Hey everyone, me and the wife have been looking into getting a couple gliders (since I've read 2 gliders minimum is a definite, right? Is it possible to have just 1 as long as you spend a lot of time with it?)....well wife wants flying squirrels and I want gliders lol Anyway, was wondering if I could get some answers from people in this group about gliders that we haven't really found answers for.

1.) Been told by some internet articles and people on other FB groups that gliders stink. How bad REALLY is the smell?? I know some people exaggerate and I was just curious to get some insight from glider owners on whether this is a stink that's only horrible if you dont upkeep their cage, toys, bedding, etc and/or dont feed the right diet.

2.) Have read gliders are notorious for peeing and pooping whenever and wherever they are and I udnerstand and am cool with it. My question is much urine are we talking about when they're on you? Some articles have said it's quite a lot and others have said usually when owners get urinated on, it resembles a dribble and can be cleaned with a Kleenex or paper towel.

3.) Is there anyone in here that have owned both flyers and gliders?? I know they're different species but how are they comparable in terms of energy level, upkeep, ability to bond, ability to take out in public, diet, etc? I have seen numerous videos where the person's flyers are zipping around their owner and the house like they've just chugged a Red Bull. Is this normal behavior for flyers?

Sorry for the lengthy post and "rookie" questions, we just dont want to rush into this and if we do decide to own a flyer or a pair of gliders, we want to make sure we give them the best life possible! Thank you everyone!

1) There is a smell but it is more their scent marking than them. I find the smell kind of nice, kind of a brown sugary smell. If you can try to see some gliders so you can get their smell and see if you find it palatable. The smell is mitigated on cleaning day to almost nothing and then they mark everything again. They are not nearly as pungent though as, say, a ferret. I found the putting them on the critter love diet cut down on the smell some.

2) There is generally little urine and their feces are usually semisolid and easy to pick up and clean with rare exceptions that smear a little. When they urinate on my arm I just wipe it off on a towel. If they are on my clothing urine leaves about a 1 inch diameter wet spot so not much. I recommend not taking them out of cage as soon as they wake up and you will avoid a lot of it. There is a lot more urination and defecation when they are stressed so you may get extra when you first start bonding,

3) No idea. Never had flying squirrels.

The biggest element is time commitment. I spend 15 minutes a day cleaning cage and feeding them and at least 30-45 minutes a day playing with them and usually more. I set up one of my rooms as their room and let them run around in the evenings. When I am there to play or sometimes I read they love to climb on me. I also spend time letting them jump to me. Two of them still nip at me some but they are young and I am hoping that will stop as they mature.

not neutered males I hear smell the worst. I have 6 gliders in a room in a large cage, the room does have a moderate smell, but its only moderate cause I haven't done the cleanup.
If I clean the cage up the smell goes mostly away, but you don't want to over clean either or they will remark their area. all my males are neutered. Also.. I had a room divider and
a second cage with 2 separate gliders in the room, so with 2 colonies and 8 gliders there was alot of marking (I think) and the room smelled worse, and got smeller faster after cleanup.
but even then I could go into the room and the smell didn't bother me to much.

2. generally gliders urinate a lot as soon as they wake up and get out of the pouch. but a lot is not to much, they are small animals. My wife would take her glider out of the pouch,
let it sit for a minute as she pet him and he would pee and poo. She would then put him in her shirt/bra and she would be pee and poo free. I will go into glider room, my best
glider gus will jump on me, he has been awake and had time to pee and poo, but he seems to keep a few drops for me, I think its to mark me, so I seem to get a few drops from gus and
also sophie like to get me a small mark some evenings. The poo is like black rice most of the time, I clean bottom of cage and vacuum rug and its all gone.

3. don't know about squirrels. but I thought with gliders being marsupials they are cleaner animals, but I could be wrong.

I had a flying squirrel before I got my gliders. She chewed through EVERYTHING. They are considered rodents, so they're along the lines of mice and rats. They are known to be chewers (not saying you won't get a glider that chews, my Lily will chew on her plastic tree stump), but the squirrel chewed through blankets, plastic, etc. They have the growing teeth like rodents, so they chew to file their own down.

I have 8 gliders now (6 mine, 2 2week OOP joeys we're raising to rehome) and they, in my opinion, are much better pets.

The bathroom usage was about the same, and the cleanliness was about the same too, but I dunno, we never could get the same bond out of our flyer that we have with the gliders.

As far as the smell goes for gliders, as long as they are neutered there isn't much smell as long as you don't over clean.

I will also say I would have 10 intact male gliders before I ever had a ferret. The smell of a ferret is so much worse than an intact male glider.

Almost 20 years ago my mom had a flying squirrel at the same time I had a pair of gliders and I often watched her squirrel. My pair of gliders did smell more than her lone female, but since then enzyme cleaners have improved greatly. Most people who visited could not smell my gliders, including my mother-in-law who does not approve of animals in the house, so it couldn't be that bad. As stated earlier, the squirrel did chew through everything and was much more active than either of my gliders. My mom did bond with her's since she found it before its eyes were open near death when her cat dragged it home from the woods, but I'm not sure if she would have otherwise. When deciding this time which I wanted, I went with gliders, there's just something about them.