These are some suggestions to follow when looking for a reputable breeder.  These have been provided by current and past members of WSGN.

• Never buy a glider at a home show, trade show or exhibition.  These types of places encourage "Impulse buying", the reason we have so many rescues.

• Never buy a glider at a pet store that has not had extensive experience with them, (preferably one that has the breeder onsite-not from a mill) and provides information on care.  Also, inspect the cages in the store, if they are not very clean and have little odor do not buy a glider there! (Gliders should never be kept in the same room as birds or reptiles-they will be in constant fear in these conditions) In addition, a special USDA license is required to sell sugar gliders, make sure the store has one!

• If the glider is being sold singly for less than $100, ask the breeder how they can sell so cheaply, if the breeder tells you they are overstocked, or gives you reasoning that sound fishy-MAKE sure to inspect the whole sugar glider area..  A healthy glider from a loving and knowledgeable home should be sold for no less than $100.  Now, rescues can be sold for a much lower price, as they are older and many times are not wanted any longer, so keep that in mind!

• If a breeder keeps gliders in fish tanks, do not buy from that breeder.

• If the breeder suggests a dry pelleted diet as the main form of nutrition, do not buy the glider from that breeder. Although there is a pelleted food that can be fed as a sole form of food (Brisky's) many reputable breeders do not support this as a whole diet and will recommend a better alternative.

• If you question diet, and a breeder says, cat food and fruit once in a while-- do not buy from that breeder.  (A sugar glider's diet is a complex thing, not a simple one!)

• If, when you do look at the breeders, the cages are unkempt, water is in bowls that are not clean, there is feces in the food or any of these--Do not buy from that breeder.

• Remember, the breeder you choose determines the glider you get--be comfortable with them, get to know them.  Make sure that they are willing to help you learn more about gliders.

"A Tragedy By The Thousands"

Yes, there are breeder mills and a member has been to one of these horrible places. Gliders (more than one, sometimes whole families), were kept in cages that were 12 inches square, with a plastic cup, covered in urine, for them to sleep in. With the cup, there was really not much room left for them to do anything.

The food they were fed would fall through their cage onto the top of the cage stacked under it, and the keepers would scoop the food, mixed with feces that had fallen through and put it in a barrel and then feed it to the gliders.

Gliders had arrived by the hundreds in cardboard boxes. Gliders were dying in their hands. There were thousands of gliders here. This is a USDA licensed operation.  Breeders buy from these "people." It is horrific. Name withheld

"No Love Here"

A Florida store, Foster's Exotic Pets:

After my first visit to this filthy store, I found reason to go back in, I had heard that they were selling gliders again.  When I walked into the store, the smell was overwhelming.  The glider was in an ok sized cage, with crumbles of pellet food, dirty, pooped in dried up nectar and no sign of fruit.  They had him in a cage using pine shavings and no stimulation.  He was also being housed behind glass in a room full of noisy birds.  I spoke with the employee of the store and explained why this glider was not being treated properly and the response was "That is just ridiculous".  This store is part of a chain of 3 stores and in the area pet stores, they are known for their disgusting husbandry habits.  Their bird cages had so much feces in them that the feces was piled above the wire floors.  The water bowls were filthy and the smell was horrendous.