Hello everyone!
Since sugar gliders are becoming more and more popular in Sweden and since there are Swedish users browsing this forum, I thought it would be useful to inform that housing rules are bit more restrictive in Sweden.
Sugar gliders are treated as exotic animals, and according to L80 (legislation regulating pet keeping and pet commerce in Sweden), they fall under L108 - legislation concerning animal keeping in zoos. In other words, private owners must comply with the same regulations as zoos.
When it comes to sugar gliders, housing regulations include a minimum area of 4 square meters which corresponds to about 43 square feet, and a minimum height of 2,2 m which corresponds to 7 ' and 2.61 ".
I know it
sounds pretty extreme, but I think it's useful to have it here somewhere since failing to comply with specific requirements concerning enclosure size and enrichment is classified as animal abuse.
Now, for those of you who understand Swedish, I am quoting from the L80- concerning the fact that one shall look for sugar glider provisions in L108 /DFS2004:19)
Kap. 1. 6 § Djur som får hållas enligt 4 och 5 §§ och som inte omfattas av 6 – 15 kap. ska, utöver vad som framgår av 1 – 5 kap., hållas i enlighet med de utrymmes- krav, inklusive inredning och annan miljöberikning, som anges i Djurskydds- myndighetens föreskrifter (DFS 2004:19) om djurhållning i djurparker m.m.
then special regulations concerning arboreal marsupials with a weight comprised between 0,25-1kg (sugar gliders weight less than this but, according to the listing in the annex, Petaurus species are all to be treated within this class):
Kap. 2
Övriga trädlevande pungdjur 0,25 - 1 kg
15 § Arterna får hållas inomhus året runt.
16 § Utrymmeskrav enligt följande:
Utrymme: 4 m2
Utrymmets utformning: Klättermöjligheter
and
Kap. 1 - 19 § Om inte annat anges ska takhöjden inomhus vara minst 2,2 m.
(the last stating that if nothing else is specified, then minimum height should be 2,2m)
The legislation can be found on the Agricultural Board website (Jordbruksverket in Swedish):
L80:
http://www.jordbruksverket.se/download/18.26424bf71212ecc74b080001050/2008-031.pdfL108 (the most recent version):
http://www.jordbruksverket.se/download/18.72e5f95412548d58c2c80005752/2009-092.pdf