I'm seeing several abbreviations on some diet references and haven't seen the actual name they are referring to. Can someone expand on these please? We jsut bought a couple of sugar bears and we are looking at options before refilling our supply of "Glider Gravy" and the "Glider Chow" pp sells.

Thanks a bunch

Hello and welcome!

Apologies for the abbreviations of diets. It becomes easier once familiar just to type those the glideroedia, tab above, has an extensive section on the best known and proven diets for gliders. From your mention of certain terms I will assume (which we know can be dangerous) that much of what you know may be from pocket pets and their various marketing ploys that run rampant on YouTube. Please...before ordering more of a diet you are unsure of...do a bit of research here to see what it requires in a diet to not only keep your glider healthy but happy and truly thriving.

After taking a look at the diets above please feel free
To post many questions...there are so many knowledgeable folks here that are happy to advise from their experience.

I wont go into detail at this initial point, but I believe the glider gravy is essentially decent. A pellet based diet is a recipe for disaster. You may find that there is a diet that you and your gliders will prefer after a bit of reading.

Welcome to Sugar Glider Parenthood and to the forum.

You may have already discovered that your furry friends are SUGAR GLIDERS - not sugar bears. That is a term used by pocket pets to direct owner's researching their new furry companions to their own web sites which will come up first searching sugar bear in the search query.

The "HPW" now refers to many different glider staples. Originally it was the name of a diet we now refer to as Original HPW which is made using a produce called Wombaroo High Protein Supplement which is imported from Australia.

The recipe for the Original HPW can be found here:

http://www.hpwdietcenter.com/original.html

Wombaroo High Protein Supplement can be purchased here:

http://www.thepamperedglider.com/supplements.htm

More recent HPW diets are the HPW Plus which is made exactly the same as Original HPW but using a new product (HPW Plus powder) in place of the Wombaroo High Protein Supplement.

The other widely used "HPW" is HPW Complete - which is the EXACTLY same product as your Glider Gravy which Pocket Pets purchases from the developer of HPW Plus and HPW Complete and relabels as if it is their own product.

If you and your glider are happy with Glider Gravy, you can probably order more directly from the source for less than you will pay Pocket Pets.

Information on all of these "HPW" diets and ordering information for HPW Plus and HPW Complete can be found here:

http://www.critterlove.com/diet-info.html


LGRS stands for Lucky Glider Rescue Soup - directions for this diet can be found here:

http://files.meetup.com/768852/LGRSSuggieSoup.pdf

There are other widely used glider diets you might also want to look at. I have links to several of them on my web page along with complete information on my own GliderKids Feeding Plan which also uses Wombaroo High Protein Supplement in most of my recipes.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/Staple-Recipes.html


I would not bother ordering the Glider Chow - it should not be a main part of your glider's diet. Glider's digestive systems are just not designed for hard dry processed foods. Choose one of the above nectar like staples and feed it along with a wide variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables to complete the nightly feedings and your glider will get all the nourishment needed daily.

Feel free to ask questions here - we are all happy to help.

Some of the advice you may have been given by the SALES REPRESENTATIVES for Pocket Pets from their memorized script may have been misleading and even some very bad advice - like the claim that sugar gliders will be good friends with your other pets - NEVER allow your gliders to come in direct contact with other animals. Even a very gently cat or dog could severely injure a glider with one playful swipe of a paw.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Candy



Some of the advice you may have been given by the SALES REPRESENTATIVES for Pocket Pets from their memorized script may have been misleading and even some very bad advice - like the claim that sugar gliders will be good friends with your other pets - NEVER allow your gliders to come in direct contact with other animals. Even a very gently cat or dog could severely injure a glider with one playful swipe of a paw.

---

Completely agree with Candy here. Probably they told you something along the lines that cats or dogs don't see sugar GLIDERS (not bears) as prey because they are not rodents, and therefore do not have the scent of a rodent. WRONG. Don't cats and dogs follow lasers? Do these have some kind of scent? My point is that cats and dogs (and many other animals) are attracted to movement, and sugar gliders can move in a very erratic manner that will attract their attention. Given how they are so small in comparison to a dog or a cat, just having them swipe your gliders with their paws could harm them; so please keep them away from other animals. Not only could they be hurt, but it will also stress them.

Another "advice" they could have given you is that you need a heat rock to help them regulate their body temperatures. Also WRONG. A properly weaned glider should be able to regulate its body temperature as long as you keep them in a room where you yourself feel comfortable in. Getting a heat rock and keeping it in their cage, again, could harm them; they could get burnt or electrified if they choose to bite the cable. Gliders are not rodents, but they still will try to test thing with their teeth.

Besides that they may have told you that sugar gliders don't need a vet. This could be the worse advice they could have given you. While sugar gliders don't generally carry diseases that they need a vaccination for, like dogs and cats, they can still carry parasites, get infections, and a number of other issues that require veterinary care. The best thing you can do is get them to see a vet as soon as possible for a wellness check and a fecal test. The fecal is to check for parasites, given that pocket pets is a business, they don't breed the gliders they sell and instead will get them from mill breeder where gliders don't usually get the care they need, and are more likely to have parasites in their systems; specially once call giardia. They will tell you that all gliders have giardia, but this is not truth, properly cared for gliders should be clean of parasites. Because of this you not only need the initial test, but also a second one 30 days after you brought them with you. This is because parasites take a little to hatch, and the results may come negative in the first test, a second test 30 or so days later will have more accurate results.

Sorry for the long post, I just want you to start on the right path.