Sugar glider sugar bears can die due to accidental dehydration or toxicity poisoning from the tap water, which in fact happen to be the two most common causes of death for these animals. Sugar glider sugar bears get significant fluids from foods such as fresh apples, but even then they should have another water source inside their cage. A drip water bottle works best.
For babies, an additional bowl should also be placed in the cage. Teaching your sugar glider sugar bear to drink from the bottle is simple and straightforward. All you have to do is gently bump the nose of your pet against the end of the tube each time you put the baby back in the cage. Sugar glider sugar bears are smart animals and will understand this very soon. You can also try adding little blueberry yogurt to the tip before bumping so that they absolutely remember the place of the liquid. For the initial weeks, you can add Gatorade or Pedialyte to water in 50/50 ratio as the liquid in the bottle. Citrus flavors work well but you can experiment to see which one is best liked by your pet. If your sugar glider sugar bear doesn’t like this, then try adding apple juice to water in equal proportions. Make sure you change the water daily to keep it fresh. With time, reduce the ratio of Gatorade or juice in the water, till your pet is comfortable drinking just plain water. Since these are sweet in taste, your sugar glider sugar bear is bound to like them but they also help to keep your pet completely hydrated.
Tap water can prove fatal and even lead to the death of your pet due to spikes in chemicals like fluorine and chlorides, and thus avoided at all costs. Go for bottled or spring water that are cheap and healthy. If you want to use filtered water, change the filters frequently.
