Do sugar gliders use the same organ for urination and defecation?

Veterinarian’s Answer:

Sugar gliders do not use the exact same internal organ for urination and defecation, but both processes appear to come from the same external opening.

In sugar gliders, both males and females have what is called a cloaca-like structure—a common external chamber where different tracts open. This can be confusing to owners because it looks like the animal uses one hole for everything, but inside the body the systems are separate:
• Urine: Produced in the bladder, it passes through the urethra and empties into the urogenital sinus, then exits through the cloacal opening.
• Feces: Produced in the large intestine, it travels through the rectum and also empties into the cloacal opening.

So while both waste products leave the body through what looks like one external orifice, they are actually transported along different internal pathways.

In females, the urethral opening is located within the urogenital sinus, which also connects with the reproductive tract. In males, the urethra also empties into the cloacal area, but the anatomy differs—males have a bifurcated (two-pronged) penis, and the urethra runs at its base, separate from the rectum, though both open into the cloaca region.

In summary: sugar gliders do not use the exact same organ for urination and defecation, but because both systems share the same external exit point (the cloacal opening), it can look as though they do.