Sugar gliders are increasingly becoming popular household pets in countries allowing their domestication. A sugar glider can live between 10-12 years or even longer in captivity with proper care. Whether your sugar glider dies due to disease or other reasons, we understand it is a matter of concern that requires your attention.
So, why did my sugar glider die? Sugar gliders can die due to disease or loneliness. These pets are social and leaving them for so long without attention will be rough on them, making them feel lonely. Undiagnosed and untreated diseases and parasites could also cause sudden deaths in sugar gliders.
If you want to know why your sugar glider died, this is the guide for you. We help you know whether sugar gliders can have seizures, whether they can kill themselves, and whether they can die from cold, loneliness, and depression, and stress. Read through the rest of the sections for the 5 possible reasons.
1. Seizures
A healthy pet requires constant care and routine feeding from its owner. Ignoring your pet’s needs predisposes it to health conditions that could be fatal if untreated. Thus, if you notice any sign of ill health, you should talk to your vet for diagnosis and treatment to prevent sudden deaths.
Sugar gliders can have seizures due to dehydration, hypoglycemia, disease, or neurological seizures. A sugar glider experiencing seizure may appear still with a stare. They will not react to you when in a seizure, even if you move or pick them up, and their body posture will remain the same. If they get a seizure when climbing a surface, they will lose grip and fall. They may also foam or twitch as a sign of seizure.
Seizure treatment starts with identifying the cause of the seizure. If your pet experiences a seizure, you should take it to the vet for treatment since it is complicated to handle the condition by yourself, and you may lose your pet in the process.
The vet will do a comprehensive physical exam on your pet, test dehydration, disease, and parasites, and review its diet and routine. If necessary, they will also take an X-ray of your pet to analyze any internal causes of the seizure. This way, they will rule out all the causes of seizure before labeling your pet as epileptic or with a seizure disorder.
If dehydration caused the seizure in your sugar glider, a vet will treat it with sub-q fluids for the subsequent days. Your pet should recover after treatment, and the seizure should not recur. After treatment, you should closely monitor your pet, given that dehydration could indicate another underlying health problem. The vet will also relieve seizures caused by illnesses, after which the condition should not recur.
Neurological seizures can result from excitement, fatigue, stress, or fear. These seizures are more technical in treatment and will require constant monitoring through blood straws. This monitoring method poses a risk of more seizures to your pet, and your vet should handle it. You can also eliminate the stressors in your pet’s environment to prevent neurological seizures.
2. Cold
Proper housing in captivity provides an opportunity to mimic the conditions in the wild, allowing your pet to adapt to its new home easily. Thus, to ensure the comfort and survival of your pet in captivity, you should construct a sizeable cage and fit it with appropriate equipment to ensure optimal conditions.
The coldest temperature a glider can stand is 65 degrees Fahrenheit, but their ideal range is 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures below this level are too cold and harmful to your pet. To ensure a desirable temperature for your pet, you should set a thermometer and thermostat in their enclosure to ensure the temperatures do not drop below this level.
With gliders, warmer temperatures are safer. If you want to keep your pets warm and still save on costs, you can use a space heater. This way, you can set a constant temperature with a timer to ensure effective heating. You should also avoid draft areas with direct sunlight due to the fluctuating temperatures.
It is advisable to leave your heater on during the colder seasons due to the drastic drops in temperatures. Also, maintaining your temperatures at 65 degrees every day will be economical during these seasons than heating up every morning to this level.
However, if you insist on switching off the heat source, then do so during the day when it is warmer than the night. Freezing temperatures will predispose your glider to pneumonia and eventual death. If you have baby sugar gliders, you should set the temperatures even higher, preferably 80 degrees and above, to prevent their loss.
3. Loneliness and Depression
Sugar gliders are sociable pets and live in groups, commonly referred to as packs, for company. While it is impossible to have a pack of sugar gliders in captivity to mimic the wild, you should keep your sugar glider company to prevent loneliness and depression.
Sugar gliders can die from loneliness and depression if it affects their eating and drinking. This is usually the case where the sugar glide is super dependent on the owner’s company. In such a case, should the owner change their career and spend more hours away from its pet, it is likely to get depressed.
Thus, to prevent this kind of boredom and loneliness, provide your pet with plenty of toys and maximize interactions when you return from your errands. Alternatively, you can buy another glider to keep your current one company while you are away.
4. Suicide
Like human beings, sugar gliders experience loneliness and a change in behavior, which could be fatal. Most owners term this behavior suicidal as the sugar glider usually harms itself and may die in the process. Therefore, understanding your pet behavior is important to remain in control and prevent untimely deaths.
Contrary to popular beliefs, sugar gliders are not suicidal. Rather, they will self-mutilate under stressful conditions. A normal sugar glider will groom itself regularly and look presentable. On the other hand, a self-mutilating sugar glider will chew on itself and inflict serious injury, which, if untreated, could be fatal.
You will notice these injuries in the form of bald patches with chewed tails, arms, feet, and cloaca. Blood from these wounds may be visible on your pet’s favorite hammock and cage bars.
Stress is the primary cause of self-mutilation in sugar gliders. Unlike humans who have stress-relieving options, a sugar glider, especially in captivity, does not have any. Therefore, it will self-mutilate itself to relieve stress and take control of its body. Other causes of self-mutilation include pain, poor nutrition, grief, post-surgical issues, and loneliness.
The first symptoms of self-mutilation pose as over-grooming with damaged cloaca and missing hair. You will also distinguish self-mutilation from grooming based on the sounds your pet will produce. Thus, if you notice this behavior, you should contact a vet immediately for attention.
If untreated, these wounds will become entry points for infections. Depending on the severity of the wounds, the vet will recommend antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, or fluid therapies for treatment. You can also prevent mutilation by getting rid of the stressor.
5. Stress
Sugar gliders will get stressed in captivity. Identifying and removing these stressors will reduce its chances of getting stressed out, which could affect your pet’s health.
Uncontrolled stress levels may cause the death of a sugar glider. This stress could result from poor housing, illness, poor diet, loneliness, and inappropriate cage conditions. Housing sugar gliders that do not get along will also stress the weaker one. A severely stressed sugar glider will self-mutilate itself and inflict wounds that could become infected, causing death.
Your glider may also refuse to eat or drink due to stress. This may trigger seizures which could be fatal if untreated. Lack of appetite will also deprive your pet of essential nutrients such as calcium, causing metabolic bone disease, which is fatal. Therefore as a pet owner, you should be keen on the stress factors and eradicate them from your pet’s environment as soon as you notice them
Conclusion
Like other household pets, a sugar glider requires constant attention to live a healthy and happy life in captivity. Ill health and dehydration, among other factors, will cause seizures which could be fatal if untreated. Therefore, you should take your glider to the vet when this happens for treatment to prevent reoccurrence.
In captivity, you should also provide appropriate housing and cage conditions for your pet to prevent untimely deaths. Sugar gliders thrive in warmer conditions and maintaining these temperatures in captivity with appropriate tools will enhance their survival. Younger gliders will require higher temperatures than the older ones due to the surface area volume ratio.
Due to their social nature, a sugar glider in captivity may become lonely and depressed if you deprive it company. These conditions may escalate their stress levels, causing them to self-mutilate themselves due to stress. A self-mutilating sugar glider will inflict injury on itself, which could be fatal. If untreated, these wounds could become entry points of infection. Thus, as a sugar glider owner, you should watch out for signs of stress and eradicate them to ensure a healthy sugar glider.
