Definitions of sugar glider behaviors updated

TYPES OF BONDED SUGAR GLIDERS:
MY DEFINITION:
SEMI-FRIENDLY: When you go in the box glider will crab, but doesn’t lunge or bite. It may come up to you and smell your finger(at night). Will not climb up on your hand or arm at night. It also will not stay on your shoulder or sit still in your hand during the daylight hours. It’s struggling to get away as you hold baby. It also may bite(hard nip) if contained or you hold it back from getting loose. It may come to the front of cage to see you at night, but if you put your hand in their cage they will run away.
FRIENDLY: The sugar glider will crab at first then intensity or tone should change after it recognizes you. It will climb on you at night, but as you move your hand or arm it will jump off back into cage. You can hold your baby but it will jump off to investigate or may get scared and run and hide. It may still taste ”nip” you.
BONDED: No crabbing(may give a grunt crab as you are waking them up, but should stop immediately once they recognize you). Will come to the front of the cage and climb on you and walk up your arm to shoulder without jumping off. It may still smell your hand before it climbs on to you(slight delay before it climbs on you). It still may jump off to investigate or if it gets scared. If it nips it is a communication that it wants something, a drink or a snack. It also should sleep in the pouch without struggling to get out but still may crab slightly when it gets bumped or woke up by strange noises.
TIGHTLY BONDED: There is no crabbing as you go in to box or cage during daylight or night time hours. The glider at night will climb on your hand and either ride on it or run up to your shoulder after your hand is out of cage. There is no hesitation to climb or jump on you as you open cage door. Sugar glider will ride on hand or shoulder as you walk around at night and usually will not jump off of you. If it gets scared it will freeze or run in pouch or down shirt.(if you taught it to do this for comfort and security). It also will not jump off to just investigate,(you can never say never will jump off), sometimes my extremely bonded adults do, but it is a rarity when they do and it usually means they want to go back to their living quarters. They sometimes do above at night but during the day they are content to sit in my cupped hands eating a cricket. The glider should also not shake or act like it is scared while it is on you during day or at night. It should be very trusting of what you are doing or where you are going(animal in pouch). While in pouch glider should not crab if woken up or if it is bumped or disturbed in any way. In other words NO crabbing or taste nips, just communicational light pinch sometimes.
EXTREMELY TIGHTLY BONDED:
I DO NOT recommend to do the things I am about to tell you that I do with “Peanut”. She is a very unusually tightly bonded sweetie and very loving friend. We will not be responsible for any lost or injured sugar gliders, if you do these type of things with your glider. It took years of trust and a lot of bonding time for me to trust her 100% on me, and not to jump away.
#1 I let her run loose in the car at night, on the way to the store. When we get to the store, I go in the back seat of car and she will come to me or I put hand down to her and pick her up and she will go in her pouch(she has three different styles and sizes) on her own. She will stay in t-shirt pouch or regular pouch(with no zipper or latch), sometimes she will sneak a peek out the top fold of the pouch and then settle back down in pouch. When we get back to the car(she knows the car) she will come out and go to the back of car. Sometimes she comes up front on my shoulder to check in with us or climbs on my steering wheel and across the dash. If she has babies(they go too) she will leave the babies in the pouch with “daddy glider”, me. We Do Not Let Her Run loose in the car anymore this can be dangerous and we had another glider that went up in the air unit. Thank Fully she came out as I talked to her, it was Kay Kay.
#2 I will take Peanut out of pouch during the day or night to show people, I hold her in an open hand outside under tree or in the shade(not direct sunlight). I do this at stores, open air flea markets, animal shows, etc. At shows she will walk around on the table and go in a nest box, but will not jump off the table. I show her in open hand with babies on her belly nursing, she lays on her back very content and shows her kids off. Then she will flip over and head for her pouch and climb in on her own.
Ultimate Extremely Tightly Bonded Sugar Glider: UPDATED
The things that I do with Buddy The Sugar Glider should NOT be tried until you have spent many hours inside your house and in a secure room during day light hours and then at night. I did some of this with Peanut but was hesitant to put it in my definitions years ago because we do not want anybody to loose a sugar glider outside. Some persons were even skeptical of what I do/did with Peanut and if you don’t want to take the chance then you shouldn’t take a sugar glider outside loose but have them in a secured bonding pouch or T-Shirt pocket pouch. I am sharing this because it can be done and I enjoy anytime I have with my sugar glider babies and adults and our bonding or taming time together. I hate when people say you can’t do some things with our babies, I like to respond with it isn’t can’t but more of it hasn’t been done yet, never say can’t.
