I just wanted to introduce myself as a new member /new glider or love bugs as I call them . My names jess and as I said im a new owner , Before I get tons of remarks about where Im from , Im from Pa I know the laws , I didnt go out trying to find gliders ,I rescued them from an abusive owner . I knew nothing about them but The conditions they were in wasnt good for any animal , let alone people . Id list the conditions but as I now am a glider lover just to remember , relive what I saw its heartbreaking and Id rather think of how happier they are now . The night I saved them (October 2009 )I called a close friend /pet store owner , and she helped me get everything I needed on overnight delivery to her store . which included a huge cage , new bed , lots of yummies (bugs) and the vitamins and stuff for their diet . I have them on the BML diet , plus they get fresh fruits and vegitables daily , I rarely feed them frozen foods unless I cant get it in the fresh . This is exactly what I give them everynight , but has a few varieties that change daily to make it fun for them . They get spinach leaves , cucumbers , carrots , peas , mushrooms , pears , strawberries , blueberries ,celery , tomatoes , pineapple , apples , watermelon . I dont feed all this to them everynight (other wize id have severly obese gliders , One is and I have a question about that .) These are their nightly dinner and I go back and forth so they get about 3 of these a night plus their bugs and they absolutly love the chicken sticks babyfood . I dont use cleaners on anything that they live in . I use apple cider vinager, mixed with water , it cleans nd sanitizes , I always used it on my kids baby chair trays, cause I was always fearful of leaving soap or left over cleaner.It also removes any smell and after the vinager smell dissapates (1 hr ) its smells super clean and the apple cider vinager is good for my babies if they would ingest it .

My babies are roughly 3 years old (not really sure vet estimates them at at cause of their size I guess ) names are boo and bug or as i say bugga-boo lol They are 2 girls and are my family forever . I have a few questions that I cant seem to get answerd and the one is about obesity . When I got them one was slightly bigger than the other but no overweight . Now I have an obese glider the vet says some are just prone to it , Ive tried everything from playing with her for hours , cutting her food down and anything ya can think of , My problem is bug when I got her was almost dead from starvation , It took time but I got her to an appropriate weight and health , but i dont udnerstand why one is soo smal and the other huge . they have an excerzie wheel they both use , I tend to baby the smaller one a bit more because of how tiny but generally they are treated the same . also personality complet eopposties , I had to really work hard to get trust from my babies and after a thousand bites which sucked lol I know they love me . Im still working hard to get more trust but I have enough they will take food from me and use me as a jungle gym . My vet rated them on a personality scale from 1-5 and he said bug (small one ) was a 5+ and boo a 4 . I was told a rating higher than a 4 is for experianced owners , however they arent going anywhere ,Ill take another 1000 bites if need to . I now can say proudly my babies are bug a 4 and boo a 2 yay :) Im hoping with time Ill be able to say that they are a 1 , I dont expect it to happen any time soon but I got the 12 + years to try . My 2nd question is aside from bonding pouches (which I have ) and a fun tent and toys and treats is their anything else I can do to help them relax . I spend every night with them for atleast 3 hours , Boo dont mind climbing on me and being on my shoulder but bug is super scared and climbs on me but I can tell by her stiffness that she is super uncomfortable and scared . They take food from my hand and will play with me but thats generally it . I discovered last month bug the smaller one really loves my touch noone else but mine she loves to be pet behind her ears as long as Im careful and dont touch her neck or her face I save my fingers , They both like that actually , I guess what Im trying to say is am I doing everything right for my love bugs ? Any help or suggestions would be great , and Im looking forward meeting , helping if I can all of you .

Welcome to the forum, Jess! I'm glad you rescued the girls, it sounds like they'll be much happier and healthier living with you.

There are a couple of points about their diet. First, omit the baby food chicken sticks. The BML is their protein source, and they don't need any more. The chicken sticks have quite a bit of salt which gliders don't need at all; they're made with garlic and onion, and are high in iron -- all things we should avoid. As tiny as gliders are, every bite should be nutritious.

You should research the calcium:phosphorus diet needs too. Gliders need about twice as much calcium as phosphorus to remain healthy. Here's a place to start: http://files.meetup.com/768852/Ratios.pdf If you use the search feature on this forum, you can find lots of discussions on this very subject. There are recipes too, under Resources: Nutrition, to help you get their fruits and vegetables balanced.

You're making a really good start! We've all had to learn new ways to take care of our little guys. I know I've learned a lot here, and get more new knowledge every day.

we have lots of fat ones at the rescue. and a lot of skinny ones. One observation that may be worth noting is that most of the animals that are pets (not rescues) get much more out-of-cage time and exercise. If they spend a lot of time out of cage running on wheels, climbing, jumping and exploring - they are generally less fat.

Diet is important, but if you are feeding BML please consider taking out the herpitive vitamins. Too high in iron. Ditto the wheat germ. Sounds like you are working hard to feed them right so the ratios document snusie mentions is a good reference. Another thing you may wish to do is look at the resources tab here and explore the nutrition section. There is a recipe calculator there that is very useful.