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ssalcedo Joey   35 Posts
I called my vet who I have for my ferrets and asked if he also specializes in sugar gliders, and he does. He has cared for them for many of years now, and knows alot. We were talking for quite a while, and he gave me alot of helpful information.
I asked him about feeding them. I told him I give them the BML with fruits, and veggies at night. He told me they need to get off this diet right away. He said this is a very old fashioned way of feeding them when they were first becoming pets. He said this is not a balanced diet for them, and this was proven after many years of research. Many sugar gliders have many medical problems, and obesity due to these prepared diets. (he believes thats why my boy is so fat). He told me I need to start them on a proper commercial diet to keep them healthy ASAP. He recommended Nutrimax for sugar gliders, or he said Glider Chow are the most nutritious ones out there. They are ranked 1 being Nutrimax, and 2 Glider Chow. He said I can also give them a small amount of fruits, and veggies for some variety. He told me its okay to give some meal worms, but they do not need them all the time. Just as a treat if I really want to.
He is totally against all these self prepared diets, so I am going to do what he says. I will give it a try, because I want to make sure my little ones are healthy. He said many people do not realize how healthy these diets are. Not only is it the most nutritious, but it is also much cheaper and easier to feed them this way
Im not sure if anyone knows about these foods, and are for it, or against it. I just wanted to share this information with everyone (just trying to help), so you know there are some really good already prepared commercial foods out there, you just need to make sure to get the right one
******WHY IS EVERYONE GETTING SO NASTY? IM JUST SAYING WHAT MY VET TOLD ME. HIS NAME IS DR. WERTZ. I THINK THIS IS TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR. IM NOT TRYING TO START TROUBLE. IVE BEEN POSTING QUESTIONS ON HERE ASKING QUESTIONS, SO I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY TO HELP. THATS ALL. I THOUGHT I WAS HELPING******.
Anyone with even the tiniest bit of nutritional understanding and common sense can take a look at the ingredients listed on any of these so-called glider pellet diets and see for themselves how they are pretty much nothing but junk. Any vet that recommends a pelleted diet does not know what they are talking about. They are either operating under false information (something a LOT of supposed glider vets do to try to make up for their lack of knowledge where these animals are concerned) or your vet is affiliated with Dr. Brust or one of the other vets that has suspicious ties to PPP. But don't take my word for it. Do your own research on the subject before just blindly following the advice of your vet. Just because he's been taking glider patients on for years does NOT mean he's a glider expert, or even that he has more than a passing knowledge of them. And gliders don't get obese from eating fruits and veggies... Not if your ca:ph ratio is balanced out to 2:1. Gliders get fat when they are eating too much junk food like corn, yoggies, bread, nuts, and mealworms. That being said, I will say that I don't believe BML is the way to go. There are some question marks in regards to this diet. I use HPW. If I wasn't using HPW, I'd be doing the 50-25-25. But as with every diet, the calcium to phosphorous ratios must be worked out properly. Otherwise, your glider will not be getting the proper nutrition. kyro298 Glider Sprinkles    CO, USA 15262 Posts My vet also specializes in sugar gliders and is very against "packaged" diets. SSalcedo, here's a list of vets willing to consult with other vets only. THESE vets specialize in gliders. Veterinarians who will consult with other veterinarians* about treatment of sugar gliders: Dr.Tim Tristan OSO Creek Animal Hospital 361-994-1145 Dr. Bradley Walsh Village Vet Animal Clinic/All Creatures Veterinary Hospital 918-481-0440 Dr. Andrew Grzanowski Canton Center Animal Hospital 734-459-1400 Dr. Kate Zimmerman TriCounty Animal Hospital (has 24hr emergency contact info on her office answering machine) 423-391-0303 Dr. Teresa Bradley Belton Animal Clinic 816-331-3120 She is willing to consult with other vets, but will only do so during clinic hours which are: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 8 am to 11 pm Tuesday, Thursday: 7 am to 11 pm Saturday: 8 am to 1 pm then 6pm to 11pm Dr. Kristen West Mandel Veterinary Hospital 216-321-6040 *Please note, do NOT call these vets yourself - they can not dispense medical advice to an owner over the phone, only to other veterinarians. (From GC) i love the diet im feeding my gliders =) and so do they. they dont like staple food. the pick it up an throw it lol. im sure they know