I have taken Buddy out at midnight in a grocery store parking lot, a walk down the driveway early in the morning, taken my sugar glider family member out pre dawn and sat down in middle of night and fed a few different sugar gliders some mealie worms. We did still photos and videos of these encounters and daddy time to share what you can do with these precious babies/adults. How much you can trust them and how they trust me to keep them safe and secure and not scare them. I enjoy spending time and doing things differently and learning sounds and behaviors about sugar gliders. Hope you have as much fun with your suggie family member as we do and remember watch them very carefully when out on you.
BEHAVIOR:
NON FRIENDLY GLIDER
HARD NIPPING OR BITING:
Sometimes when you first get a baby sugar glider it nips or bites after crabbing, if you force it into a corner or push after crabbing or after glider is chased. This is a scared defense response and with patience and trust it should go away as the crabbing should subside also.
FRIENDLY GLIDER BEHAVIOR:
TASTE NIPPING: This is totally different than biting. This is a communication that the glider wants something or it is tasting everything in it’s environment(us included). It may want something to eat(cricket or treat), some water, or if baby is contained, to see what’s going on. It reminds me of a human baby at the everything in the mouth stage of growth.

SQWAGGLE: (WORD I MADE UP)
This is what the glider does when it is marking you as belonging to it’s family group. They grab(with teeth) your shirt or skin and will rub their belly and back end from side to side three or four times in a row. When they do this if they didn’t hold on with teeth( young ones use teeth, older ones can glide across material with a little training) they would fall off(it is that vigorous). Hopefully they grab your shirt and not your bare skin. I have seen a female do this to her male and he made a noise like it hurt. It looked like the female was on top trying to mate until I saw that side to side movement. This is not an aggressive behavior, you should be honored you have made the family, even though it hurts on bare skin(pinched). It also could be territorial scent marking.
HEAD RUB: The sugar glider will grab you with it’s front two feet and curl it’s head toward their underside and start rubbing the top of their head vigorously against you. It usually is accompanied by a girgling sound or a giggling sound. If I am sitting while this is being done, it sometimes is followed up with a ¾ full body turn and the length of body rubbed against me. I have females and males do this behavior, I think it is friendly hello or family recognition. I have seen a male do the head rub to the female also both parents do it to the babies(they have to be out of box and weaning). Sometimes they do it after I have petted them down the full length of their body. The full length ¾ body turn is like a cat rubbing against your leg and if laying down with glider can be done down length of body or legs.
BELLIE RUB: Normally done by adolescent sugar gliders or adult sugar gliders. Males and females do this underbelly rub. It looks like a wave or they are trying to wipe something off their bellies. Peanut would do this also when she had babies and her pouch was extended about ¼ in., she would lay still on my arm and spread out so her belly was flat against me. I found out later she was getting my smell on the babies through the pouch opening. I think. The reason I think this is because I caught her male sleeping with his head against her pouch opening. Maybe it is a pre oop bonding between father and babies.
TOOTSIE POP LICK: This is where the baby sugar glider or sub-adult sugar glider will climb up on your shoulder and go over to your neck and lick, lick, lick, and lick then take a nip out of your neck. It also can be done on arm or any where else on you. If you have a mole or band-aid on your finger or any thing that the glider thinks is foreign it will try and remove(groom) it. I think this behavior is taste or grooming. It usually is done by a glider I hear purring from or extremely attached to me. It usually goes away(tootsie lick, grooming usually continues) either by me moving every time I get a little pinch or with time or after puberty. Another type of behavior that can occur at same time as this grooming is the wet willie which is the glider nip on ear, purring, tootsie lick and/or the tongue goes in the ear with purring usually. I don’t mean tongue on outside of ear I mean deep in the ear.
SOUNDS:
CRABBING: This sounds like a machine that won’t start. Probably the first sound you will hear out of the baby and/or newly acquired sugar glider. It is a defense mechanism and could be followed by lunging at you and/or biting, if glider is pushed or you move too fast toward it. The glider by doing this is probably trying to say you are bothering him/her(usually tone changes), you have startled him/her, or they are scared of what is going to happen next. Look at it from our point of view; you have been at work or play all day then you come home and go to sleep. At about 3 a.m. on our schedule something comes to your house and rips the roof off of your house and wakes you up, wouldn’t you “crab” or say something worse? I would be startled or scared until I knew what was going on!
BARKING: This sounds like a small dog barking off in the distance. It is a scare call and/or telling a story to other gliders in the area. If you have more than one glider all the other gliders either freeze or they run for security or cover. If I have a bonded glider on me it will run under my shirt for protection.
GIRGLING: This is a sound that is like being tickled or a giggle. I hear it when I rub their belly or while they eat a cricket and being petted. If I am holding the female with babies if she makes this sound, the male in the box will answer as he eats his cricket. This is a happy or content sound.
