Hey guys !!!

Well I am a first time mom to an 8 months OOP glider. I took him in from someone who had bought her for his 7yr old daughter. She wasn't responsible enough and he got tired of doing it. The cage had nothing but 1 water bottle, 1 bowl, 2 perches, and 4 crown royal bags for her to use as a pouches #128544; !!!!! She was eating vitasmart pellets and would get dried fruit treats, he said he gave her some mealworms at times. (That was it )..... she was extremely stressed and crabby. Bonding with her is going good, I have bought everything for her cage and that has calmed her down some. I am concern with her diet though.

I have bought calcium supplement, zookeeper protein, eucalyptus poweder, acacia gum powder, gliderade, HPW food, bee pollen, gumivore food plus crickets, mealworms and fruit and veggies. I don't want to do wrong by her and everything I've read does not give me portion control other than amount of mealworms crickets she can have. I am thinking about doing the glider chow and gravy ...

Can someone help me know how much of what she needs daily ???


Thank you !!!!!

Nicolle

Hi Nicolle, welcome to the forum, a great place for information and support. Welcome to your new baby, what is her name?

You are on the right track, researching, knowing her diet and cage was off is a good indication that you have learned much already. I suggest to continue reading about diets, look them up in the gliderpedia ta up top. Select one from the recommended diets that you feel is easiest for you to make and maintain, and give it a try.

I would recommend the Ohpw diet, either using Critterlove plus or the original Wombaroo power (little cheaper price.) Adding honey and bee pollen etc.
Easy to make and freeze and for one glider not very expensive.
I HAVE READ this will give gliders all the calcium and vitamin they need with NO EXTRA ADDITIVES.
But you need to add the veggie and fruit side dish to ohpw. This is not to hard to make or overly expensive. I just make salad from critter love website and keep in freezer. frozen veggies are easy but fresh fruit must be cut up in glider bite size pieces and frozen to keep longer.

i recommend this based on everyone saying its a good diet, not expensive and not hard to make, easy to keep freezer, video instructions for ohpw available on web.

Wow you got a lot of stuff. Here's the easiest way to feed a glider.

1 tablespoon of protien

1 tablespoon of fruit

1 tablespoon of vegetables

They get that every night. One of the biggest topics here is diet. Giving pellets may be quick plans easy but they are not very good for gliders. In the wild gliders drink nectars. Their bodies aren't designed to eat a dry hard pellet. So their are many options to make a nectar-like protien mixture.

Look at the diet section on this website. The names of the diets may be confusing but you'll get used to it. Most of them you mix the ingredients together in a blender and freeze it in ice cube trays. There are diets where you get the ingredients fresh and there's some instant mixes. Pick whatever one works for you.

You may want to look into getting another. Gliders don't normally do well by themselves.

Thank you guys so much !!!!
Her name is Lily and she is in her pouch in between fleece on my chest :)

I have read about leaving snacks just in case but she doesn't leave her pouch until night. I only give her treats(snack) when I am bonding with her. She loves when I wake her up for a small mealworm or a little yogurt. I am just concern on feeding her too much or too little.

I bought everything in case she needs it, specially since she hasn't had the proper nutrition from the start.

I have already started looking for another female, I don't think I can handle baby Joeys right now but if I find a nurtured one I'll get him. She started barking at the top of her lungs last night and when I went to go talk to her she wasn't having it ! She needs a companion for sure. :) human companion is not the same for them and I don't want her depressed or more stressed. I was just waiting for her to get use to her surroundings before adding one more change in her life.

Hi NicolleR, I'm sure you are full of questions as I was when I first got my two boys. I had done a little research but not enough and basically had to give myself a crash course when I realized there's much more to it. Personally I would not reccomend the Gliderchow or gravy. As Bossihamham said, gliders prefer wet and sweet foods as opposed to dry, hard pellets, as easy as they are. I prefer to use the 'OHPW' diet, it's a mixture of a Wombaroo protein powder with scrambled eggs, honey and water and you can make a large batch in one day and freeze it so it will last you a month or two. I have also heard great things about the 'TPG' or 'BML' diet, so feel free to pick one that suits you. There's a ton of information on this website and you can also check out
sugarglider.info/staple-diets/ohpw/
They have a lovely video that also helps. Gliders also need a variety of fruits and vegetables as well to keep them happy and healthy, you can buy them fresh or frozen and prepare these ahead of time. I usually take a day and mix and prepare all my food so it will last me for a few weeks and then offer some fresh fruit along with it each day. Let me know if you have any questions. :)

I have been giving Lily the HPW mix with fruit and veggies. I mix it all together and it does not seem like she is eating much. I am giving her different options on fruit and veggies every night. I have tried cutting it in small peices, blending, and cutting into itty bitty peices. Nothing seems to make her eat all of it. I currently used the food processor and froze it in ice cube trays.

