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Sugar Gliders
Australia's Healesville Sanctuary Diet for Sugar Gliders
Australia's Healesville Sanctuary Diet for Sugar Gliders
Food, Diet
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Jan 24 2009
04:24:49 AM
I see many posts about diet,

I have done alot of research on what would be best to feed them and have decided that the famous "Healesville Sanctuary" would be the best source to base what i feed my sugar gliders.
All their diets for all the animals they keep, have been carefully designed.

Here is a link to thier diet list for all thier animals.
http://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/cms/images/stories/docs/HS%20Current%20Diets.pdf

Below is just the Sugar Glider information

HEALESVILLE SANCTUARY
DIET SHEET

SPECIES: SUGAR GLIDER: Petaurus breviceps
NATURAL DIET: Insects, pollen, nectar, sap, lerps.
AD LIB: Water.
DAILY DIET (per animal):
1 Dog chow/Advance.
6g Fruit, chopped (1tbspoon).
3 ml Nectar mix.*
1g Fly pupae (¼ tea spoon).
5g Corn (¼ thin slice).
2g Sprouted seed.*
2 Mealworms.

SUPPLEMENT: 5 Pollen grains – once per week.
3 Sultanas – 3-4 times per week.
2 Sunflower seeds – once per week.
1g Pet Health Food (small cube) – once per week.
1 Almonds - once per week.
Insects – 3-4 times per week (eg. moths).
Acacia, eucalypts, other blossoms as available.


NECTAR MIX - To Make up:
Nectar Mix 2 Litres 4 Litres 6 Litres 8 Litres
Honey 700 ml 1.4 Litres 2.1 Litres 2.8 Litres
Hot Water 1.0 Litre 2.0 Litres 3.0 Litres 4.0 Litres
Eggs 3 6 9 12
Soluvet 20 g 40 g 60 g 80 g
Calcivet 20 ml 40 ml 60 ml 80 ml
Cold Water 250 ml 500 ml 750 ml 1.0 Litre
Cereal 70 g 140 g 210 g 280 g
Dissolve the honey in the hot water.
Blend together:
Eggs – hard boiled – shelled.
Soluvet
Calcivet
Cold water
Once blended, add mix to the honey and water, together with High
Protein Baby Cereal.
It is essential that the vitamin supplements are thoroughly mixed to ensure even
distribution throughout the mix.
This mix needs to be made fresh on a daily basis. Remaining contents of each day to
be discarded.
The mix can be made up last thing each afternoon and placed in the fridge.


Sprouted Seed Mix
Composition (as specified on Diet Sheet)
40 % Fine seed mix
40 % Wheat
10% Sunflower seed
10% Mung Beans
Method
1) Place required amount of seed into container, and cover with water and Aviclens
(5ml Aviclens to 10L of water).
2) Soak for 24 hours.
3) Then place the empty soaked seed into seedling trays to a maximum depth of 2cm
and rinse thoroughly using shower spray.
4) Place onto heat pad in Autumn, Winter and Spring until sprouted (usually 24
hours to 48 hours ) additional rinses may be required if conditions are particularly
dry.
5) When sprouted remove from seed trays and place in refrigerator.
6) Thoroughly clean all equipment. Scrub with detergent, then rinse in sodium
hypochlorite at (3ml/L of water).
Plastic lids will need to be used only when conditions are Dry and or Cold to maintain
warmth and humidity . Use in warm humid weather will promote mould growth,
please use own judgement.
Hygiene
1) Conditions required to sprout seeds are also ideal conditions for the propagation of
a wide range of fungus and moulds, some of which are highly toxic.
2) For this reason it is vitally important that all equipment is kept clean, scrubbing of
all equipment needs to be carried out at completion of every cycle.
3) If any mould is detected (black spots, grey filaments, mouldy odour), discard the
whole batch and clean trays thoroughly with sodium hypochlorite (3ml per litre of
water).
The Heat Pad
1) Use of the heat pad will need to be adjusted according to the conditions.
2) In autumn, winter and spring only turn the heat pad on at night.
3) Leave the heat pad off in summer unless the temperature falls below 13oC.
4) The seed raising mix should not get warmer than 23-25oC, as he heat pad raises
the temperature on the mix approximately 10oC above the ambient temperature it
not required at ambient temperatures above 15oC or it will promote growth of
contaminants.
Healesville Sanctuary Diets
August 2006 This document in under constant review and is modified continuously.
170
5) To assist with decision making a max/min thermometer should be kept at the seed
sprouting station.
6) Please refer to the adjacent sheet from the manufacturer for full instructions.



Yes, it may seem complicated.
I do not plan on following this word for word as somethings may not be easy to aquire.
I think i'll probably go for more of an adaption between this and other peoples recipes.



Food, Diet
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Jan 24 2009
11:27:13 AM
Gizmo-n-Roos Mommy Fuzzy Wuzzy GliderMap Visit Gizmo-n-Roos Mommy's Photo Album OH, USA 1624 Posts
If you select a diet because its from a trusted source and then alter it, you must consider the affects that your alterations will have on the final outcome.

Most pre-made diets are intended to be used exactly as they are written.
Default, miscellaneous
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Jan 24 2009
02:20:09 PM
TiggerBell Glider GliderMap Visit TiggerBell's Photo Album TiggerBell's Journal Canada 111 Posts
The dog chow advance. Is that refering tp Purina Dog Chow? I hope not. its a horrible unhealthy food. If that what it recomends I would dump the whole diet. Plus it recomends corn dsily? corn is very high in Phosphorus (cant spell) and will suck away the calcium.
Default, miscellaneous
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Jan 24 2009
02:23:10 PM
kyro298 Glider Sprinkles GliderMap Gliderpedia Editor Visit kyro298's Photo Album kyro298's Journal CO, USA 15262 Posts
I would assume it is not Purina but here's another link.

http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=9645
Food, Diet
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Jan 24 2009
06:41:28 PM
Ko Fuzzy Wuzzy GliderMap Gliderpedia Editor Visit Ko's Photo Album Australia 1168 Posts
quote:
Originally posted by kyro298

I would assume it is not Purina but here's another link.

http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=9645



No it's not Purina nor is it as the link suggests Eukanuba. There are quite a few flaws actually in that diet analysis on that link as it wasn't scientifically researched and was calculated by a layman who did not know some of the products in the diet.

The chow used by Healesville Sanctuary is Advance as it says.
Australia's Healesville Sanctuary Diet for Sugar Gliders

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Australia's Healesville Sanctuary Diet for Sugar Gliders