I am a first time sugar glider parent. I bought a 7 month old glider from a friend who simply had no time for him. I've been doing lots of research on what is best to feed this baby. My friend had some glider complete nutrition pellets from exotic nutrition, freeze dried meal worms and cricket mixture and calcium powder for reptiles. She told me what she gives and how much. Which also included scooops of mixed frozen vegetables (peas and carrots, etc). Due to my research of these amazing little little creatures. I knew that this was not right. Sorry, longer back story than I meant it to be. To the point, I ordered HPW complete today. My real question is, what else should I be giving once I get that and what can I give in the meantime.

Also, any known tips for bonding with an adult glider would be great. He is quite comfortable in his cage and even shows curiosity when approaching. As well as, take treats from outside the cage. I Have not attempted to put my hand in there. As I know the last owner did not and was jumpy. But he crabs a lot in bonding pouch and when moving him to pouch. Usually it is when he actually sees me. =( I have been putting pieces of fleece in cage to help with scent. He has not really been socialized enough at all. Just looking for some help on the issue. Thanks so much

Just want to add... I have done a lot of research on proper calcium/ phosphorus ratios. It just seems there is so much conflicting information out there. I just want to be sure my lil Lilo is getting all the nutrition he needs.

Yes, the calcium/phosphorus thing can be confusing, that's why the well researched and balanced diets are so popular. As long as the mix is made up exactly as instructed, you know they are getting the right vitamins,etc.

Until your HPW arrives, you can give him some chicken baby food or scrambled/boiled egg along with 1T fruits and 1T vegetables.

You can leave the EN pellets in the cage for a while if he is eating them, my gliders wouldn't touch anything I bought from EN.

He will eventually get used to you, it just takes time and patience. If he already takes treats from you through the bars, that is a good start!

I give a mix of fruits and veggies with the ohpw. I get a
mixer from the critterlove website, they have 4 mixes that give a good
cal/phos ratio with hpw.


I would just follow standard bonding procedures for your 7 month old glider, I believe HE will be fine, the question is will YOU have the patience to wait for him to feel save with you and not scared, as this will take time, maybe a LONG time. the time will depend on his personality and your bonding time/technic and tent/playroom time.
I think our first glider took about 3 months of my wife to get bonded well. and the 2nd one was much longer as we didn't work with him as much.
Our 4th glider bonded well and quicker, while the 5th took a long time and just has started to settle down after I have given him more attention.

I have been giving boiled eggs and then the insects on other nights. As well as, various fruits and veggies. Also, I do think I need to leave dry food in the cage during the day.. even if it is just for a snack when I am working. I have heard some things that did not sound great about EN, but when looking at a comparison chart of dry foods, it seemed to be pretty comparable. Any thoughts otherwise?

As far as bonding goes, I plan to get him into his bonding pouch everyday. Even if I only have an hour. Yesterday was my day off, so he got lots of time with me in pouch. In the evening.. he seemed more fearful than usual. I'm hoping this is not due to all this time in the bonding pouch. He still crabs when I peek at him in pouch or he sees me through the window of pouch. You can really just tell that he is used to being in his cage a lot. I take him out of his cage in his sleeping pouch and place him into bonding pouch. He crabs when he sees my arm come to unhook it, but does calm down quickly. I am doing this bc that is what the previous owners did.... very rarely! Is this ideal?

I like to sometimes put pouch under my shirt with window facing my skin so he can get a good smell of my scent.
I have gliders that would crab in pouch when I started talking to them, just the sound of my voice would cause 2 to crab, one we got was older and she was bonding very slow. The other was newer and we had not worked with her much given that we had 8 gliders, so she would just crab at my voice knowing I was coming to get her. She now after MONTHS and some bonding lately has stopped most of her crabbing.
Our gliders are awake in the evening and much more active and jumpy if not bonded all the way.
I would also in a week get a glider safe room, sit in the room with them, let them run around and maybe run on you, let them be the first few visits to glider room, after a few visits you can try to pet them. snacks in glider safe room is also a good idea. but don't be pushy, let them have their space.

Give yourself 3 to 6 months, work with them and I think they will come around to you.