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Thread: Sugar Gliders as pets

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    *cocktail slut Elahiya's Avatar
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    missbettie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    wow uh thats terrifying.
    "i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."

  3. #3
    我看得懂 mariana's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    My friend's gf has 3, and I heard she carries them in a pouch.

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    Fuhzy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    My girlfriends roommate had 3 of em. ANNOYING AS HELL. At night they would make this ratcheting noise (yes, like a ratchet). They stunk, and they would always try to escape if you let them out of their cage.

    What drives people to get these exotic animals, I will never know...

  5. #5

    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    So then these are being bred in the USA as well? I've never seen 'em.
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  6. #6
    *cocktail slut Elahiya's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    why do people have sugar gliders as pets? i mean, those animals really belong to the nature and not to be carried around at womenīs necks. itīs disgusting i think.
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  7. #7
    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    they're such gorgeous creatures, it's so sad that people would want to confine them as pets.

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    =^.^= Melanie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    What's WRONG with people. Ugh.

  9. #9
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote Gorilla View Post
    they're such gorgeous creatures, it's so sad that people would want to confine them as pets.
    Why any more so than any other animal? Mice? rats? gerbils? hamsters? birds? cats? dogs? humans? If one is OK with the concept that humans may live with companion animals, I don't understand the logic that they must cherry pick which are the "correct" ones.

    I know someone who has hermit crabs as pets. Who on earth would keep crustaceans as pets?!

    They do seem comfortable around humans. This woman gives much advice and seems to know her stuff including the many disadvantages:
    [YOUTUBE]8mlwzf_bqVI[/YOUTUBE]

    My youtube link seems dead. Go to youtube and search for "sugar glider drawbacks" the woman with the green shirt gives a good crash course for people like me who have never even heard of them before this thread.

  10. #10
    missbettie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    mahk is very very right. i didn't watch the you tube video though...its kinda like how some of us say, "whats the difference between eating a dog and eating a cow..."

    i was actually discussing it to my friends last night. one of my girl friends was talking about how some cultures eat dogs, and i said well wats the difference between that and a cow, honest i see no difference whatsoever.

    and i honestly find it appalling that people would discriminate like that. so mahk is right. whats the difference?


    this is not a rhetorical question. can anyone give a good reason? I know i can't...no matter how i try to justify...


    EDIT: maybe because all the other animals where disgustly bread to need us? like dogs? Can domestic dogs survive with out us at this point?
    "i'm rejecting my reflection, cause i hate the way it judges me."

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    mollymoo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Hi! probably a bit rude to post without introducing myself in the newbies thread first, so..sorry! But here i go....

    missbettie i think you've kinda hit the nail on the head with the domestication angle.
    Like you I see scant difference between eating a dog or cow - but when it comes to keeping these little fella's as pets, well...they're still wild, and in a perfect world they would stay that way. We have already done so many animals such a terrible disservice by domesticating them - with millions of domestic cats, dogs etc being put down every year. The last thing we need is another wild animal being domesticated purely to be traded as a commodity for people's fleeting enjoyment.

    *Heh - end ranty first post

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    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Hello there mollymoo, and welcome! I agree that what seems different about these is that as far as I know they were recently wild.

    Also, a lot of vegans will keep companion animals only if they're rescues, and there are probably not a load of unwanted sugargliders in refuges waiting to be rescued (although from what I've just read about the difficulties of keeping them that may soon change )

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    gorillagorilla Gorilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote Mahk View Post
    Why any more so than any other animal? Mice? rats? gerbils? hamsters? birds? cats? dogs? humans? If one is OK with the concept that humans may live with companion animals, I don't understand the logic that they must cherry pick which are the "correct" ones.
    hey. i never said keeping these was any worse than any other animal. i was just expressing my dismay at this particular story. and it's more the fact that these are being bred specifically to be the latest trendy 'pet'. don't read anything more into my comment than was intended.

