Sugar Gliders!!!!!!!

So a few weeks ago, my wife and I decided that a new pet would be good for us. Neither of us has as much time to spend with Hiro as we need to, and he doesn't get to see other kids much. We thought that a pet could be great for him in these circumstances.

We wanted something that can offer alot of playfulness, energy, and affection, but my wife and I both hate traditional pets. I love cats, but she's allergic. We both love reptiles, but they're not companions and they carry salmonella. Our snake has already made Hiro sick a couple times. Birds, dogs, fish, and rodents were all eliminated with little discussion. My wife did some research and discovered Sugar Gliders.

Sugar Gliders are little chipmunk sized marsupials native to Australia. They have flaps of skin along their sides like flying squirrels so they can glide (up to 300 yards, I hear). Their climbing ability is amazing, and beats out any other animal I've witnessed. They're nocturnal.

They're also born to be pets. In the wild, they only live 2 - 3 years. As pets, they often live 10 - 15 years. They love social interaction and bond well with humans. Glider owners are known to walk around in public with them simply perched on a shoulder or sleeping in a pocket because the owner is like home to them and they won't run away. They're extremely curious and playful. Their waking periods are 10 - 12 hours long, so there's tons of time to interact with them even if you sleep at night. They often learn their names and can be trained to respond to commands. They're even relatively clean. I've been pooped on several times, but it hasn't really bothered me. They poop little pea-sized dry pellets that don't really make much mess at all.

The only negatives I've seen so far with Sugar Glider pets? They're fragile, they're mischievous, and their diet requires alot of special attention. That's it. Otherwise they are perfect pets.

So my wife went looking for Sugar Glider offers online. They're a pretty rare find at a pet store. We managed to find a girl near Chicago who just had 2 baby sisters and was offering them for standard price. Perfect. As of now, they're about 8 weeks old and have only been weened for a week. Yesterday, we all piled into the car and went to pick them up, early in the morning. We spent the day exhausted as all hell preparing everything for when they woke up (carrying them around in a pouch hanging around our necks as we did so). Around 11:30 pm when they finally woke up, that exhausted just melted away.

They were frightened as all hell with the sudden change and seperation from their previous family, but we still had them eating out of our hands within 10 minutes. Within 30 minutes, they were both freely darting and climbing all over our computer room and having a blast exploring. They still need coaxing before they'll come to us, and they're still afraid of Hiro... but I am still amazed at how smoothly it went. I can't wait until they wake up again tonight, not long after I get back from class :)

I expect that they'll be bonded well enough by next week that I could take them to class. In the meantime, I'll have pictures and maybe a youtube video coming soon.

Oh ya. Their names are Ninja and Cherry.