Your Sugar Glider Vet-Prep Sheet
Hayfold a warm home for small-pet folk · hayfold.com Sugar Glider — Vet-Prep Sheet
🔍 Find an exotic-mammal vet — before you need one
- Search the AEMV find-a-vet directory (the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians), or, in the UK, the RCVS Find-a-Vet tool — or search “exotic / small-mammal vet near me”.
- Call ahead and ask the key question: “Do you see small / exotic mammals?” Not every vet does. Ask the exam fee while you’re on the phone, so the cost is one less panic in a crisis.
- Find and save one now, while things are calm — not in the middle of an emergency.
📇 Fill this in now — before the crisis
Two minutes now saves ten in a panic. Print it and keep it with your care notes.
🚨 Is this an emergency now?
See a vet promptly if you notice any of these:
- Weak, dragging or paralysed hind legs, muscle tremors, unexplained fractures, or seizures — signs of metabolic bone disease from a calcium-deficient diet; see a glider vet
- Not eating, weight loss or lethargy
- Self-barbering, over-grooming or self-inflicted wounds — often stress, especially in a lone glider
- Drooling or difficulty eating (dental disease, usually from a too-sugary diet)
- A cold, torpid, unresponsive glider — warm gradually and seek advice
- Diarrhoea or persistently soft droppings
When in doubt, a vet call is never wrong — most issues are reversible if caught early.
🚗 On the way / while you wait
✅ Do
- Keep it warm — small mammals chill and dehydrate fast, and cold makes almost everything worse.
- Bring it in its own bedding/carrier with some familiar food.
- For rabbits and guinea pigs, keep offering their normal hay, greens and water — a gut that stops is an emergency.
- Bring a fresh dropping or urine sample if you can.
- Keep it calm and quiet.
⛔ Don’t
- Don’t give any human or OTC medicines — some common antibiotics are fatal to rabbits and guinea pigs.
- Don’t withhold food from a rabbit or guinea pig.
- Don’t let it get cold.
- Don’t handle it more than necessary.
🎒 What to bring
- A fresh dropping or urine sample, if you can collect one.
- Photos and a short video of the behaviour or symptom — it may not show it in the clinic.
- A note of your setup and exactly what — and how often — you feed.
- A note of eating, drinking and toileting over the last day.
- The animal in a secure, warm carrier.
🗣️ What to tell the vet
A general vet may not know this species. Come ready to explain its correct care:
- Enclosure
- A large, secure, TALL cage of PVC- or powder-coated wire — a recommended minimum of about 61 × 91 × 91 cm (24 × 36 × 36 in), and bigger is better — with bar spacing no wider than about 2.5 × 1.3 cm. Height matters because gliders climb and glide. Provide a nest box or sleeping pouch placed high, with enough clearance above it that their elbows don’t rub the roof (which can tear the gliding membrane), plus safe climbing branches (never almond, apricot, black walnut, cherry or peach wood; apple or untreated citrus is safer, baked first) and a solid, smooth-interior exercise wheel that can’t trap toes. Keep the cage out of direct sun and away from vents.
- Companionship
- Sugar gliders are colony animals and should never be kept singly — in the wild they live in groups of many individuals, and in captivity they do best in pairs or small groups (for example one male with several females). A glider kept alone needs an enormous amount of daily attention and can otherwise become stressed and self-mutilate.
- Temperature
- They tolerate roughly 15–32°C but prefer a warm 27–31°C; keep the cage away from draughts, vents and direct sun. If they get too cold they can drop into torpor to conserve energy, so steady warmth matters.
- Substrate
- Line the cage bottom (or its droppings tray) with newspaper or another recycled-paper product that’s non-toxic if nibbled. The important “home” feature is a cosy nest box or fabric sleeping pouch high in the cage for daytime sleeping.
- Enrichment
- Gliders are athletic climbers and need a lot to do: branches, ropes, sleeping pouches, foraging opportunities, and a safe smooth-surface wheel. Daily supervised interaction and time out of the cage reduces boredom and builds the bond — but never leave a glider out unsupervised, as they’re easily injured.
- Diet
- This is the hardest part of glider care, and where most go wrong. About half the diet should be an artificial nectar (a formulated “Leadbeater’s”/BML-type mixture); the rest should be a mix of a commercial glider pellet, gut-loaded or calcium-dusted live insects (crickets, mealworms) for protein, with only a small amount of fruit and vegetables (together under about 10% of the diet). Feed twice a day with fresh water always available. Because their natural sap-and-insect diet is so hard to replicate, a vet experienced with sugar gliders should set the exact plan and supplement schedule.
- Supplements
- Calcium with vitamin D3 is essential — a poor, fruit-heavy diet without balanced calcium causes metabolic bone disease. Gut-load or dust feeder insects with calcium, and follow a glider vet’s supplement schedule.
⚕️ Small mammals are prey animals and hide illness until it is advanced, so any change in eating, droppings, drinking or behaviour is urgent — in rabbits and guinea pigs, not eating or passing no droppings for 12–24 hours can be a life-threatening emergency (gut stasis). They also chill and dehydrate quickly, so keep it warm. Tell the vet about your diet and any remedies you’ve used, and ask for exotic-mammal-safe medicines and doses — several antibiotics that are routine in other pets are dangerous to rabbits and guinea pigs.
Then note which of the warning signs (above) you are seeing, when they started, and whether they are getting worse.
❓ Questions to ask
- Do you routinely see small / exotic mammals? If not, can you refer me to a vet who does?
- What are the likely causes — and could my setup or diet be contributing?
- What is the treatment plan, the likely cost, and what should I watch for at home?
- How do I prevent this from happening again?