what they like. thank u for ur concern. but not all vets know their stuff. because alot of vets have their own opinions. filly47 Goofy Gorillatoes USA 2330 Posts I don't think we should attack ssalcedo, but I do advice you ssalcedo to head the advice found on here. Yes no diet is perfect for sugar gliders, just as no diet is perfect for birds, or horses. The truth is this: Every animal (even within a species) is going to have it's own personality and taste and dislike and love certain things, so you can't feed it one diet if it refuses to eat it. Just as cattle should not be feed food made out of chickens (they are a herbavore and they can not handle this type of protien), gliders have not evolved to eat dry kibble. They are sap suckers, and if you have ever looked at your bowl of fruit and veggies in the morning you will see the skin of the grape or pea, with all of the gooey inside eaten. While they can consume small amounts of exoskeleton (from bugs), they do not rely on only this in the wild, and get their water from the sap/flowers/fruit that they eat. As for replicating what they eat in the wild, obviously we can't do that. Even in the zoo we couldn't do that. Our red panda ate bamboo, but there was no way on earth we could grow enough for her to eat all year round (they can eat tens of thousands of leaves a day), so she got a few things of bamboo along with primate leafeater buscuits (otherwise known as panda buscuits). However, red panda's are wild, and though the buscuits were loaded with vitamins (that she would get from her wild food source) we also had to give her fruit to keep her digestive system in check (plus she loved her grapes!). Also, a wild diet is not alway ideal. A horse's diet in the wild constitutes of grass, which has very little nutritional value, and they are often smaller and weaker because of lack of fat and vital nutrients that they often have to search miles for (such as salt). There are literally dozens of top horsefeed out there which provide a better diet then they can get in the wild (just as we can provide more protien and calcium in captivity so they turn gray instead of brown in the case of sugar gliders). However, this pelleted diet does work well with horses because they are used to a dry diet (the grass they eat actually has glass like shards in it!). They still need hay (or fresh grass) along with the pelleted diet. I guess what I am trying to say is that yes, there is not one super diet that works for all gliders. Not all gliders will like BML or HPW, but that is why places like this site exist. So that if something isn't working for a glider, advice can be sought and a new take can be approached. Yes every diet has it's faults, but what diet for anything else doesn't? The key thing is, you have to get a diet which they evolved to handle (a hummingbird can not eat seeds nor a macaw eat nectorlori), and this is why the pelleted diets are not good. Everything about them is processing a semisolid/liquid food with the occasional exoskeleton. So even if these pellets are nutritionally sound they are not going to be absorbed or eaten well (glider's tooth and gum health should be brought into question). If your glider doesn't like BML try the 50/25/25, which my glider loves. Variety keeps her guessing and makes sure she doesn't get bored. Even our dogs are smart enough to turn up their noses at kibble that only has one flavor and one size/texture of pellet. Sorry for the essay, I guess I was just 'inspired', and wanted to share. I am an evolutionary biologist/ethologist, as well as a former zookeeper, so if you have questions about physiology and evolution, feel free to PM me! I do beg you to rethink your stand on the pellets! ssalcedo Joey 35 Posts I only posted this because of what my vet told me. I am a new glider owner, and need a vet for them. When we talked about food, he said I need to change it, thats all. I didnt think people would get so nasty with me. I am not part of any group, or spamming. Im just someone who got gliders a week ago, and joined this forum for help. I thought I could come on here and talk to nice people, and also try to help. After reading these, I cant believe how some replied. All you had to say is its not good, and just talk nice. You didnt have to jump all over me calling me names. I did not expect to be attacked. This was totally uncalled for. Here is my vets info seeing you all think I am from some kind of group, or spammer. Bluemound Animal Hospital Dr. Wertz. 16520 W. Bluemound Rd. Brookfield, WI 53005 262-782-5805 If I would have known people would get so nasty with me, and turn this into more than what is was supposed to be, I never would of posted this. I am sorry everyone is so made, and now seems to hate me. That was not my intention. ssalcedo Joey 35 Posts quote:
Originally posted by Catman
It doesn't seem like people are getting nasty with you, just the diet you use.
