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| Name: |
Meka
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Age: |
One year old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Sugar Glider
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| Home: |
Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
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Hi
everyone! My name is Meka and I'm a sugar glider, a gliding possum
native to Australia. To best describe me; I have the body of a flying
squirrel (and I'm just as capable of gliding as them), the hands of a
monkey, ears of a bat, pouch of a kangaroo and the big eyes of a puppy.
I'm relatively quiet, although sometimes I'll make a little puppy dog
bark and when I'm upset I'll make a noise called crabbing (which sounds
like a cross between a nest of bees and a rattlesnake). Although you
can't hear it I also purr. My odd appearance gets me lots of stares
wherever my owner takes me along with him.
My favorite foods would have to be crickets, mealworms and cantaloupe.
Of course my owner makes sure that I get a much wider variety of food to
keep me in good shape. Over all 75 percent of my diet is fruit and
veggies and the other 25 percent is protein, mainly insects but also
boiled egg and chicken. I'm also given yogurt for calcium to keep my
bones nice and strong. Of course, I also try to get a piece of whatever
my owner happens to be eating as well. Since I hang out with him a lot
whenever he's home I expect him to at least share something!
During the day I sleep - while my owner is off at school I sleep in my
cage. My cage is a custom built from an old bar. It's about 5'x 4'x 2'
with lots of branches, toys and places to sleep. We sugar gliders need a
lot of space to thrive in captivity even though we're small critters
(I'm only a foot long with my tail). Once my owner gets home he puts me
in the bonding pouch. The bonding pouch is a little pouch made of very
soft material which hangs from around his neck from a string. I get to
sleep or ride around in here while he goes around doing his thing. When
I was a baby I spent a lot of time in the bonding pouch so I could get
used to his smell and get familiar with his voice.
Of course once it gets late, around 11:00 or so, I wake up and I'm ready
to play! I'm very active at night and my owner gives me the run of his
room during the night since he feels that it isn't fair to keep me in a
cage all the time. I like pounce on cat toys, wrestle with my owner's
fingers and play hide and seek. I also find people's ears very
fascinating and continually try to hold on to them and stick my nose in
them (which I've been told tickles unbearably). Once I'm awake I ride
around on my owner's shoulder, watch TV with him or help him with
homework. I like to bother my owner if he's awake and not playing with
me but once he's asleep I'm very well behaved and leave him alone so he
can get some rest. I'm very curious and get in everything! I've been
labeled as "the most unintentionally destructive creature on earth"
since everything I touch is either broken, nibbled on, pushed over or
stolen to use for a nest. As such, my owner has taken great pains to
make sure his room has been glider proofed.
I'm very intelligent as well (destructive and smart; a disastrous
combination at best my owner claims). I recognize my name and come when
called. My owner will also let me climb up high and then call my name
and I'll glide down onto his arm, a trick a lot of people like to watch.
If I'm hungry and my owner hasn't given me dinner yet, I'll lightly bite
his ear to remind him that I'm hungry and want some food. When I can I
like to tag along with my owner, going to work, school and car rides
with him.
Even though we sugar gliders can make amazing pets deciding to take one
of us into your home is not a decision to be taken lightly. As we are
exotic pets our needs and behaviors differ from those of domestic
species. We require a specialized diet, large housing and require large
amounts of attention every day. We can live happily in captivity and
make great pets but it requires a lot of work on the owner's part to
make sure our needs are met. Thanks for reading all about me, now I'm
off to see if I can find some crickets for dinner. Bye.
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