Making Sugar Glider Cages
Sugar gliders are clean and friendly pets that became popular after their first introduction to America in the 1990s. While they aren't that difficult to care for, several of their characteristics demand that a good owner spend time building a quality cage. A poorly- constructed cage will not give the sugar glider enough room to grow and move and may even poison them if the mesh walls contain zinc residues.
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Things You'll Need
- 40 square feet stainless steel wire mesh (without epoxy coating) with openings no larger than 1 by 1 1/2 inches
- Wire cutter
- 200 small nylon ties
- Crumpled newspaper or pine shavings
- 8 feet plastic trim
Instructions
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1
Cut the wire mesh into seven rectangles. With the wire cutter, cut four 3 by 2 foot pieces, two 2 by 2 foot pieces and one 1 by 2 foot piece.
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2
Cut a 10 inch by 22 inch hole in one of the 3 by 2 foot pieces. This is your door opening.
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3
Glue plastic trim to the inner and outer edges of the door opening. If you're using hot glue, wait a few hours for it to dry before you move on to Step 4.
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4
Tie the left side of the 1 by 2 foot piece a few inches to the left of the door opening. Make sure the side of the 2 by 3 foot piece is parallel with the plastic trim. Wrap 10 or so pieces of nylon around the wires and fasten them together, then test the door to see if it swings.
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5
Tie the rest of the mesh pieces together to form a cube. To do this, tie opposing edges of the 2 by 2 foott pieces to the shorter sides of two 3 by 2 foot pieces (including the piece with the door opening), then cover the top and bottom openings with the remaining 3 by 2 by 2 foot pieces. Fasten all the combined edges together with the nylon ties.
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6
Attach the other side of the door to the cage with one loose nylon tie. To open the door, simply untie the nylon.
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7
Layer the bottom of the cage with litter bedding. Since sugar gliders are clean, you can use newspaper--however, if you'd like something a little more comfortable, use pine shavings. Do not use cedar shavings, as these contain chemicals which give sugar gliders respiratory problems, says the Pocket Pets online community.
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Finally, set the cage in a clean room frequented by members of the house. Sugar gliders are social animals, which means their development lags if they don't have people to interact with. You should also keep them away from toilets, as they can drown if they fall in the bowl.
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References
- Photo Credit singe en cage image by tiama from Fotolia.com