She will eat all worms and crickets. She will lick all her yogurt, she will eat some eggs (plain) and some chicken. If I hand her a small peice of fruit during the day she loves it. She is not a big fan of veggies.

Maybe she doesn't like her food mixed together ??? :(

she probably just doesn't have a big appetite. my one glider kiwi, will not except any fruits or veggies to snack on during the day unless it's one of her favorites. at night however, she will eat all or almost all of the fruit and veggie combo I set out. my other girl Kona, is a lil piggy compared to kiwi and will eat pretty much anything I give her, during the day or at night. it's just that their personalities are completely different.

I must say that you should not blend up your fruits and veggies in a food processor because then your gliders are forced to eat the fibers they usually spit out when they chew/eat their food. forcing them to eat the fibers can eventually cause digestive issues etc.

I used to have a feeding problem with my girls. I would give them exactly 2 tablespoons fruit and 2 tablespoons veggies (1 tablespoon for each) and they would just pick through the stuff they didn't like and eat the little bit that they wanted. I had to start offering only 1 1/2 tablespoon fruit and the same for veggies each night so they would eat everything and not leave anything behind. it worked and they started eating everything. try to lower the portion size so she eats everything. don't worry, she will not starve herself.

hope this helped:)

and also, you make the OHPW recipe so you blend the wombarrow, bee pollen, eggs, and honey all together right?

This diet is new to her. She won't eat it well for possibly a couple weeks. My gliders hardly touched their HPW when I first got them but now it's their favorite thing.

Gliders can be like children where they like one thing one day and the next day they don't like it. Especially veggies. Try and find ones she likes. Gliders usually like corn, (but it's bad for them) peas, carrots, string beans and beets. Those veggies are usually sweeter so typically there isn't much trouble with those.

Do you feed the protien mix and produce in one bowl? If you do try separating them. And don't blend the produce. Gliders spit out the fibers. If you blend it then they are forced to swallow the fibers.

Just keep trying. She'll come around.

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I have been giving Lily the HPW mix with fruit and veggies. I mix it all together and it does not seem like she is eating much. I am giving her different options on fruit and veggies every night. I have tried cutting it in small peices, blending, and cutting into itty bitty peices. Nothing seems to make her eat all of it. I currently used the food processor and froze it in ice cube trays.

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Some gliders like their fruit and vegetables mixed with the staple (HPW) and others prefer things served separately.

Try making a batch of HPW and freezing it in 1 TBS (per glider) cubes. It can be put in the cage still frozen - it will thaw quickly.

Don't blend the fruits and vegetables into a liquid or puree - this forces gliders to eat the hard to digest fibrous parts of the produce that they ordinarily chew up, suck out the juicy parts and nutrients then spit out the fiberous parts.

It also takes gliders several days to get used to any new diet and to eat it well. Give her more time to adjust to the new diet.

Yes, I mix everything and put it in the freezer.

So for things like fresh broccoli/carrots/sweet potato, should I steam it a little first ? Or give it to her raw, just cut into peices ?

The frozen veggies are always softer once they thaw out unlike fresh.

most veg doesn't need steamed or cooked. However, Sweet potato DOES need cooked.

It contains an enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of trypsin, an enzyme that digests proteins. The trypsin inhibitor prevents the digestion of protein. Sweet potatoes with higher protein levels have more of the trypsin inhibitor. This makes raw sweet potato difficult to digest. The trypsin inhibitor is deactivated by cooking.

Raw Lima beans are toxic, having said that unless you grow lima beans yourself you aren't likely ever going to come across raw lima beans they aren't just toxic to gliders they are toxic to humans as well.

raw Lima beans have a high level of cyanide, the cooking process allows the cyanide to be release rendering them safe to eat. Frozen lima beans have been through blanching ( a cooking process ) to prepare them for freezing. Frozen Lima beans are safe