Sugar gliders are social nocturnal marsupials with complex needs that make them poor candidates for most owners.
Sugar gliders are promoted as easy low-maintenance pocket pets despite having complex social dietary and environmental needs. They need colony housing as solitary individuals develop depression-like states and self-mutilate. Their diet requires careful balance to prevent calcium deficiency. Most commercially available diets are inadequate. The result is a chronic welfare crisis with high rates of disease, behavioral problems, and premature death in the private sugar glider keeping community.