Sugar Glider Care- cages, pouches, and how to make a kitchen
How do you clean a sugar glider cage? How often should you clean sugar glider pouches? Do sugar gliders smell? And will constant cleaning help with that?
Let us be honest here, all animals kept as pets need to be cleaned up after. As much as I love animals I also have to admit they all smell. Whether or not they smell A LOT and whether or not you find this repulsive or not is all up to a few variables, such as your perspective on what smells bad or not! Things like the general daily care and diet can also affect the way an animal smells as well.
I have never and will never condone using any product on an animal to change the way it smells. I also do not approve of bathing an animal to rid it of its natural odor (unless it got into something that caused it). Of course there are health issues that can cause an odor problem, but in these cases it is better to address the issue as opposed to addressing the smell.
So do sugar gliders smell? And how do you care for them on a day to day basis to help with such things as smell? What kind of care do the cages require? How do you clean sugar glider cages? What about sugar glider pouches, how do you clean them? How often should you wash sugar glider pouches? I hope to answer most of your question here in this article.
Tip to cleaning cages or avoid cleaning them so often:
Sugar Glider Kitchens
One way to help with cage maintenance is to use what is commonly referred to as a “sugar glider kitchen”. This is something that you put their food dishes in to make clean up easier. Sugar gliders CAN be messy eaters. Not all of them are, and some are messier than others. Typically when sugar gliders eat they chew their food, swallow the juices, and then spit out what is left over. Some will also fling their food after they take a bite or if they don’t like it.
The idea behind the kitchens is it will contain all the debris from dinner time, keeping the cage cleaner, so everyday all you have to do is take the kitchen out to clean, instead of wiping the cage down. They can be soaked as well for those hard to remove bits. It also helps in keeping the bottom tray of the cage cleaner (and attracting less pests!)
I was cleaning my cages EVERY day just to clean up the mess from dinner time as well as wiping the walls around the cage, and sometimes the floor too! Using the “glider kitchens” has cut my clean up time WAY down and keeps the cages cleaner longer. Plus then you are not trying to scrub dried fruit and sugary things off the cage.
You can make your own “kitchen” from a plastic container, pick one that easily fits through your cage door, but will also fit all the dishes you plan on using and space for the gliders to eat and feel comfy. If the kitchen is too small they may take the food out of the kitchen to eat and that negates why you made it in the first place! You also have to make sure it has a snap on lid.
Once you have chosen your container, then all you have to do is cut a hole or an archway into it for them to enter. There are many ways of doing this. I have heard of people using utility knives, dremels, and burning tools to cut the hole. Whatever method you decide to use, please use precautions so you don’t hurt yourself! When you have made the hole, then you need to make sure the edges are not sharp or rough. You can sand the edges or melt them to make sure they are smooth.
I made my kitchens from a plastic “shoebox” cut 2 archways (one on each side) with my dremel and a “cutting bit” (the type used for sheetrock) and then sanded the edges with fine sandpaper, then rinsed them well to remove any plastic dust. The lid of the container actually becomes the floor of the kitchen.
Some people like to hang their kitchens from the top of the cage, going with the theory that being tree dwellers they like to be up higher, this may be true, but since most home cages are on average 2-6 feet I don’t think this makes much of a difference, plus I worry they will knock a dish out on top of someone’s head! I have been putting my dishes on the floor of the cage and they actually like to use it as a landing spot.
Here is a picture of one of my gliders in their kitchen:
Arwen in her kitchen
|
And now a money saving tip for you!
Time is money so have 2 kitchens and 2 sets of dishes available. When you make dinner, grab the clean one, then the other one can soak till you have time to clean it. Since both my husband and I work full time, this little tip saves us a bit at the end of a hard day.
The other money saving tip for you is an idea I had that supplies free kitchens when one needs replacing, which after a while they will. We buy a lot of the “spring mix” sold in produce sections. Many times these come in large plastic containers with snap on lids. While they may seem a little flimsy, they actually do work as glider kitchens, and I actually like them better as you can see through them for they are clear! The gliders actually seem to like them better as well as they don’t carry food out of the kitchen as often when I use them instead of the cloudy plastic shoebox, perhaps they are more comfortable being able to see also? Those containers also work well as small storage containers.
About cleaning sugar glider cages:
How do you clean a sugar glider cage? There are as many ways to clean as there are types of cages. Your cleaning methods needs to be safe for gliders, and safe for the cage. I wipe down my cages inside and out with a product called Nature’s Miracle Cage Wipes. Any cleaner you use, including the wipes, needs to be done during the day so the cleaner has time to dry before the sugar gliders get up. It is also a good idea to wipe with a plain damp cloth afterwards to remove any residue.
How often do you need to clean your sugar glider’s cage? I guess that all depends on you and your sugar gliders. I do however recommend AT LEAST once a week. I actually clean my cages TWICE a week. And about every 2 months or so I take them outside and hose them down thoroughly.
For the tray under the cage, I like to use a plain un-inked paper, like the kind sold as “packing paper” in large sheets. Some like to use fleece. I like the paper only because it is easier for me to see the color of their urine and poop.
Dishes need to be washed everyday! And water bottles twice a week or more!
About cleaning toys and sugar glider pouches:
One of the best tips I can give you at this point is do not over clean everything and don’t use any product with a strong scent. Sugar gliders like to “mark” things as theirs and when you wash everything they will work harder to remark it all! So I do NOT wash all the items in a cage at the same time. Take turns washing the cage items. All toys are washed in hot water only and allowed to dry, this includes exercise wheels, which can get very messy.
As for cleaning sugar glider pouches, I recommend hand washing to help extend the life of the pouch, and I just rinse rinse rinse in warm water. If the weather permits I allow it to dry in the sun. My husband’s sugar gliders can be very stinky sometimes with all the marking they do, and yet a warm water rinse removes all the smells, or enough that it smells clean to me and they do not go nuts trying to remark it. (my girls smell sweet!)
I wash the pouches about once a month or so. I have noticed that the more often I washed them the more they seemed to need it as the sugar gliders, especially the boys, would try harder to mark it. So now we do them about once a month and after a while they seemed to not mark so much. I also noticed that in the beginning when we used detergent to wash pouches the sugar gliders went nuts with marking, oh they were really stinky! But when we went to just the warm water rinse they stopped the “over-drive” marking.
I hope this has helped!
Sugar Glider care tip article added 5-14-10
