Ive had a little 3 1/2 month sugar glider for about a week now and I'm afraid I don't know what I'm doing. Ruby (my glider) was kinda thrust on me before I had time to prep, and to make things more difficult she was born without her right hind leg. I'm trying to absorb as much information as quickly as I can, but I figured this would be the best place to turn for Experienced advice. I've got so many questions and would appreciate ANY advice anyone has to give, as long as that advice isn't "give her up." right now the biggest thing that's on my mind is could I be spoiling her? She uses my cleavage as a pouch and doesn't care to have much to do with me unless it's to curl up and fall asleep. She lets me pet her and has only nibbled on me a few times, but they always followed licks, so how do I know if shes truly bonding with me or just using my cleavage as a cozy hangout? How soon should I get a companion for her? Would that be a problem with her missing a leg? And Im going to wait a minute before getting another suggie. I feel like I need to get more comfy and confident with Ruby before adding another member to the fam. And last question for the moment, is it good that she makes little "popping" sounds when she's with me?

Popping sounds = a happy, content glider! That's a good thing! Hanging out in your cleavage is awesome...it's a great way to bond. You are lucky...there are lots of people who want their gliders to be bra babies and the gliders don't want anything to do with it! You should start your search for a cage mate now. It will probably take a while to find one that is similar in size plus you will have to keep them separate for a 30 day quarantine period. Have you read through the Gliderpedia? If not, do! You will learn lots about bonding, diets, nutrition etc. And ask lots of questions! There are some wonderfully experienced forum members here! Welcome!

Thanks! I've been poking around the site and it is jam packed with info. I went out today and got her all sorts of toys for her cage and got ingredients for homemade food because she won't eat the stuff I got from a pet store. Thank god people put down recipes they use for their own suggies (:

Make sure you read the diet section of Gliderpedia. You will see "staple diets" referenced. Read the ingredients and choose one to feed. Some popular staples are HPW, BML etc. Find one that you can easily obtain the ingredients for and that Ruby likes.

I had a question about HPW diet.

The ingredients seem easy enough, but I buy some of my toys from www.exoticnutrition.com and I saw that they had an instant HPW recipe.

Didn't know if that was worth looking into, or just to stick with the normal HPW. Thinking about switching over to the HPW diet. The only thing about the instant that worries me is the powder egg. Would it be okay?

I would stick with the Original HPW recipe.

I have also expressed concerns about the powdered egg in glider foods because they are raw eggs but I am more concerned about the added ingredients in the Powdered Honey. All powdered honey has added ingredients to prevent caking. I have found nothing that tells me it retains the antibacterial properties of natural honey after going through the drying process. Here is some additional information on the powdered honey:

http://www.honey.com/images/uploads/general/driedhoney.pdf

Wow! Thanks. I honestly didn't even think about the honey being dried. I thought it sounded kind of strange. Just wanted to know if anyone had tried it or not.

Many folks do use it because it is extremely easy - add water only.

Another concern I have with Instant HPW is that the amount of protein is much higher than other glider diets - partially from the amount in the Powder being quite high, but also the mixing directions seems to make a very concentrated mixture. Gliders have been reported to have liver issues after years on diets that provide high protein amounts.

The Instant HPW and other add water only glider diets have only been in use for a little more than 2 years so there are NO observations of the health of gliders after long term use of these products. They may be just fine, or gliders may have health issues after being on these diets for several years, we just do not know. There are not many gliders that have been on this diet since it was first introduced, so most gliders have been on it less than 2 years.

I prefer to use a diet that includes only ingredients that have been widely used for many years with gliders.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Candy

Many folks do use it because it is extremely easy - add water only.

Another concern I have with Instant HPW is that the amount of protein is much higher than other glider diets - partially from the amount in the Powder being quite high, but also the mixing directions seems to make a very concentrated mixture. Gliders have been reported to have liver issues after years on diets that provide high protein amounts.

The Instant HPW and other add water only glider diets have only been in use for a little more than 2 years so there are NO observations of the health of gliders after long term use of these products. They may be just fine, or gliders may have health issues after being on these diets for several years, we just do not know. There are not many gliders that have been on this diet since it was first introduced, so most gliders have been on it less than 2 years.

I prefer to use a diet that includes only ingredients that have been widely used for many years with gliders.

---

Candy thanks so much! You have been extremely helpful! I knew joining this site would be a great idea!

Candy, I'm using a diet I got off of your site! Thanks for being so informative, it's answered alot of my feeding related questions and I was happy to see different ingredients variations incase Ruby didn't care for one. Still not sure where to find her a cage mate. I've asked around and alot of places/people that sell gliders where I live are said to have sick and unhealthy animals ): I would love to save them all, but I've got to find a healthy companion for Ruby.