Suggies At Home

Years ago when sugar gliders first were taken as pets in Malaysia, 1 glider was close to Rm1000! And now? What happened? I blame the suppliers, they drop the price so much because they want to sell as many as possible before this so-called “trendy” pet becomes a cheap thing, like how hamsters were from a price of Rm40 they now have dropped to Rm10 or even Rm5.

People just do not see where this is going. Do they understand that a cheaper price would bring about silly impulse buyers? So many buy on impulse if they are not expensive. My price is still Rm300 to Rm350 because I want people to think first before purchasing and not get on impulse. It my joeys went for less than Rm200, then I have to say the future of sugar gliders will look bleak.

If we study customer behaviour, if we see something cheap, we tend to buy. That is exactly what these commercial breeders are doing. They want you to buy more by giving you a cheap attractive price. Like in Klang there is this seller offering Rm380 for a pair of joeys, and still got the nerve to say 60 available, take your pick. Are gliders items? Are they clothes and products that can be displayed and people can choose what they like as if choosing some fake watch from Petaling Street? Come on… these are animals. Wake up and treat them as a living being!!!!

Here is an example of what will happen when gliders are bought by impulse buyers.

They end up being bought by someone who thinks they are easy to keep because the seller would say “hey, keeping them is like keeping hamsters. Very easy” These commercial sellers would also sell to them a pack of dogfood and label it as glider food. And they would offer cages that are too small. And what to feed? Only apples of course. This looks like the case in this picture, these gliders are kept in a very small cage. It is so small that the hanging coconut is almost touching the base of the cage. You can see the apple that they are eating, it looks old and maybe they have been eating it for more than a day. Look how thin the female(without the bald spot) is by her face and if I read the advertisement correctly, the female has joeys. How can such a malnourished glider support growing joeys?

I actually stumbled upon this picture in a local classified ad, someone was trying to sell away this pair. Maybe he got tired of them? An impulse buyer who now thinks they are too difficult to take care? Giving Up?

If this continues, I fear the future of sugar gliders will be bleak. Many will suffer and some may die….. all because of irresponsible money making commercial breeders and sellers. Stop buying from such people and you can maybe save a suggie live.

We have to be responsible. We are humans, God gave us the ability to think and reason and understand. We take in pets because we like and want them as companions so we have to be responsible of their welfare.

If you are thinking of getting a glider as a pet, remember this, you have to commit to it for the next 10 to 15 years. Don’t give up on it.