"I just got my camera equipment so have to recover from sticker shock before I can look into a studio type set up"

Yeah...it is pretty over-whelming. It has become very expensive to pick up photography as a hobby and even more so to do it as a business.

"I would never have guessed these guys were in a darker room, looks bright as day. Very cool."

It was a lot of work. The room was hardly pitch black, just poorly lit. They were doing a ton of home rennovation and I believe that the idea of having me over to shoot the sugar gliders was rather spontaneous.

"The equipment I just got, to go with my 20D, is canon 70-200 2.8 IS, tamron 28-75 2.8, 580EX flash, and a 1.4 TC."

Great choices for lenses. I wish you the best of luck with them.

"I am an artist by trade (mainly pets, horses, wildlife) so for years I've taken tons of photos of animals to paint from, but only recently have I gotten the bug to really learn about cameras and get better equipment."

Being an artist, I am sure you will do great. You should read Ron Reznick's article in the Artist Showcase Section. Many of his photographic influences were not photographers, but painters.

Cheers!
James