Shipping Overseas - Only a Dream?

Hi everyone,

My biggest wish (like everybody else I'm sure) is to have a mosaic sugar glider.

I just need to know if there is anybody who would ever be willing to ship to South Africa (after lots of research and planning of course)

Am I only dreaming or would somebody be able to make my dreams come true one day?

Boy, that just sounds too dangerous. Not only would it be a long flight for the glider, but provided the baby made it across the ocean - they would have to make it through customs. If they are denied at customs, they are stuck there at the airport. It just sounds too risky.

You might be more apt to find a breeder willing to sell you one if you were willing to fly over and pick it up - that is, of course, if you could figure out the customs issue.

I moved to and from Japan with dogs and cats before & they do require a lot of paperwork as well as quarantine. I'm not sure what South Africa would require, but I'm sure it would be similar. Please remember the stress a suggie endures when going to a new home, then add on top of that an intercontinental flight and a quarantine...

If you fly over, can you carry it on you in a pouch? I know a few owners who have flown with gliders around their necks in pouches, without being noticed by security/customs.

Just wondering!

I know I know I know I JUST DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE IT!!!

:(:(:( Maybe one day when I am big!

Not a good idea at all. The distance between USA and South Africa is unbearably great and the glider is most active at night, so a cage would be a must, not a pouch. Unfortunately, the airline would require the cage be put in the cargo area, where it is cold, not in the cabin.

dkmarks, those few owners that you know who have flown with gliders in pouches around their necks took a great risk. I would NOT recommend that at all.

I would be aghast if I was found smuggling a glider in my bra. Due to my cochlear implant, I cannot go through a metal detector; I have to be frisked, both by hand and by a portable wand detector. I just cannot imagine what the outcome would be if my glider was found and confiscated. Uh huh, no way am I risking that! The risks are just too great. Not worth it.

Natalia, I have a dream glider, too. It is so rare and I cannot have it. My dream glider is Anita's (sweetgliders) Sugar, who is a two-toned marble mosaic. Anita got Sugar already neutered several years ago so she couldn't breed him. The only way to get a dream mosaic glider is for you to move from South Africa to good ol' USA!


Jen

This may or may not help, because it was before 9/11.

I shipped 5 gliders in the cargo hold from Manilla, Philippines to Baltimore, MD. It was late September so the temperature on the ground was within the parameters allowed by the airlines for shipping animals. There was no quarantine because gliders carry no diseases transmissible to humans, require no vaccination because they do not have rabies in Australia where they are native. I was required to get a health certificate from a state authorized veterinarian within ten days of their travel. Here I was required to sign a statement that they were my personal pets and I would not breed or sell commercially.

I obtained all this information, including requirements for the shipping container, prior to attempting to ship them by checking with ALL involved government agencies, state and local govt., and the airlines, and I GOT IT IN WRITING. I kept all the information until long after they made it here.

The cold temperatures at altitude worried me, but the airlines do have areas in the hold that are heated/warmed, and I was assured the animals are always put there (this was Northwest Airlines). Since there were 5 gliders they also kept each other warm.

To do it safely you'll have to research everything you can about who and what is involved, also if anyone in customs over there expects a bribe to let them past, even if you have the paperwork. I know it's like that some places.