugar glider.

The wearing of the e-collar is a perfect example of this.  An e-collar will not allow a sugar glider to self-mutilate.  However, if self-mutilation would continue indefinitely without the e-collar, it does not solve the problem.  If an e-collar has to be worn for an extended period of time, the sugar glider will suffer.  The sugar glider will not have a quality of life at all. 

If, as some sugar glider hobbyists practice, the glider is given an e-collar and then permitted to stay in a horribly small cage (anything smaller than what was mentioned in the earlier article), that is akin to putting a sick human being in a very small bathroom with room only for a toilet and sink, tying them to the toilet and saying, "Here is food and water. Now, get better."  That is, first of all, not any way to live, and secondly, not conducive to healing.

Sugar gliders are extremely resilient wild animals. In the wild, when a sugar glider becomes ill, no heroic measures are taken.  This is part of the natural cycle of life and death.  This is as nature intended.

Because human beings decided that sugar gliders were cute enough to be pets, sugar gliders have become forced to live in a way that is contrary to their nature, which inevitably leads to illness and disease.  Sugar gliders are not domesticated pets.  They are wild animals. It is the unnatural and unnecessary tampering of human beings that have caused most, if not all, of the illnesses in captive sugar gliders.  Human caregivers have:

Forced sugar gliders to live in spaces that are too small (gliders should have ample room to glide.  In the wild, they have been known to glide the length of a football field.)

Forced sugar gliders to eat a diet that is not even close to their natural diet (bread, cereal, marshmallows, baby food, etcetera).

Forced sugar gliders to take vitamins made for entirely different species (ie, reptile vitamins)

Forced sugar gliders to live singly or in pairs (in the wild, sugar gliders are COLONY animals.  Living singly or in pairs is contrary to their nature)

Is it any wonder that sugar gliders are exhibiting signs of self-mutilation and other mental illnesses?  All of these things lead to unnecessary suffering in hundreds and thousands of sugar gliders. 

Not enough is known about this species to really develop any kind of treatment plan for sugar gliders who are ill or unhealthy with inexplicable problems.  In our efforts to try to keep our sugar gliders alive, we are unwittingly contributing to their suffering.  In many cases, if a "treatment plan" is developed, it is experimental at best.  These sugar gliders should be treated with dignity, not as experiments.  Whether we like it or not, that is how it is.

If a caregiver is truly attempting to better the species and is looking out for its best interest, it would be better that a sick glider be allowed to die, rather than continue a life that is nothing more than bare survival and suffering.

If we allowed these unhealthy gliders to die with dignity, we could then focus on the needs of the thousands of other gliders out there without proper care.  We could spend our efforts and resources on building adequate housing for them (nine feet by nine feet by nine feet is the minimum enclosure size recommended by Australian sanctuary directors and rehabilitators), feeding proper diet (raising insects, and insuring that gliders have a plethora of insects to eat, in addition to vitamin supplements and acacia gum, and plant matter), neutering all male gliders, and encouraging responsible breeding.