The Meaning of Sugar Gliders

Enough with the sugar gliders? Not quite. This is the final post in this series.

The meaning of sugar gliders from Ann Williams-Fitzgerald, "Australian Animal Tarot Deck":

In the Tarot, they are the Lovers. The key words are "faith, choices, love, and relationship".

From the Animal Dreaming Forum
By Ravenna:

"Sugar glider teaches the wisdom of being able to fend for what is important to you in an assertive manner; without appearing fearsome or threatening. It is important in life that we don't go through it submitting to everyone's desires and suppressing our own wishes, or for that matter, being so aggressive that we scare off everyone! Sugar glider encourages a middle path, that is often quite masculine in nature.

Sugar glider also teaches us the value of the child in community. Often children are pushed to the side and rarely listened to, but sugar-glider teaches us that it is very important to actually *listen* to our children, and the children of a community, and what they have to tell us. This doesn't just include the cuter 6-8 year olds, but also the more obnoxious teenagers.

There is also value, in your life (if you have always been attracted to sugar gliders) in really respecting your sleep patterns and your occasional need to be introverted. It is important when distancing oneself from society that we still maintain a close connection to our family and friends, but introversion and rest is something your body and spirit crave.

Sugar-glider reminds us that we can do this. Finally, all the gliders tend to teach us that sometimes we need to do a bit more lateral thinking in order to reach a goal. As the gliders soar sideways and laterally to other trees to reach food sources, and communal nests - so glider can teach us to look beyond the square for that which nourishes us and feeds our spirit. Our lives and our lifestyles might seem a bit eclectic, but they literally help our spirit soar."

After reading this, I know understand why Gilbert Arenas choose the sugar glider to be a part of his cartoon series.

Sugar Gliders (part two)

More on the Sugar Gliders. After reading about them on the net, I have discovered they are the latest in pocket pets. I have a hard time with people having wild animals as pets. Sugar Gliders need a lot of care and feeding that most people do not know about.

From Australian Fauna:

These amazing little animals are native to Australia, and have taken their name from their ability to glide through the air and their love of sweet things such as sugar.

These creatures are found along eastern and northern Australia. The Sugar Gliders are small creatures with a shiny grey-silver coat. They are around 40 cm's long from nose to tail, and weigh just 150 grams.

They feed at night, mainly on insects found in trees, but also the sap from trees such as the eucalyptus. They can move about very efficiently from tree to tree, and glide through the air.

More editorial content from Sugar Glider University :

Sugar glider husbandry is very difficult for the average pet owner. Sugar gliders are not domesticated animals, and are, therefore, not a "companion pet."

Owning and maintaining a sugar glider colony is more like maintaining a small zoo exhibit than having a pet. It is very important to practice good husbandry with sugar gliders, as most captive sugar gliders in the U.S. die very prematurely due to inadequate husbandry practices.

Sugar Gliders (part one)

Sugar gliders are marsupials from Australia. They are kept in the U.S. as an exotic pet. Please, note that I do not condone keeping exotic pets, since they become pests in their adopted country. However, here is some information about them as a pet.

From Pawprint: http://www.pawprintonline.com/central-glider.html

"Sugar GlidersThe sugar glider is a small arboreal marsupial from northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea and other nearby islands, where they live in the eucalyptus forests.

Sugar gliders reach up to 6 inches in body length. They have long bushy tails, velvety gray fur with black markings, large black eyes and feet well adapted to their life in the trees.

Their most striking feature is their gliding membrane, which stretches from wrist to ankle. This gives them the ability to glide through the air, up to 150 feet in a single leap.

Pet sugar gliders have a life span of 12 to 15 years. Intelligent animals, they recognize voices, can solve problems and love to play.

Pet sugar gliders enjoy spending time with their humans and make wonderful pets. However, they require much more time and attention than most small animals and have special dietary and housing needs. Extremely social animals, they should always be kept in pairs or small groups. "

More information can be found at: http://exoticpets.about.com/od/sugargliders/Sugar_Gliders.htm

Sugar Gliders and Basketball Players

At the Washington Wizards' media day, Gilbert Arenas, one of the star players, passed out stuffed sugar gliders to promote his cartoon series. "Gazo the Pranksta". The sugar glider is called "Agent Zip". As Mr. Arenas explained, "He's a sugar glider. He's a character, but not really a character, and he was the cutest thing I could give you guys."

(The cartoon series is about Mr. Arenas' high school days. http://www.gazothepranksta.com/)

Inside the sugar glider's zippered pouch was the following poem:

"Hypocrites, fools and the oversensitive beware.
Embrace your differences.
Who said life was fair?
Conforming for the inside.
What are you doing?
Watching from the outside.
Creativity brewing.
Don’t take yourself so seriously.
Things aren’t always as they appear.
It’s cool to be different.
Especially here.
We’re Generation Zero."

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What are sugar gliders, you may ask?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog!