gregcranston
Well-Known Member
They can be purchased from several breeders, but also some petshops.Omg these guys are sooooo adorable!! I was under the impression we couldn't keep them in Victoria! Obviously I was wrong.... where can they be purchased from, just breeders? How much do they go for?
Well, since there's so much interest (myself included) why not make this bad boy thread a sticky and land some info on these little cuties? Can I start by asking some basic husbandry questions?
1) What is an appropriate sized aviary for 1x adult
Well for one, you should never keep a single glider, as they are very social creatures and live in family groups in the wild, so at least 2 of them together.
2) Same as above, but size for adult pair?
Well DSE has a 'recommended enclosure size' of 5 square metres per pair with a height of 3 metres. http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/msov/files/Esizes.pdf
Whilst that would be amazing if you could manage it, most glider owners can not, and these sizes suggestions are not compulsory.
For a pair IMO, you would want at least 2m high by 2m long by 1-1.5m deep. With bigger of course being even better.
3) Diet (I hear if you're keeping them in the US cheeseburgers are all the rage??!)
They enjoy sweet vegies like corn and sweet potatos, and a wide variety of fruits such as apple, grapes, orange, etc.
But nectar and sap also make up a large proportion of their diet in the wild, so there are a number of nectar mixes out there, Marz on here is a much better resource than me on this subject. But there are a couple, a modified leadbeater mix from Healesville is popular.
The nectar mix I use is made out of honey, baby cereal, Wombaroo small carnivore mix and eggs, all mixed up.
They also like insects, and also native flowers such as bottlebush, and will glean eucalyptus branches for lerps
4) Do they need hides/warm boxes etc?
They do need hides such as nest boxes or pouches, but not really any warming, unless you live in super cold climates like alpine I think. As long as there is 2 or more of them in together, they will keep each other warm. They live in tree hollows in the wild remember in a vast array of climates
5) Do they have any odd character traits?
When alarmed one of their defences in to make a crabbing sound, which is a loud sound for a small animal, kinda sounds like a whipper snipper. They dont make many more sounds, but a small chirping bark can be heard on occasion. They are very hard to toilet train and will very regularly pee and poo all over you when playing.
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