Meet Peanut, a sugar glider from Australia

The first time an Australian called me “possum” I wasn’t quite sure how to take it.

I knew from that person’s tone the term was meant to be an endearment. But the only possums I ever knew were American opossums — night wandering critters that always seemed a bit perplexed by car headlights, slow moving and not at all warm or cuddly.

In fact, remember the term ‘playing possum’ — faking death or deep sleep?

Not much love in that expression.

They also can hang upside down by their tails. Not much similarity to me on that point either.

When I met Peanut, a sugar glider at the Monterey Zoo a few days ago, I finally understood the Australian ‘possum’ reference. He was the most rambunctious little guy I ever met and could easily fit in the palm of my hand. A sugar glider is a tree-dwelling, tropical marsupial native to Australia and New Guinea and related not too distantly to our marsupial opossums.

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Sugar gliders are much smaller and much cuter than our native species with the added advantage of side skin flaps which give this fruit-loving creature the ability to glide from tree limb to tree limb in mid-air. They are not a type of flying squirrel but have evolved to resemble them. Quite frankly, they own a much better fur coat than American opossums that always seemed to be balding.

As Charlie Sammut, director of the Monterey Zoo, held Peanut, he made a buzzing little sound — also too adorable for words.

“They are another one of Fish and Game’s pocket pets,” he said, “and we literally get calls for sugar gliders and hedgehogs once a month. Someone has raised them and can’t deal with them anymore. They are very prolific. They get confiscated and, if we can’t take them, they get euthanized. We don’t condemn Fish and Game for it. They have no choice. What are they supposed to do with all these animals?”

They are legal in other states and are brought into California by folks wishing to own something exotic.

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California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife placed sugar gliders on its list of animals that are illegal to own in California. Because they are so soft, active and small, they are thought by many to be fun pets. But they are essentially wild animals.

They are illegal because they could establish themselves in certain parts of California. They easily breed and will multiply quickly. Their feeding habits are continuous and, therefore, could pose a considerable threat to agriculture — especially to fruit and berry growers whose crop they would find delicious.

The flaps of skin from their wrists to their ankles turn into “wings” and allow them to glide through the trees.

People who raise sugar gliders, praise them highly, claiming they have the same intelligence as a dog and will live 12 to 15 years. They bond to their owners, come when they are called and won’t wander too far away.

Because they are not rodents, they do not have a need to chew on things to wear their teeth down. Some owners also say they don’t smell.

Others say that they are scent driven and mark their cage with urine. They do have scent glands. They keep themselves well groomed, never need a bath, and never go to the bathroom where they sleep. Their cages do need to be cleaned regularly.

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They also thrive on a variety of food, which includes not only prepared sugar glider kibbles but also fresh fruit, vegetables, live crickets and meal worms.

When born, a sugar glider is about the size of a grain of rice. It makes its way up the outside of its mother’s belly and into her pouch where it will spend the next several weeks growing. It’s similar in this respect to kangaroos and koalas. Baby sugar gliders are also called ‘joeys.’ Females breed constantly. It is possible to have a litter of one to three joeys, three or four times a year.

A larger percentage of people who once felt they had the time and money to keep an exotic pet, such as a sugar glider or hedgehog, eventually give do give them up which again increases the number of animals seeking adoption.

“We hope to build an exhibit that will allow the sugar gliders to move through the trees so the children can see this behavior,” Sammut said. Unlike similarly sized hamsters and gerbils, sugar gliders need tower cages, which give them ample space to leap about.

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