Any one who has ever had a sugar glider for a pet knows that you don’t own this adorable little critter; you are owned by them. Not that those of us who are owned by one, two, or more mind. It is simply a fact of life.
A glider who has completely bonded with you will find you an entertaining person to own. He will not only use you for his own private jungle gym climbing all over you from head to foot, exploring inside your shirt sleeves, pant legs and every where else he takes a mind to, but he considers you his own private territory.
Sugar Gliders love to play with the people they own and one of their favorite games is “surprise attack”.
In this game, a glider will climb to the highest point in any given room and wait until you walk by. He then will come flying off his perch to land on you. His favorite landing pad happens to be the middle of your face!
Nothing entertains a glider more than to feel you jump and here that terrified but stifled scream when those little claws connect with a sensitive cheek or nose.
Another favorite game is called “catch me if you can”, this game can give your glider hours of amusement. The idea of this game is kind of tag. You get to chase the glider all around the house trying to coax him to climb on your hand or into his bag so you can put him back in his cage. He will run away from you or climb on top of the book case and wait patiently until you approach. Then it is off to a new place, with you chasing after him.
I have one glider that actually taunts me, by calling out to me to come and find him and when I do he glides or runs away only to start calling from a new place.
Gliders are also very good at training their humans as well. As the owner of several gliders they have trained me to feed them at a certain time. If I am five minutes later, they all start barking making my home sound very much like a puppy kennel.
They have also trained me to get up between 3 and 4 pm nightly, to join them in their nightly play. One little glider in particular will call to me until I tear myself from sleep and go and spend an half an hour acting as a jungle gym for him and his cage mate.
In time you learn to accept the fact that these little darlings run your life and after a while you begin to realize you would not have it any other way.
