One of the strangest interviews I have ever set up, on September 14th 2009, involved arranging for a woman to come into the studio for a live interview with two of her sugar glider pets.
It was my first introduction to the joys of the notorious Risk Assessment form at my new employer. Oh boy, I thought filling in my tax return as a self-employed freelance was tricky. Here, you have to think of everything. Imagine the horror of a presenter being bitten by an unusual creature live on breakfast telly while viewers were munching their muesli?
I'd never heard of these creatures before but was soon to become semi-expert in their needs because the purpose of the item was to warn people against having them as pets - despite their cuteness.
For instance:
* They're liable to show their affection by jumping on your head (or down your top!)
* They are mostly awake at night
* They need a large cage to run around in.
Our interviewee, Marie Bannister, brought in Dinks whom she had looked after for six years.
She said: "They can live to around 15 so a lot of thought needs to go into a decision to have one as a pet. They need an indoor aviary-type structure really, as they can't cope with the British climate, with some logs in to make them feel like they're in their natural environment and the space to run around or to be able to glide.
"But they're nocturnal and make a lot of barking noise at night so they are not for sleep-lovers. Looking after them is much harder than say a hamster or anything like that. It's not easy to buy food for them from just any pet store. You have to give them live insects, locusts or mealworms, and I give them fresh fruit and vegetables, boiled eggs, bee pollen and nectar drinks."
It's thought the little creatures got into the pet trade after they were smuggled here and ended up in London Zoo in the 1800s. And they certainly are cute. But I’ll stick to my dogs for now….
Read more about them here
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