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    Anastazee Anastazee's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    I really can't agree more with the later part of this thread. I was actually thinking of getting a sugar glider myself. I've opted against it based on my lifestyle, but they make a perfect companion for vegans. They are basically fruititarians. So the glider can live healthfully the same way we do. I really don't see a problem with owning a sugar glider as a pet as long as its in a loving and nurturing home.
    -zee

  15. #15
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote missbettie View Post
    EDIT: maybe because all the other animals where disgustly bread to need us? like dogs? Can domestic dogs survive with out us at this point?
    Dogs already do live in the wild as we speak and I don't mean the millions of strays walking our streets either. There are several groups that live in nature entirely without any human interaction whatsoever.

    The Carolina dog, discovered in the 1970's:




    Puppies, "Please don't take us home as slaves." [just a joke, relax everyone.]

    The New Guinea singing dogs:



    The Jindo Gae (Korea), and some in Thailand, Africa, Israel, and pockets of Japan are arguably more dingo than dog but the first two I gave, to the best of my knowledge, are considered 100% genetically "dog".

    Notice how similar they look? [despite being genetically separated for perhaps 5000 years] This must be what mother nature intended dogs to be as opposed to all the genetically modified versions (breeding/culling) or manipulations we've made like labradoodles ("invented" in 1989), collies, and German Shepherds ("invented" in 1899! they aren't old at all). The only reason there are differnt breeds of dogs is because we made them.

    Gorilla, sorry, I didn't mean to put words in your mouth.

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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    But surely their natural environment is in the jungle, living among the treetops? Do people who have them as pets keep them in cages? It seems a bit like caging a bird...

    Sorry I don't know much about the subject, but they just seem very far removed from their natural environment.

  17. #17
    Stu
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote Mahk View Post
    Why any more so than any other animal? Mice? rats? gerbils? hamsters? birds? cats? dogs? humans? If one is OK with the concept that humans may live with companion animals, I don't understand the logic that they must cherry pick which are the "correct" ones.
    I've just read the posts above yours, and nobody said that living with these creatures is any worse than any others. Nobody implied anything about 'cherry picking' which are the 'correct' ones.

    Elahiya's point is simply that it's yet another creature that we're doing this to. That is, Sugar Gliders were not employed as pets until now. You couldn't say the same about mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, birds, cats or dogs. So those animals are not as topical at this particular moment in time.

  18. #18
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Stu, I already apologized to Gorilla in my previous post.

  19. #19
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    FWIW - and not particularly from a vegan point of view - I do think that there are more problems associated with trying to keep animals that have either been captured from the wild or bred from animals that were captured a few generations back. As already noted certain cats, dogs etc have been selectively bred by humans for a life of domesticity. Probably most of us think that wasn't a great idea, but it's been done and it means that they don't suffer stress from proximity to humans the way, e.g., a wild dog or cat might do if captured. (I don't think that's a justification for breeding more domesticated cats or dogs though.)

    Other problems with "exotic pets" include difficulties in knowing how to look after them or provide them with the environment they need for a half-way decent life. There has apparently been a problem with unwanted iguanas, for example, in the UK because people get them when they're small and can't cope when they grow, and they are hard to rehome.

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    mollymoo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    .
    Last edited by mollymoo; Sep 15th, 2008 at 12:12 AM. Reason: deleted because i'm a loon who can't read threads properly

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    Eeeeediot! Shrapnel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote Fuhzy View Post
    My girlfriends roommate had 3 of em. ANNOYING AS HELL. At night they would make this ratcheting noise (yes, like a ratchet). They stunk, and they would always try to escape if you let them out of their cage.

