Hello I'm new on here & I'm so confused due to all the different options on here. I had a sugar Glider that we rescued from a flea market in Florida for a little over ten years named Shelby. She was in great shape, healthy, loved me & the cats use to jump up on the cage & she would clean their fur... She did bark when she wanted me & she did change her sleep habits to mine which I know you can do cause Shelby did it. 14yrs ago they weren't as popular as they are now. Anyway I have cancer my son & I were coming home from the hospital & we stopped at this small pet shop to get a beta for our small bubble wall tank. When we went in I noticed the cages on the side plus this women was selling prairie dogs, squirrels, & other exotic pets which I thought was unusual due to we live in NY. I didn't think we could do that. Anyway That's how Hope found us... She was in the last cage & the most expensive due to she is a cremino sugar glider. Which again to me is that means the color & that's it. Anyway I got rid of everything from Shelby due to how much it hurt to loss her plus I said I would never have another. They are a lot of work plus commitment worse than a dog in a lot of ways but they also have a lot of good traits but only to a true lover of a sugar glider. So we had Shelby over ten years she was healthy we fed her grapes as a treat & she loved them. She would take her little hands crack them open eat them & throw the skin away. We fed her parrot food the one that looked like foot loops. (Don't remember the name) and put honey treats hanging in her cage and that was pretty much it. Well when we were at the pet shop Hope was in the cage with two other gliders but Hope was by herself the second I saw her my heart stopped. I literally gasped & thought she looked like a little angel. I immediately asked if I could see her & the young girl said she doesn't really like people but when I put my hand in started talking to her she went in my hand laid down sucked on my finger along with licking it. Next thing it was almost two hours later she was still sleeping as I held her close to my chest. My son knew I wanted her & due to me being sick I'm home 24/7 now. He thought that I never do anything for myself so to go ahead & get her. We left & not even a hour later I called them asked if she was still there & decided to go get her. I felt a connection with her right away & when I went to put her down she held my finger everybody in the store that worked there couldn't believe it & said they never saw that. My son & I agreed to get her. I felt she was not happy there & with the addition on my room for all my machines Hope's cage fit perfect not that far from me. I bought their starter kit Again due to I don't have any of Shelby's things. But I've already replaced almost everything that was in the starter kit due to how cheap it is but I really didn't have a choice on what I could & couldn't buy at that time it was $225 the cage looks like a little house. I got Hope July 28th. The bonding pouch is already ruined but I found a beautiful large pink one on Ebay along with her new cage which is thicker iron which is 32-19-62 I always believe they should have lots of room. So here's my problem I know what toys to give her but due to all the changes & reading about all the food comments on here it actually scares me to think I'm hurting her. I have Exotic Nutrition Glider Booster, Exotic Nutrition Glider-Cal, & Exotic Nutrition Glider Complete. I don't really think she needs the extra Glider-Cal & Glider Booster I sprinkle a little on her juice. I give her 100% juice she likes grape juice & V8 100% juice ( you do have to be careful due to it will say real juice but only be 5% juice. I do put in fresh things everyday & have tried different things kinda as a trial & error to see what she likes & what she doesn't. One of the things I did find was when I separate things on tiny plates she picks the one she likes but the other day I did do something different & she really liked it. Throughout the day she likes to sleep in the bonding pouch & I put her in my sports bra lol... She stays there & she will let me know when she wants a drink which is about 2-3x's a day. I give it too her on a baby's Medicine spoon but the other day I put the remainder of the juice that she didn't want over the pellets along with a little bit of honey & it has fruits & veggies in the mix but I always add small chopped up things that I've learned she likes into the Glider Complete. She loves it & I make two a day & she eats both of them. So this is my question. Is this wrong? Am I hurting her by feeding her This Glider Complete. It's not her 100% diet cause like I said I add fresh veggies & fruits. The new stuff I put separately on a side dish & in the morning around 7-8am she calls for me to get her & I look to see what she eats. The other day when I gave her juice like I normally due ( she has a side dish with water in it 24/7) she wanted to eat so I fed her some she ate then went back to bed. Please give any thoughts on this. I'm sorry it's long but I wanted to give all the info on her. So she gets Exotic Nutrition Glider complete with some very little honey over it, some juice to soften the pellets, fresh veggies & fruits mixed in the total amount is a 1/2 cup. She won't eat it if it's but in refrigerator over night but will eat both helpings if made that day & the other half does get refrigerated & given later lol she's picky.... She also gets 100% juice 2-3x's a day, her snacks are variety of mixed fruits & veggies to see what she likes & doesn't like, she does get mealworms but counted out each day & only gets 5 of them some days she eats them some days she don't. Whatever she doesn't eat in that 24hrs gets thrown away...she doesn't like yogurt. Again sorry so long. Thank you for any help or fed back

