There are a lot of misconceptions about sugar gliders. It is said that they are fragile creatures and are very timid. Yes, they are fragile because of their size and they might be a little jumpy at times but in the end I have found that my sugar gliders are not scared of anything. I wouldn’t suggest trying to scare them on purpose or by putting them abruptly near something they don’t know; but I have introduced them to many types of animals including birds and have never had them stressed.
I have also read that sugar gliders do not like change such as their cages. I have changed locations of where their cages were as well as changed different placements of nesting boxes and toys. I do change their toys every few months so that they can get a variety to play with. I have noticed that any toy that I have given my sugar gliders, they love and they will play with it until the end of time. Toys for sugar gliders can be just about anything from little toy balls (as long as they are not something they can choke on or chew little pieces off of), to different bird toys, some cat toys, and even some dog toys, or home-made toys. I have used a dog toy that I hung in their cage, which is a tire with a rope on the end of it and my sugar gliders actually love to sleep in it instead of their nesting box. I truly recommend getting them the biggest cage you can find. Besides the fact that they love to jump and climb, you will want to spoil them every time you see a new toy that you think they might like. There just isn’t enough room in the cage for everything you see. I also talk to my sugar gliders a lot and have noticed that some things I say to them, they actually understand.
They say you can not train a sugar glider but I feel that you can train them to an extent. They can not be trained to do the things a dog would do such as "Sit" or "Stay" but they will learn the words "No", "Come" or "Get Down". I did live in a one-bedroom apartment where my kitchen and bathroom were in between my living room and bedroom. I used to let my sugar gliders run and glide in either my bedroom or living room. These rooms both were carpeted and my kitchen was tiled. I could let them run around in either room but I would always tell them no when they tried to go off the carpet and into the kitchen. After a while, they didn’t attempt to go into the kitchen, they would just stay in whatever room I had them in. Then one day while I was sleeping, two of my sugar gliders figured out that the door to the cage opens when you lift it (they do watch everything you do) and they both got out. I kept them in my bedroom and my bedroom door was open but instead of them going into the kitchen they stayed right in my bedroom. The few times my sugar gliders found a way to escape, they actually told on themselves by jumping on me or nibbling on me when I was sleeping so that I could play with them.
My sugar gliders & I also have a little game that we play. Whenever I let them out to stretch and roam the room, they like to run up to me and nibble on my foot and run. But if I don’t show that I am making an attempt to chase them they stop and stare at me and then after a few minutes, they will come back and do it again until I do chase them. My sugar gliders play like little kittens. If they see something such as a ball or a string that is moving quickly, they try to catch it. When I play with a piece of string and move it back and forth, they grab it with their little hands and they try to play tug of war with it. Please remember to be careful because they are tiny and can get tangled in it so don’t use a long string and never leave any strings in their cage because they can choke themselves, break a leg, or break their tail.
