Meet Molly

Scott has wanted to own a pet Wallaby for as long as I have known him… along with a pet tiger, camel, zebra… and every other exotic animal you can think of.  However, knowing that we can’t properly care for these pets has kept those dreams at bay – not to mention that Scott’s cat allergies would make his head swell to the size of a watermelon within minutes of being near a tiger!
 
One day, a few years back, Scott got on a Wallaby kick (pun intended).  He went on and on about what great pets they make.  So, I jumped (I am on a roll) onto the Net and did some research on just what it takes to care for a Wallaby.  It turns out that people really do have them as pets and it isn’t altogether unrealistic… for OTHER people.  But, in the mist of my marsupial research (marsupials are animals whose young form in a pouch, like kangaroos), I stumbled upon Sugar Gliders.
 
Instantly, I was fascinated.  I started reading everything I could find and within a few weeks, I was convinced that we HAD to have one.  We found one for sale on Craig’s List.  A teenager had purchased a Sugar Glider at the mall and his grandmother wouldn’t let him keep it.  Scott met him in a parking lot, gave the kid $100 and brought our little baby home.  It makes me so sick to my stomach that people can handle life with so little concern – Sugar Gliders can live 20 years in captivity – but he got it at the mall!
 
We named our little girl, Molly.  The ad said she would come everything needed to care for her, including her cage.  It turned out to be a tiny travel cage for transporting hamsters.  It was pathetically small and completely cruel.  Sugar Gliders are climbers, chewers and can even “fly”.  (Technically, they glide, but they can travel hundreds of yards, going from treetop to treetop, using the webbing that runs from arm to leg on either side of their bodies).  Therefore, they need a very BIG cage with special-coated wires to keep them from getting sick from chewing on metal wires.  So, Scott and I built Molly a grand cage.  It is six feet high and three feet wide (still not as big as a Glider might prefer, but big enough to accommodate her needs until we could expand).

 

Sugar Gliders are not simple pets to own.  It is hard to find a Vet with any knowledge about them and they are delicate little creatures that are only a few inches long (minus the busy tail that is about the same length as their body).  Gliders are very intelligent and require a variety of toys for entertainment.  They also need exercise.  After doing some research, we found “Wodent Wheels”, similar to a hamster wheel but specially built to protect their delicate little feet.  We purchased two wheels.  One with a simple plastic liner.  The other lined with a fine sand paper, designed to help wear down Glider finger/toe nails.  Every few days, we would switch the wheels out so that she could get her nails worn down, but not too far.  The wheels were not cheap and it took me awhile to decide if they were worth the investment.  In the end – they were WELL WORTH IT!  Molly LOVED that wheel and spent hours running on it.  I also found it fascinating that she peeled the stickers off the side of them – the vision and tactile skills that required really blew me away.
 

Sugar Gliders are social creatures that do best in pairs (yet they sell them alone in stores across America).  As marsupials, they prefer to sleep in pouches.  Molly had several pouches that we hung in varied places around her cage, splattered with toys and mirrors to help keep her company.  We did search for a live companion for her and were still on the look-out for one when we lost her.  
 
Molly also came with what we were told was a year’s worth of food.  It ended up being a handful of pellets – enough to give her a poor diet for about three weeks.  Replicating what Gliders eat in their native land of, Australia is nearly impossible in the States.  However, owners have worked very hard to come as close as possible by putting together recipes using various ingredients we can get here and mimic what they need naturally.  After lots of research, I settled on a  one that consisted of baby food, two nutritional supplements purchased from the Web, baby cereal, juice and a few other random things.  Every few months, I would purchase these items, combine them in the blender and then put them in the freezer.  I called it Molly’s ice cream (although it was the color of peanut butter and smelled awful).  Each day, Molly ate one spoonful of ice cream, a variety of fresh/frozen fruits and vegetables and a few meal worms or sausages designed for toddlers.
 
Molly LOVED meal worms (to the point where we tried to actually start a meal worm colony to keep fresh ones on hand – that was a HUGE FAILURE, but a fun effort).  Watching Molly eat a meal worm was really entertaining.  Gilders have amazing little hands, extremely similar to our own.  She would pick up a worm, hold it in her little hand and eat it like a stalk of celery.  Her hands also allowed her to grip our fingers and climb up the side of her cage like a champ. 
 
Gliders love being in pouches and, if they are raised correctly, being close to their people.  Therefore, we purchased several pouches that zippered shut with strings for hanging them around a neck.  Molly would go in the pouch and travel everywhere with us.  As long as I wore a large sweatshirt and she chose to be quiet, no one ever knew she was there.  Molly went out to the airport with us, even out to dinner.  Initially, however, Molly was not as fond of us.  When she arrived, she had clearly had little human contact.  We worked with her for several hours a day the first few weeks, gaining her trust.  Slowly, she grew to appreciate being held and petted – or so we think she did because she made a lot less noise and would come to us instead of trying to hide.  

Molly was not a quiet or clean pet either.  It is nearly impossible to litter train a gilder, so we built her cage to have a removable bottom that I cleaned out twice a week.  As nocturnal animals, Molly could often be heard “chirping” and “singing” to herself in the middle of the night.  She also would make a “screaming” noise if she was frightened or nervous – quite startling to someone that didn’t know to expect it.  Being nocturnal also meant that our play time with Molly was limited to just a few hours after sunset and before we went to bed. 
 
Sugar Gliders are definitely not an ideal pet for everyone.  But, we really enjoyed having Molly around.  Scott and I were heartbroken when she passed away in the fall of 2009.  I went to feed her and saw that she had not eaten her meal the day before.  I panicked and started searching her cage, her little body was in her wheel, no life left in it.  We held a little funeral for her and buried her in the backyard.  To this day, we are not sure what happened to Molly.  Gliders live up to 20 years and we were told that she was only a few months old when we brought her home.  However, it is very likely she was older than we were told.  She died in her wheel, indicating to me that she was mid-spin when it happened and unlikely that she was suffering beforehand. 
 
Hopefully someday, we will be able to foster homeless Gliders and give other “mall victims” a safe place to stay. 
 
We love you Molly!