What diet do you have your gliders on?

I was just wondering what diets everyone is using out there-

I personally have my gliders on the HPW diet mainly because they love it - they always clean thier plates, its fairly easy to make and keep and you dont need as many ingredients for it just so long as you have eggs, honey, HPW powder and bee pollen you are set to go!

What diet did you pick and why?

My Sugar glider's name is Rainy, she is extremely picky when it comes to food. When I first got her, I thought she was going to die, she wouldn't eat anything. I got her every food on the market for her. I came up with a creative way to get her the nutrition she needs, and she ate it. I finally got her to eat a soft wet food...I mix baby rice cereal, glideraide, protein supplement, calcium, acacia gum, bee pollen, and water together with baby food. The combos vary as she still won't eat the food if she tastes certain baby foods in it..baby foods I use are....pears, apples, blueberry apple, strawberry banana, chicken(no gravy in it), carrots, raspberry pear, mango-kiwi-apple, squash, butternut squash..etc...only ones safe for gliders. I also discovered that she eats more when it is cold..she is really strange. I make a lot of food and freeze them in ice cube trays, that way I can vary her food every night without making a new one and wasting the rest of it. Since I started freezing it, by morning the whole thing is gone. She loves it. Besides this, she really likes mangos, raspberries, blueberries, fresh butternut squash..and really the only veggie I can get her to eat is the peas inside snow peas!...she won't eat solid carrots, but she loves baby food carrots..how strange....I guess some gliders are just plain picky, but we still love them

that is quite a concotion you came up with - clever thinking - sometimes it is a chore to find something they will actually eat - they are like babies sometimes - they'll even change thier minds on what they do and dont like - so fickle - ha ha

Glad you found something that works for her!
What a good mommy!!

yup, she definitely goes through phases where she won't touch a mango, then she won't touch a blueberry, right now she's not eating raspberries! ..oh well!

Just so everyone knows, I have found a new worm that has a lot of calcium in them, and my glider loves them....she also always loves her mealworms, you should check them out at the sugar glider superstore...where I buy a lot of things..they are fabulous and delivery is fast! http://www.sugargliderstore.com

I use the BML diet. It was suggested to me on a glider forum from someone that rescues gliders, and she said that all 60+ of hers will take it well. It's also extremely easy to obtain ingredients for, easy to make, easy to store (frozen in ice cube trays), and all of the ingredients are cheap and/or last forever.

I don't think I'd have a problem feeding my boys anyway; they're far from picky. They'll eat just about anything. I can put whole fruits or veggies in their cage and they'll just gnaw them down. Usually I do give them chunks or slices though, it certainly is easier than having to chop or dice everything if they were picky that way. X3

As for them going nuts over mealies - lol they really do. My oldest one (father to the other two) is actually kind of chubby because I think he gets all of the mealworms...I worry about that. D:

I feed the Priscilla Price Diet because it is the only diet that uses so many ingredients that they would have in their diet naturally, because it offers so much variation, because the ingredients are the healthiest IMO, and because I have seen rescues that come in absolutely emaciated and they make full recoveries within just a few months on this diet. All my guys LOVE it

acam0625, I just wanted to mention that you might want to read a little bit about periodontal disease in Gliders. It is caused by eating nothing but soft foods. Baby food can also be a bit high in sugars depending on the brand and flavour. I would also recommend trying some of the different approved diets out there. The problem with making up your own is that even though it sounds healthy, it might not have all the correct vitamins and minerals as well as calcium/phosphorus ratios. Diet is just so important to these guys as you know. It is so hard with a picky Glider I understand, its just something to look into because you want to make sure they are getting the correct nutrients in the correct amounts every day. I use the USDA website to check calcium/phosphorus ratios of all the fruits and veggies I use and then I pick and choose each combination based on what will give me the best 2:1 ratio. Just something to check out that is really helpful

I feed HPW because it's REALLY easy. You only need bee pollen, HPW powder, water, honey and egg and you're SET! My kids LOVE it. I switched them from BML (which is also a GREAT diet!) about a year and a half ago and they've licked their bowls clean every night.

EDEN.gliders wrote:

I feed the Priscilla Price Diet because it is the only diet that uses so many ingredients that they would have in their diet naturally, because it offers so much variation, because the ingredients are the healthiest IMO, and because I have seen rescues that come in absolutely emaciated and they make full recoveries within just a few months on this diet. All my guys LOVE it

Can you outline this diet for me?

I have heard alot of positive things about BML in general - I think if my babies ever get tired of the HPW that will be my second choice!

Thanks for your suggestion EDEN.gliders. I have tried several approved diets, but I did some more research and found I didnt try HPW..so I did the last couple of days...Rainy still won't touch it, she will take one lick and leave it. This is why I had to make something myself..she's just too picky. Is there any suggestions anyone has on how to trick her into eating one of these approved diets? I thought about adding some baby rice cereal to it because it is sooo thin ( I noticed she doesn't like to eat really thin food). I also though about blending some of the fruit into it to see if she'll eat it. While searching for the HPW diet, I came across a few more lists of fruits and veggies that are good for gliders. Many of them were not on the list my breeder gave me when I got Rainy from her. Does any one know any problems associated with gliders eating the following?: 1. Green Bell Peppers 2) Collard greens (I gave this to her and she ate it up like candy) 3) Beet greens 4) turnips and turnip greens 5) kale 6)radish 7) pineapple...there were also several things like grapefruit and tangerines and lemon peals on the list that the breeder said not to give her...any comments on that? Thanks everyone

I actually havent heard of any of those being bad for gliders - in fact I have fed Kale, collard greens and bell peppers to my own babies - I am interested to know if anyone else has heard anything one way or another regarding this - sorry I am not much help!

that must be frustrating to have such a finicky baby like that - I dont know what I would do if my gliders wouldnt eat any approved diets!
April

We do kindof a Varsity Diet, where they get plenty of formula (HPW right now), as the main thing, with other things in a seperate container, and a few things in fortune cups too. Remember when the vet came and talked to the glider group and said that gliders in the wild spend 40% of their time eating tree sap and that was 80% of their diet. Seems to me the tree sap is easy to get and very fullfilling, the same way BML and other approved formulas are, and yet they spend alot of their time, in the wild at least, hunting for variety. You know, like a sport.

