Patch Paw Prints
Pocket Pets: The Growing Fascination with Sugar Gliders
Sugar Gliders were introduced to America as domesticated pets nearly 20 years ago, though their popularity is booming today.
Webster’s favorite place, outside of his cage, is in 9-year-old Sam BonGiorno’s pocket. Webster is a sugar glider, also known as a sugar bear. He’s cute like a cartoon animal, with his big eyes, his inquisitive sniffing nose, and his tiny chipmunk-sized body. At first glance, he seems like a very social, cuddly relative of a hamster, but in fact, Webster is not a rodent at all. He’s a marsupial. “People actually call them pocket pets,” said Sam’s mom, Jennifer Drucker. Sugar gliders bond with their owners as part of a family unit, and will nestle safely inside a pocket. In the wild, they live in treetop colonies in their native New Guinea and Australia. And in captivity, they will consider their humans, and even the family’s dogs and cats…