Congrats on your new baby. I am fairly new also and I don't know much but I do know that a pellet diet is not good for them. The answer that I got when I asked this same question was the hpw original seems to be the going concensus. Along with fresh fruits and veggies. That's what I feed and my babies love it. Hope this was helpful good luck

Thank you. It's pretty confusing cause like I said last night she didn't eat too much of the fresh stuff but did eat the pellets that were in my mixture. Plus I was told exotic nutrition is a very good brand along with everything a sugar glider needs to be healthy everyday. That's my #1 concern. I looked at some of these diets that are put together & it doesn't seem like they are mixing it up meaning letting the sugar glider try new things & not give them the same thing everyday. Cause they tell you not to do that I guess that's where I'm getting confused.. But Thank You. I appreciate the help

First off: Welcome!

Now to your questions. I have had no experience with the HPW sold by Exotic Nutrition, but have hear that it is good. Still, I would recommend you try to do some more research. In the gliderpedia you can find more about diets:

www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?Diet

Some of the mainly used ones are BLM and HPW. The BML was created by Bourbon, therefore the Bourbon Leadbeatter Modified . All of the ingredients for this diets can be found in your regular grocery store, BUT it is very strict diet and it requires that you follow it exactly as she wrote it (any modifications will throw off the balance). Then, the HPW I am familiar with was developed by Peggy Breuer, besides the powder you will required either just water, or a combination of eggs, honey, and bee pollen. Her site is below:

www.critterlove.com/food--sides.html

And you can find more information about the different types here:

www.critterlove.com/diet-info.html

Candy is a member here, and she develop her own diet, which you can find here:

www.gliderkids-diet.com/

If you have any questions I am sure she'll be glad to answer them.

Pellets should not be their main diet, but many here feed it as a daytime snack, in case they wake up hungry during the diet; and many agree that it helps keeping their teeth clean, since it simulates biting into bark, which they do in the wild. Though in order to accomplish this, they should not be soaked in juice. You can keep using the pellets from exotic nutrition. What I use is Pet-Pro's pellets which you can find here:

www.pet-pro.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2&zenid=fgj4aacqqdj2epjnondhd09g42

The main thing about diets is that you should keep in mind the recommended ratio of Calcium to Phosphorus, which should be 2:1. It is because of this that my main concern about what you are doing is the sprinkling of the extra vitamins and calcium, since it is impossible to tell how much you are giving her, you could not be providing her with enough Calcium or too much of it; either case will affect her health. So my recommendation would be to stop doing that. Candy have a list of safe fruits and veggies with their Ca:P ratios, you can find it here:

www.gliderkids-diet.com/FruitVegLIST2011.pdf

Though it is hard to keep it exactly at 2:1, providing a wide variety of fruits and veggies should help balancing their diet out.

My other concerns are:

1. Have you taken her to a glider experience vet? This should be done, as with any other pet, so she can get an initial wellness check and fecal test, to look for parasites, since the people you got her from don't sound to have been taking good care of her.

2. Are you planning to get her a cage mate? Gliders are colonial animals and do better, physically and mentally, if they have a glider friend.

