Hi there, I am new here but I've been lurking for a week or so... We recently acquired a pair of 3 year old gliders who seem friendly and happy. I am not entirely sure what they were being fed before but I know it consisted of vitamins, some fresh veggies and some crunchy unidentified bits that look like dog food (I am sure it isn't dog food, their previous owner was very responsible, I just don't know how else to describe it)

So far we're feeding them an "ice cube" of this stuff: http://www.sugarglider.com/archives/ruth/diet.html

and then an ice cube each of veggie relish made with greens, squash, beans (recipe from here http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=80 ) and fruit smoothie from here: http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=72

My husband also has been feeding them some crickets and meal worms.

Is this enough protein? Is this too much food? They don't eat all of it, will they eat too much if they are given too much? They seem like they are in great health so far and we love them!

Thanks!

the meal worms and stuff should be more for treats due to higher fat. All sorts of fruits and veggies are great for them and should be offered each night. You can get some dry pellet food at some pet stores I know petco carries some its from sunseed in a yellow container with a pic of a glider on it this should not be the only food offered though offer them the fruits and veggies with the pellet food. Fruits and veggies like apple, oranges, mango, pitted cherries, watermelon, peaches, pineapple, plums, corn, pear, kiwi, strawberry, and many more are great foods to give. I don't know much about the relishes and smoothies but I have heard a lot of people offer these and their gliders love them. I'm about to try some myself. I have heard that you should stay away from lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower because it can give the gliders gas and sweet potatoes can give them diarrhea. Hope that helps

well, we've learned so much in the past decade... Part of what we have learned is pellets are generally not good for gliders. We have also learned that more protein is good - as much as 40 - 50%. The herptivite is not a great idea because it has a huge amount of iron in it. here is a post on the iron issue:

Go to the search box in the upper right-hand corner of the page and type in:
Just for diet watchers: Iron Warning

I tried pasting the URL here, but it is not working, but you can find the iron warning article by using the search box...

Our rescue sponsors a diet that has been effective in bringing unhealthy gliders to a much better state. It is also good for healthy gliders but they need exercise because it is high in protein and honey. You are free to use it:

http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=25960&whichpage=1

Also the nutrition section here has some recipes in it that are good to rotate non-soup foods on the side. We like Dahlia's veggie relish recipes. Look for 2:1 CA:P ratios as a good starting point.

If you use the recipe calculator, you will see how easy it is to maintain a 2:1 ca:p ratio.

Ok, for starters... Stay away from pellets. Pellets are bad. None of them, no matter what you hear otherwise, are acceptable to give to gliders. None of them even come close to offering what a glider needs as far as nutrition is concerned. If anything, they actually harm gliders.

I feed HPW. That was originally the reason as to why I created my selection of fruit and veggie recipes, as in order for the HPW to be beneficial, the Ca:Ph ratio must be 2:1 or twice as much calcium as phosphorous. Gliders need calcium. If they don't have enough of it, then they will have health issues that can and will lead to death.

My recipes are already balanced to a 2:1 or better ratio, so the work has already been done for you. You just have to follow the measurements correctly and you are good to go. There is nothing wrong with any of the ingredients. Lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and sweet potatoes are PERFECTLY fine. A lot of the fruits that stratman listed are also fine, but the vast majority of them have a backwards ratio, which means very high phosphorus and very low calcium. If you don't balance those fruits correctly with high calcium fruits, then you are going to have a problem in the long run. Which is why my recipes are structured the way they are. I've pretty much included every fruit out there in each of my recipes in order to provide my gliders with the highest level of variety possible, as well as making the unique nutritional value of each available to them, but at the same time, you will ALWAYS see a high amount of papaya in each of those recipes, because even though papaya is very calcium rich, it still takes that much of it to offset the backward ratio of most of those other fruits. Luckily, papaya also has a lot of other nutritional benefits as well, other than just calcium, and as such, is considered one of the best things you can give your gliders.

Here's a list of my recipes, and more info is available at each of the links. I'm glad that your guys seem to be doing well on a couple of them already. The amount you are feeding is fine, but if you feel like they are wasting too much of it, then you can lower the amount given. But if they are cleaning their plates, then just keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get fluffy on you.


Fruit Cocktails (6)


Banana/Papaya/Watermelon Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=32

Kiwi/Strawberry/Banana/Papaya Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=72

Peach/Pineapple/Honeydew/Papaya Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=61

Papaya/Strawberry/Blueberry/Raspberry/Blackberry Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=74

Papaya/Mango/Blueberry Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=41

Papaya/Apple/Pear/Cantaloupe Fruit Cocktail
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=75


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Veggie Relishes (5)



Veggie Relish Recipe #1
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=52

Veggie Relish Recipe #2
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=92

Veggie Relish Recipe #3
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=93

Veggie Relish Recipe #4
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=80

Veggie Relish Recipe #5
http://www.sugarglider.com/nutrition/viewrecipe.asp?item=79


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