You are new to gliders and you come here...
"He is totally against all these self prepared diets, so I am going to do what he says."
Why post that?
Does he sell it?
My title was changed, and I am being called a spam cow. Thats is getting nasty with me? People think I am spamming, and trying to promote some glider food, and that is not true. People can comment on the food, but they dont have to call me names, and make this a bigger deal than it really is. I did not put this on here to start trouble. Ko Fuzzy Wuzzy Australia 1168 Posts quote:
Originally posted by ssalcedo
quote:
Originally posted by Catman
It doesn't seem like people are getting nasty with you, just the diet you use.
You are new to gliders and you come here...
"He is totally against all these self prepared diets, so I am going to do what he says."
Why post that?
Does he sell it?
My title was changed, and I am being called a spam cow. Thats is getting nasty with me? People think I am spamming, and trying to promote some glider food, and that is not true. People can comment on the food, but they dont have to call me names, and make this a bigger deal than it really is. I did not put this on here to start trouble.
Your whole post, sent red flags flying because of the Nutrimax and Gliderchow recommendation as this is the latest and very current online push by the biggest seller of mill breeder gliders to legitimize his practice of selling thousands of sick, underaged gliders each year. He has pushed the pellet and a little bit of fruit/veg diet for a very long time to make the glider appear to be a very eay/cheap pet to own. Only very recently has finally he has mansged to get a vet on board to publicise this really crappy diet. Sorry if you were the innocent pawn in this post, but honest when you see literally hundreds of new owners here with sick/dying/dead gliders from that source, you too would get very wary when the words Glde-r-chow and Nutramax are mentioned as a good diet. Truly stay away from these pellets. Gliders are not rabbits or guinea pigs. SariYappa Face Hugger USA 413 Posts  May i interject? I did respond in this thread, and hope it didn't sound like I was attacking you. (I don't think it did). I do think things got heated quickly, and ssalcedo, you will see, that diet issues get heated VERY quickly, and on a REGULAR basis. I am truly sorry to see that you got caught in the middle.  I recognised that you were a new glider owner (from your other posts) and I can definitely see where you were coming from. Quite frankly, if everybody just calms down, and reads the original post, you'll see that she was very excited that she "learned something new and important" about her babies from her vet. And she wanted to share! TRUE the vet may not have the best information. But how would she know?? You go to the doctor to get a professional opinion. You are SUPPOSED to trust them. If you do your own research, then sometimes you get lucky, and can find out quickly when get bad info. Unfortunately, this is what happens quite often w/ exotic pets. Nobody knows enough about them to have just one opinion. We are all trying our best to get it "right"... Now lets get back to "the good of the glider"... lets all play nice, and try to help the newbies as best we can! Im off my soap box.  ssalcedo, I hope you can forgive and forget, and will continue to post and ask lost of questions, and share your experiences with us. filly47 Goofy Gorillatoes USA 2330 Posts Sorry ssalcedo if it felt as though I attacked you. That was not my intention, nor I doubt others. And mollysmom, we should have been more diplomatic in the way we handled this, and I suppose our emotions got in the way of this. I was unaware of the thread name change, and now that I read over it, I agree that it was a bit harsh. I know I personally can't stand PPP, and have been doing everything in my power (of course they want to sue me for it) to get the truth out. I am also a new glider owner and was trying to offer insight from a biologist's point of view. The reason I loved this site is because of the love I get from all of it's members, and I would never want to see someone scared away from this site due to name calling or harrassment. Please continue to ask questions, and I am sure no one is mad at you per say, but rather the whole food and PPP subject that may have inadvertatly been brought up by you. You had no way of knowing what note this would hit with the members, and I see that you are just trying to do right by your glider. Please, pleeaaasssseeeee continue to research and learn (with the rest of us) about our little fuzzbutts, and let's all just forgive and forget!
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