3. Does she have a wheel in her cage? If she does, is it glider safe? If you are not sure, please take the time to look at these wheels listed here:

www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?ExerciseWheels

I know at first it can be hard to care for these little critter, but with time you get use to the routine, and find out is really does not such a difficult task.

I am sorry to hear about your cancer, and hope you get better, and that with this new companion you feel better.

Diet is the first stumbling block for new glider owners. There are so many to chose from and a poor diet (pellets, unbalanced nutrients and proteins, improper dosage of vitamins, etc) can lead to sick gliders, costly health problems and heart break.

I think (I apologize the long block of your post was difficult for me to get through with my morning eyes!) that you had a long term relationship with a glider and you were able to provide for her to have what sounds to be a long life. This goes to show that it is possible to have a glider do alright being A) not on a "approved" diet and B) not being kept with a bonded cage mate...two of the many things that are always stressed for the ultimate best benefit of the glider. It may not have been the "ideal" circumstance that many long term glider owners strive toward, but much of that is due making every effort to avoid the 'worst case scenario'.

From what I gather you're offering foods at different times? They should be left to sleep soundly during the day light hours. They don't need to be woken up to eat or drink (unless in very poor health). A non spoiling (rotting) snack of some sort and water can be left out if the glider does happen to want a "midnight" snack. Their food should be put in the cage prior to or at the time they wake up and left all night for them to eat at their leisure though the night. They have tiny bellies and eat small meals several times up until their bed time.

The diets in the gliderpedia above are ones that the glider community have used and have found to produce healthy happy gliders for decades. The pellet diets are a quick fix for the mill breeders to push the idea that gliders need very little care or expense. That's just outright falsehood.

If you're leaning toward a more lenient diet with a variety of options of fruits and vegetables...Candy's recipe on her gliderkids website is a well balanced diet. The Priscilla Price diet is one that allows anything in the way of fruits and vegetables that are glider safe to be added to the basic staple recipe. I use this one, personal preference, I have plenty of time to prepare it and enjoy coming up with different batches. My gliders love variety. The other side of the spectrum is a diet such as BML. This is an easy and inexpensive one where all supplies can be purchased in your local market and vet supply, but it is VERY precise and strict on what vegetables and fruits are to be offered.

Once you find one of the diets that sounds like something that is reasonable to your situation (time, cost, supplies, etc.) make sure that you follow it exactly without variation. Particularly any vitamins and supplements that are called for. The exact brand, amount and method of mixing these is of vital importance. SPRINKLING IS NEVER ADVISED! There is no way of knowing if they are either getting enough...or being overdosed.

Best of luck...don't stress making the decision as much as just getting to it and making your new baby happy and healthy. I wish you the best with your health and having this little baby, I know from experience, can really fill a void and sooth the soul, so to speak. Of course I wouldn't be true to my own beliefs without mentioning good vet care and a cage mate.

LOVELY! Now Rusty and I are working away at long posts at the same time!



Apologies if we rehashed over the same information. I haven't read her post yet, but I know that she knows her stuff and gives knowledgeable advice. Nothing like getting bombarded with info when you're already feeling the stress of too much info from your own research.

Welcome to the forum.

I think Rusty and Blue covered everything diet pretty well.

As for not mixing things up for your glider's meals - The staple you choose will provide the protein, vitamins and calcium your glider needs. You can provide variety by offering different fruits and vegetables each day.

I feed one fruit and one vegetable each night (except mixed vegetable night) so my gliders see something different on their plates each night. I feed at least 7 different fruits and 7 different vegetables each week.

Some folks prefer to chop up all the fruits and vegetables they will use for a week and mix them together - nutritionally it brings the same variety to the overall diet - but to me - THAT would be boring to my gliders to see exactly the same plate night after night.

I also have a night once every few weeks when I feed my gliders either scrambled egg or a little plain baked chicken instead of their usual staple. They consider these nights a treat - I consider them a quick fix if I have been out for the evening and come home to find that I should have made a fresh batch of their staple that day - and am too lazy to do it right at the time I have 12 hungry gliders barking at me.