Your pet can fetch, but can it fly?

Geddy Tarbell, a University of Montana student, rarely takes Crikket to campus with him. When he does, she sleeps in a removable pouch in his breast pocket.

A shrill yippy sound erupts from the pocket as Tarbell tries to coax the marsupial out of the fleece bag. The nocturnal animal doesn’t appreciate the disturbance. Tarbell sighs and begins peeling an orange.

When she is awake and ready to play, she moves quickly, he says.

“If we set her down, she’s hard to catch.”

In the past, she’s snuck out of her cage at night, and they found her in the morning, sleeping in a discarded shoe, Tarbell says.

The flying marsupial known as a sugar glider is not the typical Missoula pet. Some residents in the area opt to spend $200 for this tiny animal, which looks a bit like a flying squirrel.

Originally from Tasmania, New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia, sugar gliders are now making homes around the nation.

Even though they are relatively easy to care for, sugar gliders require more attention than more popular small animals like hamsters.

They eat protein (crickets will suffice), fresh vegetables and fruit. In their natural habitat, sugar gliders eat sap from eucalyptus and gum trees. Their love for sugary sap awarded them their name.

Although they’re attracted to sweets, these 5-inch creatures are capable of taking down a bird. When their bodies are fully extended, a strip of extra skin between their front and back legs allows them to glide 50 meters, roughly half the length of a football field.

Crikket can glide surprisingly far, Tarbell says. On Super Bowl Sunday, Crikket dived from atop the curtain rod, sailed over the heads of Tarbell’s friends and he caught her mid-glide, Tarbell says.

In Montana, sugar gliders fall into the “non-controlled species” category with wallabies and two-toed sloths; no permit is necessary to possess, sell or purchase them.

Around Missoula there are several private breeders as well as retail outlets breeding sugar gliders. Two gliders were advertised for sale on Facebook by a Missoula resident in February.

Pet Nebula in Missoula sells about 10 sugar gliders per year, says co-owner Cheyenne Laue.

Laue, squatting between shelves of animal products, looks tired. She’s been waking up in the wee hours of the night to hand-feed sugar glider babies. For the next two to three weeks she’ll feed the joeys (baby marsupials) a yogurt mush with an eyedropper every few hours. This initial bonding is crucial to breeding a tame and likeable pet, she says.

“The ones that are hand-fed think they’re a person by the time you’re done.”

Laue has never had a complaint about a hand-fed sugar glider, whereas others, who weren’t exposed to humans early, can create problems.

Untamed sugar gliders may be aggressive, capable of biting through fingers to the bone.

But if raised well, problems are rare and the critters have fans.

If Pet Nebula doesn’t have sugar gliders available, one can also go to the mall.

Across from the faux fur jackets in American Eagle Outfitters in Southgate Mall sits Petland. This pet store houses two tiny sugar gliders, both of which are for sale for $199.

Petland sells about five sugar gliders per year, mainly to people who come in specifically looking for one, says Christy Higgins, a Petland employee.

Like other unusual animals, sugar gliders have a small following due to their novelty, Higgins says.

“It’s exotic. It’s not normal … anyone can come in and buy a hamster.”

However, novelty ebbs.

Tarbell says he prefers Crikket had a partner. After two and a half years neither he nor his wife take Crikket out of her cage as much, he says, but their sugar glider is still a fun pet.

“If somebody wanted to have a first pet, to have a little cutesy pet, they’re good to have.”

Sugar gliders live for 10 to 15 years, says Steve Higgins, store manager at Petland, who has raised sugar gliders for seven years.

In the past, Higgins has bought or taken in sugar gliders from owners who have lost interest, he says.

Before he sells any animal, he makes sure people know how much care is necessary, he says. Sugar gliders need a lot of attention because they are social animals, he says.

If a glider doesn’t have a partner, carrying them around with the owner can help, Higgins says.

Jme, Tarbell’s wife, tows Crikket to work in one of her purses, Tarbell says. Crikket eventually learned how to escape after enough field trips in the bag. She’d run the zipper along its tread and then sneak out, ready to play, he says.

Tarbell chuckles and tempts Crikket with a piece of fleshy orange. She barks at him.

Unfettered, he pulls out a stash of cashews from his jacket. Within seconds a sleek ball of gray comes after the golden nut.

“The quickest way to a girl’s heart is through her stomach, so I hear,” Tarbell says.