Hello!

I feed my gliders the BML diet. Each night they get an ice cube sized amount of the staple, fruits, and veggies. We rotate the fruits and veggies from the list of approved foods to use with BML. I do tend to give them more than they need. All together, there's about half a cup of fruits and veggies given nightly. There hasn't been a single night that they've eaten all of their staple. I've tried "icing" it, and serving the staple only, and giving the fruits and veggies later. I know they can be picky, but I'm scared to death that they aren't getting their calcium and vitamins. What should I do to promote the staple instead of the fresh food?

How old are your gliders?

If they are very young the 1 TBS BML, 1 TBS fruit and 1 TBS vegetables is the recommended serving for adult gliders. Young joeys may not eat the full amount until they get a little bigger.

Did you measure your Ice cube trays to see how much each cube will hold? Some make larger cubes than others. It is possible that you are offering more than they can eat.

How many gliders do you have?

If you have only two gliders - cut back on the fruit and vegetables to 1/4 cup (4 TBS) and see if the eat more of the BML. Gliders have very small stomachs about the size of the tip of your thumb. They cannot eat a large amount at one time but eat several times during the night.

Another thing to consider is that many folks have observed that gliders eat less during a full moon. The moon was full 2 nights ago and was still VERY bright last night. That may have contributed to them not eating.

Give them a few more nights and see if their appetites pick up. Gliders will not starve themselves if food is available

I'm not sure how old they are. We got them on Craigslist from a woman who was in poor health. She got them as joeys, and said they're less than a year. Considering that Petunia has a Joey IP, and Luke is the only male she's been exposed to, I'd say they're at LEAST 10-11 months. I've read that while the females have a Joey IP, they need more protein, too, and I just want to make sure I'm doing everything correctly. The Joey is growing well, and it seems like her bump gets bigger every day.

BML has plenty of protein and calcium - you should not need to feed anything in addition to following the BML feeding plan.

Once the joeys are OOP, you can offer an extra 1/2 TBS of the BML and an extra TBS of fruits and vegetables to make sure mom gets to eat as much as she wants or needs.

You may want to read the information on this web site about breeding

http://www.suzsugargliders.com/educationalarticles.htm

Please consider neutering the male ASAP. That will allow him to heal before the joeys are OOP when he will be needed to help care for them. If you wait until the joeys are OOP, the pair may mate again and you would have another set of joeys on the way very quickly.

My intention is to neuter him ASAP. We've got an appointment at the vet in a couple of weeks. Breeding isn't an option for me- not right now, anyway.