Don’t handle a new sugar glider for the first two days after bringing it home for the first time. A sugar glider needs time to acclimate to the new smells and sounds of its new environment. After two days, you can begin to bond with the sugar glider.

Before you hand-train your sugar glider, you need to bond with it first.

Hand-Training
When it’s time to hand-train a sugar glider, start in a small room with a securely closed door that has been sugar glider-proofed. Make sure spaces under doors and vents are blocked with towels to prevent a sugar glider from escaping. If you do this in a bathroom, be certain toilet lids and windows are shut. Stuffing towels between toilet lids and seats can prevent sugar gliders from ending up in the toilet, where they can drown.

Be sure to keep a hanging pouch or pocket available for the sugar glider to crawl into should it become frightened.

Next, take the sugar glider out of the pouch and allow it to crawl on your hands, arms and shoulders. If the sugar glider jumps off you, gently pick it up and place it back on your body each time. Do this consistently each time the sugar glider jumps off.

Once it stays on you consistently, try handling the sugar glider in other small, secured rooms.

Teach Others How To Handle
Before you let someone else handle your sugar glider, remember that many sugar gliders are afraid of strangers. Your sugar glider must be comfortable being handled by you before you allow a stranger to hold it.

Show other people how to handle your sugar glider by lifting your small pet up gently by the middle of its body and putting it in your cupped hand. Your sugar glider may want to crawl up the person’s arm to their shoulder, so let them know this may happen.