Anyone out there own a sugar glider? I just learned about this exotic pet

When my wife and I first got married, we moved into our first apartment -- and I finally got that pet hamster I'd always wanted as a kid. (In fact, we got a male and female -- and soon had a litter of little ones she gave to her elementary students, with parental permission of course.)

When our kids were small, we went through the phase when they both had caged animals. My son had a beautiful little hamster named Scooter who was more clever than most cats I've known. My daughter had a series of gorgeous guinea pigs.

But never have we had any small critters as exotic as sugar gliders. Here's a website where you can learn more about sugar gliders and what they require as pets. From what I read there, they are small marsupials -- pouched mammals like kangaroos only much, much smaller than kangaroos. You keep them in cages and they really are best kept in pairs or even groups to meet their social needs. I was intrigued by the idea that they can be "pocket trained" and enjoy snuggling into an owner's pocket for the day.

Do you have sugar gliders? Have you known or seen one? Tell us your experiences with small caged critters, please.

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