Rubber Toy

Rubber Toy was bought at http://www.fosterandsmith.com/

North: Sometimes I explore this toy but most of the time I ignore it. I do like to bite the rubber base and pull on the rubber curlicues and watch them bounce back. Most of the time I just wish Mom would give me a more interesting toy instead.

Nocturne: I also like to bite the rubber base and I also occasionally try to get the pony beads off the rubber curlicues. I re-investigate this toy every time Mom rotates it back into our cage but it doesn't hold my attention for long.

Mom: I wish the boys liked this toy more than they do. They've had it for close to two years now but it's never been one of their favorites. It stands up well to washing and the bright colors look nice in their cage. The gliders use it so little that I should probably pitch it but I like this rubber toy so much that it hasn't hit the garbage yet.

Tunnel Tent

Tunnel Tent available at http://busybunny.com/ for $17.95

North: I am madly in love with this unpeeled willow tent! Mom keeps it out in our room so I only get to play with it during out-of-cage playtime but I wish I had access to it 24/7. I love running all over the tent, hiding underneath, and most especially I love chewing on it. I can often be found perched on top of the tent like in the picture above.

Nocturne: I really like this willow tent and I play on it every night trying to rip it apart. Luckily, it's really well made so I haven't been able to destroy much of it yet. There is a peepee war going on over this tent because North loves it so much that he's constantly scent marking it with his urine. I get upset when I see this so I jump on the willow tent and peepee all over the places North just marked. Then Mom insists on wiping down the areas we peed on because she doesn't want our tent to stink. We've tried telling her that we work very hard to make the things we love stink but she insists on cleaning our stuff all the time.

Mom: I originally bought this tent from a random eBay vendor. Once the tent got here and I saw the boys go crazy over it I hunted down the company that made it, The Busy Bunny. Right away I ordered about a dozen other items from them and so far the gliders like all the Busy Bunny products but they only go crazy for the tent. The Busy Bunny products range from super-inexpensive to high yet reasonable prices.

Barrel of Monkeys & Eggfull of Bunnies

Barrel of Monkeys bought from my local grocery store for $3.99

Eggfull of Bunnies bought from http://thesugargliderstore.com/MiscellaneousToys.html for $3.25

North: I love it when Mom hangs the little, red monkeys all over our cage. Sometimes I just knock them down but other times I get ahold of one and I chew on its hand. I can tell you from experience that it's the most delicious part of a plastic monkey. I like to knock the bunnies down but I never chew on them. It may be because the bunnies are made of smooth plastic but there are lots of ridges on the surface of the plastic monkeys which makes them more fun to destroy.

Nocturne: Mom always sets up plenty of stuff in our cage for us to destroy overnight while she's sleeping and the monkeys are one of my favorites. I find them hanging off the sides of the cage, the ceiling, perches, ropes, and anything else Mom can get them hooked onto. Then I knock them down and sometimes I capture one of the monkeys and chew his foot off. The bunnies are also fun to throw around but they're just not as fun to bite as the monkeys.

Mom: The monkeys and the bunnies are both pretty great from my point of view. It only takes me a minute to hang them in strategic places in the boys' cage and then they get to search out all the monkeys/bunnies and figure out how to get them unhooked before they throw them to the cage floor or nibble on a plastic extremity. For all the small plastic toys (including the monkeys and bunnies) that get dirty after spending some time in the cage, I bought a mesh lingerie wash bag that I collect them all in and then run them through the wash with the boys' bedding. That way I don't have to spend time scrubbing monkeys one by one in the sink.

Stealth Wheel

Stealth Wheel bought at http://atticworx.com/ for $36.95

North: Yep, that's a picture of me in our old, green Stealth Wheel. No, I'm not running in it. I'm just sitting in the wheel and eating a piece of chicken. I'm not the most athletic guy in the world but I do enjoy running in this wheel a bit every night.

Nocturne: I love our Stealth Wheel and use it a lot more than North does. I'm an energetic guy so I like to go for long runs in this wheel. North and I love to chew on plastic things but we haven't been able to do more than put a few scrapes and bite marks on the Stealth.

Mom: I consider this style of wheel to be the only small animal wheel available on the market today that is safe and practical for glider use. Wheels with crossbars, solid running tracks, or other issues can be dirty, dangerous, and even fatal so wheel choice is one of the most important decisions a glider owner will make. The boys currently have three Stealth Wheels. Their oldest is green and it somehow warped so it's now reserved only for out-of-cage playtime. They also have two blue Stealths and I always keep one or both of them in the cage. Besides one of the Stealths I bought warping, I really don't have anything negative to say about the wheel itself. However, I do think Stealth Wheels are over-priced and unfortunately that leads to a lot of glider owners choosing the cheaper, dangerous wheels because the Stealth makers pretty much have a monopoly on this wheel style at the moment. Hopefully some new vendors will be selling similar wheels in the future. There are several sets of instructions available online for constructing wheels like Stealths so if anyone is interested in making their own I can email you some helpful links.