    What drives people to get these exotic animals, I will never know...
    'Cause for the most part, humans are twats. Though, that is my explanation for about 90% of human behavior.
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    *cocktail slut Elahiya's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    there already mourned one of animal rights today at the metro abut that article, stating that there already is one (as far as i remember) that has been given to a sanctuary cus people didnīt know enough about their special needs.
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  23. #23
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Oh no. Just one is not good. The green shirt lady in the youtube videos says they must be kept in at least pairs or they die of loneliness. They are nocturnal so humans can't entertain them all of their waking day, they need friends.

    I was thinking today that maybe keeping them in lit rooms like you see everyone does in the videos is terribly, annoyingly bright for them. We'd never know since they can't tell us.

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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote Mahk View Post
    Dogs already do live in the wild as we speak and I don't mean the millions of strays walking our streets either. There are several groups that live in nature entirely without any human interaction whatsoever.
    Hence the term "domestic".

  25. #25
    Edeline's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    I have an ‘exotic’ pet – an African pygmy hedgehog called Wilfred. I rehomed him after seeing him advertised in a specialist mailing group, and as much as I love him, I have to agree that exotics are not generally suited to be family pets.


    Wilfred was purchased by his original owner from a local pet shop when he was just a tiny hoglet (too young to leave his mum from what I’ve read). The original owners (who already had a house full of dogs) got him for her eight year old son because he thought that it would be ‘cool’ to own an unusual pet. Hedgehogs are not cuddly animals, and, because none of them bothered to socialise Wilfie when he was small, he developed a (natural) fear of human contact and started biting. Of course, the son quickly got bored of a pet that he couldn’t handle, and Wilfie was left alone in his cage for months on end.


    Eventually, the mother got sick of having Wilfred around and advertised him on a Hogs mailing list. She described him as being ‘aggressive’ and advised that he should never be taken out of his cage (!). Well, I’ve had Wilfie for over a year now, and while he’s never going to be comfortable around people that he doesn’t know, we’ve bonded enough that I can pick him up and handle him (and he’s never bitten me). He’s a little character and I love him very much, but I must admit that I have wrestled with my consciousness about whether or not it’s right to keep him like this. Hedgehogs are not pets – they have only been ‘domesticated’ since the 80’s are still very much a wild animal at heart. Wilfie has a lot of health problems arising (I believe) from his unnatural diet and habitat, and I’m starting to think that he might be on his last legs.


    I'm really disheartened to read about these Sugar Gliders. How many of them are going to end up being purchased as the latest 'novelty pets' for bored children?

  26. #26
    baffled harpy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    That's sad, Edeline, but I don't think you should have to wrestle with your conscience as you're looking after him as well as poss in the circumstances. He couldn't manage in the wild, could he?

    Expecting an eight year old to look after any sort of animal seems a bit optimistic although no doubt some would. Another example of people confusing animals with cuddly toys

  27. #27
    Mahk
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Quote bryzee86 View Post
    Hence the term "domestic".
    The Carolina dogs are sometimes euphemistically called "American dingos" due to there resemblance to dingos (Canis lupus dingo) but genetically they are "domestic dogs" or Canis (Lupus) familiaris and were officially recognized by the United Kennel Club as a dog breed in 1995. My point was that if humans no longer kept dogs the species would not become extinct as some vegans fear; they live in the wild just fine without us already.

  28. #28
    Metal Head emzy1985's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Anyone see that programe a while back called, "after humans?" Pretty much all animal species eventually recovered and lived without us. You dump a cat on the street it will forage and hunt....not that I would recommend this ofcourse!

    To those of you who "own pets"......um how about being a guardian to a companion animal? Sorry it grates on me....animal rights and all that jazz!
    The taste of anything in my mouth for 5 seconds does not equate to the beauty and complexity of life.

  29. #29
    Eeeeediot! Shrapnel's Avatar
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    Default Re: Sugar Gliders as pets

    Yeah, I agree with you, Emzy. I tolerate 'owning' as a term since it's so inescapable when talking to most people, but I try to point out that I don't 'own' my cats, and explain the wrong of owning another living being. At least I do when I'm ready for the debate/argument/explanation.
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