How to Clean Up After a Pet Sugar Glider

Sugar gliders have a reputation for being very clean animals, but their personal habits do not excuse you from regularly maintaining their cages. Your sugar glider, like other pets, need a clean environment in which to live. Follow these tips to keep your sugar gliders' cages clean and bacteria-free.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Clean the entire cage at least once a week. Small cages should be cleaned more often than large cages, and cages with many sugar gliders should be cleaned more often than those with only one.
2. Use bleach and water to scrub the cage clean. After the initial scrubbing, wash the cage with copious amounts of water to make sure all the bleach has been washed away.
3. Remove and empty out cage pans. Replace nesting material as necessary or every 3 days.
4. Take a damp paper towel and wipe the bars of the cage every 2 to 3 days.
5. Wash and rinse food and water bowls daily. Use hot water and home dish detergent. Allow the dishes to air dry before refilling them with food and water.
6. Replace toys as they become dirty. While cleaning toys, make sure to put others in your sugar glider's cage. If toys are made of cloth, soak in a pet-friendly detergent and dry completely before exposing your pet sugar glider to them again.
7. Change out branches. Sugar gliders use branches to play, perch and sit. At the first signs of dirtiness, replace them so that bacteria does not have a chance to grow and spread.
8. Conduct daily inspections of your sugar glider's cage. Wash parts of the cage that need regular attention until the next full cage cleaning.

Tips & Warnings

• Wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning up after a pet sugar glider.
• Don't wash a sugar glider's cage, food or water dishes in an area where food for humans is prepared.
• If you have male sugar gliders, be careful not to clean their cages too often. Males often mark their territory with their scent and the loss of the scent could result in excessive marking or stressing the animal.
• Don't clean everything at once. Your sugar gliders will mark their territory more than is necessary if they are exposed to a place that does not have any of their natural scent left.