City pet store offers sugar glider

Everything Pets owner Dawn Bryant holds a sugar glider, also referred to as a flying squirrel, at her store Thursday. (Ruth Campbell/Tribune)

Along with its hedgehogs, cockatiels, Honduran albino milk snakes and ferrets, Everything Pets now has a sugar glider for sale.

Found in the forests of Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and Indonesia, sugar gliders are so named for their affinity toward sweet food and their "ability to glide through the air like a flying squirrel," according to references.

They bond to one person and don't re-bond with anyone else, Everything Pets owner Dawn Bryant said.

She had one in the store for a little less than a week and sold it, then received another one from her distributor, Quality Pets of Oklahoma City, Okla., on Thursday.

This one is 8 weeks old and retails for $199, she said.

"I've known about them (sugar gliders) since I was little. They require a special license and I'm just fascinated by them," Bryant said. "They're a fun animal and they attract a lot of attention, so when I found out my distributor had them, ... I ordered one."

Gliders have gray mink-like fur with a black stripe running the length of their bodies, according to sugarglider.com/gliderpedia.

The animal also has black markings on its face, leg and back. Adult gliders weigh between 4 and 6 ounces. In their homeland, they live in trees, often in colonies of 15-30, the site said.

"They travel through the midnight treetops by launching themselves into the air and transforming into a living kite by spreading out their sails of skin. They can make glides up to 50 meters and use their long tails as rudders to control the direction of flight," the site said.

The site notes the animals are "extremely social" and should be "kept in pairs or small groups. ... It is unnatural for a glider to ever be alone. ..."

Bryant said she would like to find someone local who breeds sugar gliders.