The fact about sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small arboreal and nocturnal marsupial whose native distribution includes continental Australia and the island of New Guinea (Smith, 1973; Malekian et al., 2010) as well as an introduced population in Tasmania, Australia (Campbell et al., 2018
Sugar gliders are more closely related to kangaroos and koalas; whereas, squirrels are closer to flying lemurs. The similarities of the three types of gliders are due to convergent evolution–similar adaptations evolving independently in different groups
Why is ie that from the Origin of sugar gliders, they were called sugar gliders?
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel.
Color Guide:
Classic colored sugar gliders will have gray bodies, a black dorsal stripe, black tipped tails, black ears, black knuckles and a white underbelly. Their coloring is striking and a favorite to many. Also called the “wild type”, “standard”, or “standard gray”, it is the most common color of a sugar glider. Classics appear in various shades of grey, black and white. They have the most common phenotype of sugar gliders (meaning all colors can produce Classic babies). Classics can carry multiple colors in their genetics which makes them an ideal candidate for breeding or as pets!
White Faced Blonde (WFB)
refers to the lack of a black bar that is normally seen under the ears of the standard/classic sugar glider’s face. This gives them the “white face” look. The white faced blonde is the second most common coat coloration in the sugar glider world. If you pair a classic colored sugar glider to a white faced blonde, you will get both white faced blondes and classic sugar gliders. This is a color trait that can also be seen in other colored gliders, such as a Cremeino with a white face, a Platinum with a white face, Mosaic with white face, etc. They all lack the dark bar marking underneath the ears. WFB can also carry different color types in their genetics which makes them an ideal candidate for breeding or as pets.
Black Beauties (BB)
have dark gray bodies with extremely dark charcoal markings. They usually have very dark knuckles and some will have a dark belly as opposed to the white belly. BB genes are neither dominant nor recessive. However, when pairing BBs together, you will get more Black Beauty offspring than Classics.
Black Faced Black Beauties, (BFBB)
have an overall “black face”. They have darker head stripes which typically fade into their eye rings and creates the appearance that they are lacking some of all of the eye rings. Only the noseband will be visible. The lack of distinct eye rings is what gives the “black faced” look. The whole face may appear darker or the area around the eyes will be very light in contrast to a very dark face. In order to display the BFBB phenotypically (the color that they physically appear), a glider needs only one allele from one parent. Considering that, breeding for BFBB babies can be done by matching a BB with a BFBB. If you breed BFBB X BFBB you can result in a melanistic glider. Many melanistic babies die before weaning (approx. 8 weeks old). The cause is unknown. Because of infant mortality and an unhealthy look, it is unwise to breed BFBB to BFBB. An ideal paring would be to breeding BB (non BFBB line) to a BFBB glider.
Albinos
Albinos are gliders that lack pigmentation. They have a an overall white body, with very faint or no markings, and have red eyes. This is a very rare color in Sugar Gliders and the genotype is recessive in nature, thus an albino sugar glider must possess two albino alleles to be phenotypically shown. The best way to do this would be to pair together 2 non-albino sugar gliders who each carry an albino gene.
Cremeino
Cremeino sugar gliders have a cream colored body or reddish crème colored fur. They have a brown to red dorsal stripe/markings, and deep ruby eyes. Cremeinos were bred selectively; this color does not appear in the wild and it is a recessive gene. To show phenotypically, a glider must have two cremeino alleles. Having Cremeino in a parent’s background will increase the odds of producing a red or strawberry glider.
