My very sweet and playful sugar glider just passed away. Literally in my hand. I found her sick last night and took her to the vet first thing this morning but she was too sick for the antibiotics to take effect fast enough. She just died. She was 8 years old. For those of you that have had these wonderful little guys in your life I was wondering how old yours lived. I thought 8 was too young to die of old age. isn't it?
My friend BethAnn has sugar gliders and is part of a Utah (national) support group. She would LOVE to answer any questions. Her email is ____@____.com.
I have to admit, I don't know the average life span for a sugar glider, but they are really challenging to keep as a pet in captivity so if it went 8 years, that's really good. Not that that makes it any easier, and I know they are not rodents, but extrapolating from rodents, hamsters and gerbils usually live 2 years, rats live for 3, and guinea pigs live for 5 to 6. Unfortunately, with many animals like that, they are really good at hiding signs of illness until its too late (a defense mechanism from being wild animals and not wanting to appear vulnerable), so by the time they look sick, they are REALLY sick and sometimes beyond saving (I've seen too many pet birds, reptiles and other small mammals that were near death when they were brought in and "were perfectly fine yesterday", can you tell?). I am sorry for your loss - losing any pet is difficult, you have my sympathy.
Actually 8 is a good age. I haven't seen many sugar gliders live pass that age. The oldest I have seen was 10 but that was an extremely rough estimate because he was passed down twice before going to his final owner that had him for about 5 years. The average is usually 6-8 years although they say they can live as long as 12-15 years.
I've never heard of a sugar glider. I'll have to google it. Sorry for your loss. =(
I am so sorry! I just looked up Sugar Gliders and they sound like a wonderful pet! Not sure if we can have them legally in CA so that may be why this is the first I've heard of them. Glad she had a wonderful home to live in and that she was with you when she passed away. Again, so sorry! This is the heartache of having a wonderful pet :-(
I have two female sugar gliders that we purchased as babies from a breeder and they are 6 and a half years old now. I heard they can live in captivity up to 12 or 15 years but that 8 to 10 years is a good life span for them.
I'm sorry 'bout your precious girl. I don't know much about sugar gliders, but I had to put my 11yo Golden Retriever down last week. It's just an awful thing. We are not ready to lose them, huh?
Thinkin' about your family.
:(
Never heard of them, but this prompted me to look them up. So Cute! One of the articles said they only live 6 to 8 years in captivity tho.
My sister has sugar gliders and they are family animals. They tend to live longer with a mate so I have heard. I am so sorry to hear about your loss, though. Losing any animal is just heartbreaking.
