So I haven't had my girls for very long, less than a week. They've been completely happy with the fruits and veggies I've been feeding them. I want to put them on the BML diet, but I don't have the rep-cal vitamins yet, and it may be a couple weeks until I'm able to attain them. I don't want to switch out rep-cal for anything else, I know the BML diet is pretty strict with its ingredients anyway, and I want to make sure it's correct. I'm absolutely terrible with math. Trying to read and understand about calcium to phosphorous ratio's is way more difficult that I could even express. I'm going to try to have my bf figure it out in order for me to understand better, but I really struggle things like that. The vitamins the previous owner gave me are pocketpet complete vitamins, its a powder, and the directions say "sprinkle freely every other day"...Ya, cos that's a good measurement "sprinkle freely" *rolls eyes* Anyway, I know they need vitamins, and this is what I have for now, and what they've been using. Is it OK/safe for them? Should I do it every other day as the bottle suggests, or more, or less frequently? Also, protein...should I be giving them a hard boiled or scrambled egg daily with their fruits and veggies, and is there another source of protein, other than eggs, that's safe/good for them? I've also been avoiding any grain, although I do have a baby cereal, and wheat germ for the BML diet when I'm able to make it. Is grain something I should be incorporating as well, and how frequently? As I said, they've been completely content and happy with their food so far, but I just want to make sure they get all that they need, and not only part of it.

Good morning yeh the sprinkle freely is not the preferred method of offering calcium/vitamins. To much calcium is just as bad as not enough...

The ratio thing is not as complicate as it first appears to be and really isn't that mathematical once you understand what you are looking at. You are certainly not alone in thinking it is though, Understanding the "math" was a nightmare for me as well for a few months So I will try to explain to you how to make sense out of it with out doing your head in

First understand what the 2:1 ratio stands for.

The first number (2) represents calcium, no matter what the number is. The second number (1) represents phosphorous, no matter what it's number is.

The ratio ratio itself represents how much calcium (2) to (:) how much Phosphorous (1)

So really the ratio looks likes this ( calcium : Phosphorous )

The importance of this is because a gliders body needs 2 parts calcium to 1 part phosphorous for it's body to properly absorb the calcium from the food.

If the phosphorous is higher than the calcium, the body can't absorb the calcium as easily, if at all, then the body will leach the calcium it needs from the bones of the glider much like osteoporosis in humans.

Now, when looking at food charts with ratio's and using the chart to help decide what you are going to feed them. The "math" has already been done for you, and now that you hopefully understand what the numbers mean the food charts can help with your meal plannings.

Corn .02:1 has a higher amount of phosphorous and a low amount of calcium. So we generally feed corn in moderation.

However, you can help to balance the phosphorous in corn by feeding a fruit or veg with a lot of calcium like collard greens which has a 14.5:1 ratio. Way higher in calcium.

Now, the tricky bit it's really not that tricky. BML is the strictest diet out there as far as what fruits and veg you can feed with it. The reason is because it has one of the highest ratios of all the "staple" diets at something like 5:1 which is not quite balanced on it's own.

So this staple (BML) requires specific fruits and vegetables to help balance the over all meal. If you feed BML you will be limited to using peas,carrots,green beans,corn and occasionally frozen lima beans if it's in a bag of mixed veg. Fruits you are supposed to use are pitted cherries, melons, blueberries,blackberries,apples.
( I may have missed one or two )

Why? because most of these fruits and veg have a higher amount of phosphorous to bring the ratio from 5:1 down closer to 2:1 for the entire meal.

If you feed BML, and fruits and veg NOT on the BML fruit and veg list they will be getting to much calcium in the over all meal, to much can be just as harmful as not enough. So just remember when you start feeding the BML it relies on those specific fruits and veg to balance the ratio.

Hope this helps in your understanding of ratio's

Until you begin feeding the staple diet, boiled or baked chicken/turkey is another good protein they can have, just don't use seasonings or butter/oil on it. They don't need a ton of protein, but yes they do need some. Yogurt is another good option, and chicken babyfood that you will be using for bml.

The baby cereal in bml is really only there to thicken it up. It can be very high in iron and phosphorous as well so I wouldn't feed it to them by itself, just hold onto if for when you start making the bml recipe.

I can't remember what the protein to fruit and veg portions should be off hand this morning I haven't had coffee yet lol but I think it's like a quarter or less of the over all meal for the night should be protein. Most people rely on the staple to provide the protein like the calcium because it is a measured amount.

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but I don't have the rep-cal vitamins yet, and it may be a couple weeks until I'm able to attain them.

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The Repcal Calcium and Repcal Herpivite vitamins are available in most pet stores in the REPTILE section. You should be able to find them locally very easily.

One advantage of the BML feeding plan is that you do not need to calculate ratios - just stick to the frozen mixed vegetables and short list of fruits.

If you just want to know how to calculate and understand ratios, this may help:

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/RatioExample.pdf

That helped a lot Leela, thank you, and thanks for the link Candy. I'm gonna check it out in a second and hopefully it'll also give me a leg up. Tonight was the first night that they've have had protein in meat, an egg. The other nights they had a little yogurt with their meal with some berries mixed in. I've had them since Saturday and since then they've had mango, watermelon, kiwi, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, pitted cherries, apples, oranges, green beans, carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, and tonight I gave them a little leafy greens with spinach and bok choy. I've been varying them nightly. I think they may have had broccoli every night, and a little the cherry berry frozen fruit mix I got. I don't intend to feed them without a staple for long, just til the next avail pay period, but I still feel that its important for me to know and understand these things in case it becomes necessary for me to utilize the knowledge, or in times such as these. I probably should of though of that before hand