CHIRPING: Almost like a giggle but it has a different pitch and intensity of sound. I think this also is a happy or content sound. It made while being held or eating treat.
TEETH CHATTERING: (LOUD): I ONLY HEAR THIS FROM ONE MALE THAT WE BOUGHT SECOND HAND. When his female comes to the front of the cage he runs up to her making the teeth chattering noise. I also observed him doing it when she was on the side of her cage and a rival male that was on his wire close to her(about 4-6 in. apart). He chatters, then he will go and rub under her chin and her behind. I think he is jealous of me and the rival male around his girl. There is a soft teeth chatter that starts out as a single kiss or click which I believe is a friendly sound. The behavior has a lot to do with the sound meaning and intensity of the sound.
CHA CHA CHEW CHEW: I notice this noise only done by adult female sugar gliders with babies, either oop or in the pouch. When I see the moms do this it is also accompanied by stretching movements as to reposition the babies in the pouch. They raise up on all four feet(kind of arched up) and will stretch one leg one way then another leg another way. I will hear this noise also coming from the nest box around dinner time and then mom comes out without the babies. Maybe it is a way to tell babies to stay or stop you are stepping on my bladder or kicking me. After stretching and noise was made mom will go on with what she was doing. I don’t hear it from all the females all the time just sometime.
CHEW SA-CHEWLSOUNDS LIKE SNEEZE): Gliders do this to each other to tell the other one that, that it is mine and you stay away. It’s like a warning to each other. Also after babies are weaned mom will do this. At first mom or dad will let babies eat out of their hands as parents are eating, later it is if to say go and get your own.
PURRING: This is my favorite sound. I think it is a very happy and content sound(like a cat makes). It is hard for me to hear as it is not as loud as a cat’s purr. My gliders know this so they come up to my ear and sometimes put their nose in it and purr. They are always around my ear when I hear it and sometimes they give me a light pinch on my ear before they purr in my ear. SINGLE KISS: I only hear this from tightly bonded or extremely tightly bonded sugar gliders. It is like a single light pucker sound or kiss. It usually is done as I make my single light kiss to them or my smootch “noise” to the glider I am handling. It is very soft and sometimes hard to hear, unless it is by your ear. Peanut does this noise to me a lot as I am holding her or as she is in t-shirt pouch. I make a single noise and it is as she is answering me with the single pucker. I have done this with peanut answering me and if I do more times or change tone she has gone into a soft clicking sound as she goes to sleep in pouch. I believe it is a friendly(may be greeting) or happy communication noise .UPDATE: Buddy does this sound as a song while under my shirt on my shoulder or on my chest. He sometimes licks me as he makes a happy sound.
GROWL(GRRR GRRR) OR OFF BEAT CRAB: UPDATE: Territorial crab is growl. Grunt crab is a short lived scare crab but shorter in duration and intensity. Like when bumped in pouch or until they see you then it usually stops immediately if you place hand over them while they are in pouch or when they recognize your voice.
I only hear this between rival gliders. I hear this either the female is in season, babies oop, or babies are coming out of the box. It is a stern warning to other sugar gliders to stay away or out of their territory. I have females that do this to the neighborhood rival males in another cage. The males will also do it to rival males in another cage next to them.
SQUAWK , BABY CALL: The baby is calling for mom or dad when it’s scared or in distress. When the baby first comes out of the box and they wander too far in the cage or can’t quite climb over a branch or piece of wood. Another words like a cat goes up the tree but can’t get down, this is the reverse the baby will go to bottom of cage and can’t figure out how to climb up and/or over something. When baby calls mom or dad will talk to them or they will go and pick them up and give ride back to safety. Note of interest: My sugar glider adults DO NOT carry the babies around the cage unless they are stressed or there is a dramatic change in their environment. The babies are on the mother’s or father’s back in the box but not when she comes out to eat. One adult will baby sit the babies in the box when they are real young(around pinkies to eyes opening).
Example: Sugie (my first glider) carried her babies only when we took her nest box out of her 4 x 4 x 7 ft. cage and put it in a 18 x 18 x 36in. Carry cage, so we could clean her cage. She carried them and did a circle pattern on the top of the holding cage. As soon as I put her back(which was immediately after she started this behavior) in her big cage she looked out her box then dropped babies off in the box and came out to investigate her territory. She has never carried her babies since that day. I have had others carry babies when I change their box location, drastic temperature change, or anything which is a stress to their normal way of life. If I made a change and they are carrying babies as soon as I correct the problem they stop carrying them around in the cage, babies climb on them in the nest box ONLY!
Written by daddyglider/Art
New Age Sugar Gliders