So I recently got two sugar gliders about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and i'm still trying to find a simple, healthy, and reliable diet to use consistently. I don't plan on breeding, i just want these two little guys to be my pets. I'm looking for a diet as simple as possible. I found this diet called instant HPW, which you just add water, it sounds easy and up my alley but I would like to ask if it is nutritionally safe to use along with fruits/ vegetables. Also if i can use this, do i still need to feed mealworms, etc?
www.exoticnutrition.com/in8ozsi.html

I'm concerned i'm missing something in their diet at the moment so i'll throw up a rough outline here, please be gentle as i'm a total noob.

Every night i feed them a fruit or vegetable, such as celery, apples, sweet potato, cantaloupe, oranges, carrots, and kiwi. They liked all of them besides the kiwi, they were totally uninterested. Planning on getting blackberries and raspberries for the better cal/phos ratio
Should i only feed one type a night? Should i make a mix?

I also leave out for them 24/7 the pellet Vitakraft Vita Smart Sugar Glider Food. I also recently got a container of dried mealworms from lowes, and have left out roughly 15-20 at night, by morning they're usually wiped out. Should i leave out the dried mealworms? Should I use live instead and if so why? If dried is fine am i using a good amount?

I want suggestions to make this as easy as possible, i'm not looking to become the sugar glider's iron chef, just want them to be healthy.

Good morning and welcome to glider parenthood Ala Cuisine!!

I'm not all that familiar with the HPW diet, I haven't used it myself. Personally I'm not real crazy about the powdered mixes, I prefer to feed them a "fresh" diet. But having said that many folks like the HPW and find it really easy to prepare.

They should have a fruit and a veg every night, not one or the other along with the staple (hpw) once you receive it. You can feed one fruit and one veg a night or make a mix that's really up to you and what your gliders like, maybe try both ways and see what they prefer. If you end up using one of each per night try not to feed the same one longer than 3 days in a row, they will get tired of the same food fed to often.

As for meal worms I treat them as a "snack" or a "treat" not as part of their daily meal. I usually give 4 or 5 each to my pair, in the morning for a bedtime snack. Otherwise mine will fill up on mealies and not eat as much of their dinner at night.

The dried ones I give a few more than live ones, they eat the dried ones so fast and I don't think they are as filling. But again I offer them as treats, they are very high in fat so giving to many isn't good for them.

I used to leave pellets in the cage all the time, but they never really bothered with them. I'm home all day so once or twice a day they get a snack so I don't feel they are necessary. Once in a while I will put a few pellets in a foraging toy but they are always still there the next morning.

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I want suggestions to make this as easy as possible,

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There are a number of widely used recipes for nectar like glider staples that will provide balanced amounts of the PROTEIN, VITAMINS and CALCIUM gliders need daily.

Most of these staples (the many HPW's included) are prepared in batches and frozen in ice cube trays - measured when you put the mixture in the tray (you will learn to 'eyeball the amount') so the nightly feeding requires only popping out a cube and putting in the glider's dish along with fruits and vegetables each night.

I have 3 colonies and SERVING their dinner takes all of 5 minutes each evening. One cube of staple, one fruit and one vegetable for each cage. I prepare a batch of their staple about every 10 days - but I am feeding 12 gliders. Most staple recipes make enough to feed 2 gliders for about a month. My GliderKids staples have a smaller per glider serving and make a larger batch to feed two gliders about 2 months.

None of the widely use glider staples are 'difficult' to prepare and serve.

I have links on my web page to help you locate the instructions and recipes for these diets.

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

Pellets will not keep your gliders healthy long term. Their digestive systems are not suited for processing dry hard food.

You can feed one fruit and one vegetable with the staple as I do or mix up a HUGE batch with all of the wide variety of fruits and vegetables you want to offer and freeze the combination to scoop out a portion each night. Freezing a combination is more trouble to prepare because you need to do all your cutting at one time. You also need to stir the mixture frequently while it freezes to keep it from turning into one solid block that you cannot scoop out a daily portion from easily. I use single fruits and vegetables stored in zip lock bags in the freezer for quick & easy serving.

I freeze cantaloupe, honey dew melon, water melon and papaya myself - about one of them a month, not all at once. I cut them in glider hand size pieces and spread them out on a wax paper covered cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen I pop them off and store in a zip lock bag. Pre-freezing this way keeps the pieces from sticking together and makes it easy to take out just the amount I need for each cage.

Gliders are not difficult to feed, it just takes a little time to prepare and freeze the staple in advance and a well stocked freezer to choose fruits and vegetables from each night.