Jungle Bungalows

Jungle Bungalows: lion, hippo & elephant bought from http://www.thesugargliderstore.com/FloorToys.html for $4.66 each

North: From the very first day we got these bungalows I've found them to be the best place to hide out and eat a chunk of chicken or piece of corn so my brother can't steal it. You can even see a crumb of corn stuck to my chin in the picture posted above of me in my pink elephant. I'm very attracted to the elephant and hippo bungalows but I never use the lion. I have my own secret reasons for this choice but Mom's hypothesis is that I'm naturally attracted to the bungalows that represent animals with a voluptuous figure like my own. Mom was a bit worried my full-figured body might not fit into any of the Jungle Bungalows but I have no problem getting into them at all. Once Nocturne was in my elephant when I wanted to use it so I crammed myself in there with him. That was not one of my best ideas but it did prove that two large gliders can fit in there together. It also proved that Nocturne should stay out of my elephant unless he wants to get trapped behind my big bottom in an enclosed space.

Nocturne: I love all these bungalows but I prefer the lion. I like to sit in the lion bungalow while Mom serves me my evening mealworms and I also sometimes fold myself up into weird, contortionist positions in there as you can see in my picture. Mostly the weird positions happen because I'm trying to properly groom myself in such a small space.

Mom: These three Jungle Bungalows are really amazing. The boys love them and when the bungalows get dirty I just stick them in the dishwasher to get them clean. I got all three for less than $15 so they're a good value. The owner of The Sugar Glider Store saw the pictures I had taken of the boys in the bungalows I bought from her store and she asked if she could use them on her site. I agreed, of course! If you click the link to the store at the beginning of this post you'll see North and Nocturne as supermodels.

Ferret Ark

Marshall Ferret Ark bought in-store at Petsmart for $21.99

North: We have had the Ferret Ark in our cage on heavy rotation for almost the entire time we've lived with Mom. I just love this thing! As you can see in the photo above, I like to careen off the top of the ark on the occasions where I spaz out and jump all over the cage like a crazy monkey. It's kinda rare that I expend so much energy so Mom loves any products that seem to encourage me to burn off calories. I also like to spend time inside the ark because Mom puts little toys in there for me to discover.

Nocturne: Look closely at the right side of the photo posted above and you'll see me climbing into the ark. I love to spend time inside grooming myself. Since it's made for ferrets, which are much larger than us sugar gliders, I have enough space inside to hang upside down while I perform my beauty routine (illustrated below). The ark is my mellow hang-out spot and I like it so much that I've accidentally taken a little nap in there a few times. I'm an adventurer by nature but I mainly like to relax when I'm in my Ferret Ark.


Mom: It sounds superficial but one thing I really don't like about the Ferret Ark is that it comes in that ugly color combo. I didn't expect it to last very long when I bought it but the boys' current ark is about 1.5 years old and still has a few months use left in it. Both gliders use it a lot whenever it's in their cage and I run it through the washing machine and hang it to dry every 4-8 weeks. The ark defintely gets heavy use and takes a beating between the three of us. Unfortunately, all the seams inside are serged so I have to inspect it regularly and trim off any threads that come loose so little feet don't get tangled. That's a bit of a chore but it's worth it for all the enjoyment the boys get out of the Ferret Ark.

Introduction

I am Mom to a pair of sugar gliders, North and Nocturne. They are both neutered males and are around 2 years old. They are unrelated and Nocturne is about two weeks older than North but he is smaller than his "little brother" and always has been. Both boys are now large adult gliders and they eat a healthy diet including a wide variety of fruit, veggies, and protein combined with proper supplementation. They each have very distinct and completely different personalities but I love them both with all my heart.

A very large portion of my money goes toward the boys' cages, food, treats, toys, fleece cage sets, cage accessories, out of cage playtime amusements, etc. To put it bluntly, I'm sick of spending money on things my gliders do not like and/or items that are of poor quality and construction. I enjoy the site http://www.birdtested.com/ so much that I decided to start a blog to post reviews of some of the things I buy for my boys. I may also post some of my own toy ideas that the boys have enjoyed plus other little things that they love. In addition to the reviews, I might also post glider-related stories that I think are cute as well as experiences I've had that may help out other owners. There is so much misinformation about sugar gliders out there so I welcome all questions and concerns. I'm always willing to help in any way I can.

All product reviews are subjective and based solely on the opinions of Mom, North, and Nocturne.