Here is a description of the Priscilla Price diet
http://www.thepetglider.com/index/the-pet-glider-nutrition-system/the-pet-glider-nutrition-system.html

Here are links to the ingredient lists of the vitamin supplement and the cereal
http://www.thepetglider.com/index/index.php?option=com_ezstore&Itemid=46&func=detail&id=27
http://www.thepetglider.com/index/index.php?option=com_ezstore&Itemid=46&func=detail&id=17

I personally am not a fan of the soybean meal in the cereal as the first ingredient but they only eat a few pellets a day so it would be such a small amount in their diet that it would not affect them. I don't like the amount of soy in some of the other diets though.

Acam0625, all of those things you listed are very healthy and I feed them regularly. If you go to the USDA website you can get the nutritional info for any fruit or veggie and compare calcium:phosphorus ratios and such and it is a wonderful resource. Here is the link
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

I completely understand having a picky glider, it just means you have to do a ton of research on what you are feeding and what is IN what you are feeding and how well those combinations work together. You also have to be aware of any foods that prevent the absoption of others, such as phosphorus and soy prevent the absorption of calcium and too much vitamin D is toxic.

OneMdl, Gliders in the wild have been shown to have drastically different feeding patterns depending on the season. They eat mainly sap in the winter but during the summer when they are breeding their diet is almost exclusively made up of insects which means that breeding Gliders need to be fed a diet that has high amounts of protein. The sap they feed on is fairly high in carbohydrates which gives them energy and gets them through the winter but it is not a high enough protein source for them while they are breeding which is why their diet changes during the spring and summer to mainly insects while they are breeding.

the only thing I can think of that's banned from all diet-types is Onions, raddishes, that stuff. no clue why

There is nothing wrong with any of these : 1. Green Bell Peppers 2) Collard greens (I gave this to her and she ate it up like candy) 3) Beet greens 4) turnips and turnip greens 5) kale 6)radish 7) pineapple...there were also several things like grapefruit and tangerines and lemon peals

I'm not sure of the peels of the lemons or oranges, etc...but the rest of the list is fine. I wondered about the radishes, I have some sprouts that include radish spouts, that I want to try. I'll let you know what I find out about the sprouts.

I am currently feeding BML. I am concerned about the high sugar content of BML and HPW. I also do not like that BML does not allow for pellets like the PP diet did. All my gliders love crunching and then throwing pellets at each other and me. Food fight!

It was mentioned that gliders in the wild eat 80% sap. That seems way too high to be accurate. But, now I realize I do not know the percents of saps, bugs, birds, mammals, etc... that they do eat. Does anybody know? It would be great if you could site a source or two for me.

I have been researching as much as I can about diet, because there is so much we don't know. I realize we will never know enough about a glider's diet since we don't even know what is good for humans. It is always changing. Some examples: Fat is bad; no wait there is a good fat... eggs are bad for you; no they are good for you; no they are bad for you and you should only eat egg beaters or egg whites... Salmon is good for you; no bad for you and way high in fat; wait it is a good fat; just eat wild caught; no eat farm raised... Well, you get the idea.

If somebody can get me those wild glider percentages that would be great. If it is 80% sap like mentioned here, I would like a couple of sources to back that up.

I use HPW and my little critters just love it.

4_ze_Gliders wrote:

Sorry I was just lurking and reading through the info, I wanted to say something. You all keep talking about approved diets.
None of the diets our there are actually approved. They are put together by common sugar glider owners. Yes they did a bit of homework. And upon my research of this, the homework that has been done has taken place of months time not years. Some took random information on the web, (that was also put out by common sugar glider owners) and came up with a plan that work for each one of them and then published it on the net. Anyone of use could easily do this and call it approved. On most forums it has seemed to become a popularity contest to see who likes who the most and uses their diet. I mean if these diets work for you, and you dont mind the work put into them, and the gliders like it, then awesome. As long as they dont have the common poisonous foods for pets in them. Most of these diets say to use insects as treats but in then we are told they are insectivores. Well if they are insectivores, shouldnt they be eating more insects? Long story short, there is no real diet out there, so just be careful what you feed and do your own research.

No no, an approved diet means that it has all of the nutrition that a glider needs in it. It means that it will help them to not contract common illness, such as HLP (hind leg paralysis). From the outside, it may look like a popularity contest, but having met alot of the makers of these diets, I know that they worked VERY closely with nutritionists and zoologists to make sure that their diets have everything that a glider needs. The WORK, as you call it, it COMPLETELY worth it. It saves me money on vet bills, since my gliders are HEALTHY.

Also, there IS a "real" diet. It's called Leadbeaters. That's what the zoos in Australia feed. Are you saying that THEY, of all people, don't know what they're doing? BML is a modified diet that was created for Americans, because some of the ingredients to Leadbeaters weren't available in America. Here... read up, maybe you'll learn why we feed such a complex diet: http://www.angelfire.com/nb/sugargliders/bml/leadbeat.html

You need to do your homework and stop bashing the people that are doing the right thing!