I have read that honey is not a good choice for gliders because of clostridium bacteria spores found in both raw and filtered varieties, yet all but one diet plan that I've found calls for it. My question: how do you guys feel about honey?

Also, most recipes for diet staples include chicken as the meat source. I don't like the idea of serving the same meat source day in and day out. I know that with other domestic pets, this has lead to food allergies and intolerances. Can I switch it up as long as I use lean protein, or does this mess with the fine tuning of balance? Most diets say to follow exactly.

Lastly: since I haven't a clue which diet is best, can I switch them up every few months to better their chances of getting everything they need, or is this a bad idea? I switch up what I feed my dog every 6 months or so to lessen chances of developing intolerances, and he always gets a combo of very high quality canned, dried, and raw. Since everyone has differing opinion on what is optimal, I feel that this gives him the greatest chance. But glider diets seem to be much stricter. Thoughts?

personally I think there are more benefits to honey than there are risks. Honey has been used in glider diets for years and I don't believe I've ever seen one report of any serious issue with it, I think it comes down to personal opinions...

I know that Diane Robertson- the creator of the highlands diet, is opposed to any honey being used, even just for snacks. But, personally I believe her diet is lacking necessary vitamins and minerals ( calcium for one ) and has a lot of unnecessary ingredients like oils in it. She has drastically changed that diet a few times and has not had a study done as of yet. She says she has plans for a nutritionist from Busch Gardens to look at it, "when they can squeeze her in". The thing is if she's making drastic changes the diet is not really nailed down yet and until it is I don't think it should be a public recipe, there are many people feeding different variations of it from her previous versions.

Diets say to follow exactly because altering it in any way changes the ratio's that have already been balanced and adding or removing things can make changes on how vitamins and minerals work together. Some things are in a recipe for a specific reason, like vitamin k, vitamin k helps to flush unused stuff out of the body with normal waste instead of storing that unused stuff in the liver or kidneys. If you remove the ingredient that has the vit k your changing a pretty big thing. So if a diet calls for chicken baby food use chicken baby food if it calls for shredded chicken breast use the shredded chicken breast... it's designed this way for a reason.

If you have questions like this about a specific diet the best thing to do is go to the creator of the diet and ask them. I spoke to Bourbon Hackworth for at least 3 hours yesterday on the phone, she is the creator of BML. I learned more from her in those 3 hours than I could have in months of reading.

As far as I know everyone that has created a diet is willing to answer questions about their diet and they are the ones who should be answering those questions. They want people to understand the diet they chose to feed and are really approachable and open to questions.

Lastly, there is no "best" diet, the best diet is what ever one your glider eats well. Once you have a diet plan, and determine if they will eat it well then stick with it until they don't eat it well. But give it a good chance, sometimes it takes a few days for the gliders to accept a new diet.

Leela, thank you for your response. You said to stick with a diet as long as the gliders are eating it well. Is there any harm in changing diets every few months for better variety?

It can be hard on their digestion when you flip flop diets, honestly I made that mistake myself and it was nothing but frustration for me. They would eat one diet for a few weeks then stop, so I'd alternate between two diets until they stopped eating both altogether.

Different diets also have different ratio's so their bodies aren't getting a steady supply of the same ratio when you flip flop. It took some amount of research for me to understand this, once I did I found a balanced diet that my gliders have been eating for the last 5 months and almost every morning their plates are almost clean.

Gliders can be picky so if they are eating an approved balanced diet just stick with it.

Gliders already come with intolerance to some foods, what those foods are is just a matter of you keeping track of what you feed them and what they repeatedly won't eat. Mine won't touch banana's and two of mine won't even look at a strawberry, two love cucumbers two won't touch them they do however love variety and with most staples you can offer a wide variety with the exception of BML, Bml requires a specific list of fruits and veg to be fed with it to keep the ratio balanced.

When they stop eating it and you are throwing more away than they are eating then it's time to consider a different diet, but not until then.

What are you currently feeding your gliders?

One big problem with switching the staple frequently is that it often takes gliders 2 to 3 days before they begin to eat a new staple well each night. If you are switching frequently and they do not eat well for 2-3 days EACH TIME you make a switch they will be missing out on the nutrients they need frequently.

I have found with my gliders that I am able to use any of the alternate recipes for the GliderKid Staples 1 through 4 without them objecting to the new recipe because the differences between these recipes is minimal.

Thanks for the responses. I haven't gotten my gliders yet so I'm not currently feeding any diet. I realized early on that these little guys are quite complex pets, and I want to be as close to 100% prepared as I can get. Been spending literally hours each day just reading old posts on here and whatever I can find. I read every glider book that my city has in its libraries, which is only about 5. I keep coming across things that seem like deal breakers for me (ie peeing and pooping everywhere). I say to myself that they're not the right pet for me, but the next day I've decided I can live with it and I'm back on the research train!!! I've been talking to a breeder, but I've decided that for now I will just research and prepare. I've already bought all sorts of things, and have been making their cage sets, but in reality I think it will be months before I actually bring any home. I figure by prolonging it, I can spend plenty of time making absolute sure that it's a good decision for me.

Wow that is awesome !!!

The list of diet options in gliderpedia seems like an old list. I have heard you guys discuss other diets that aren't on this list. Can you guys help me out by listing as many as you can think of that are missing?

I have links to the web pages for several of the widely used glider feeding plans on my web page to help you locate the information needed.

I also have my own GliderKids Feeding Plan that you might consider. It is similar to other glider staples but the recipes provide nutrients mid range of the very high protein and calcium levels in BML and the low protein and calcium and high honey content of original HPW.

All glider diets are recognized by the community through discussions on the forums. There is no formal 'approval' process for glider diets. All of the diets listed on my web page have met the test of time - having maintained healthy gliders for many years.