The two most common reasons why sugar glider sugar bears die are due to accidental dehydration and toxicity poisoning from tap water. Though sugar glider sugar bears get lots of fluids from fresh fruits like apples, there should be another water source, like a drip water bottle. When you bring the baby the first time, however, it is good to have a water bowl as well, which is shallow and small and cannot easily be tipped over, because the baby may not be used to drinking from a bottle. This will ensure that the baby sugar glider sugar bear has enough liquid as you teach it to drink from the bottle, which happens to be a simple and quick process. You can do this by bumping their nose gently against the end of the tube so they get liquid on their nose and being very smart animals, they will pick this up within a couple of times. You can also add a bit of blueberry yogurt to the tip before bumping, so that you can be absolutely sure they will remember where the bottle is.
For the first few weeks, mix water with Gatorade or Pedialyte, 50/50. Citrus flavors work well, but you can experiment with different flavors. These additives to water not only taste good to sugar glider sugar bears because they like anything sweet but also keep them completely hydrated. If for some reason your sugar glider sugar bear doesn’t like this, you can add apple juice to water in the same ratio for a few days. Change the water once a day to keep it fresh and slowly reduce the Gatorade or juice till they drink plain water.
As stated, one of the most causes of death for a sugar glider sugar bear is toxicity poisoning from tap water as there are sudden spikes in concentration of chemicals like chlorine and fluoride, which can prove deadly for your pet. Therefore give your pet bottled water or spring water, which are inexpensive and healthy. You can also use water filtration system if filters are regularly replaced.
