Hello!

I rescued two beautiful gliders and named them mogwai and gizmo about 2 months ago, and they were in tough shape. In other words, they were given a strict pellet diet every day, in a small cage, no toys, etc. I am definitely still learning a whole lot, and I could use a few small pointers on feeding.

I looked around for a while but didn't find exactly what I wanted to know.

Since I got them I decided to ween them onto an HPW diet. With the ease of the instants I went with the exotic nutrition instant HPW--(any concerns with this, let me know, although I would love to stick with it) They love it, and it's licked clean every night.

I also give them each 1tbsp of mixed fruits and 1tbsp of mixed veggies each (4tbsp total) every night, and I started this diet by leaving a few pellets (bought a "healthier" exotic nutrition complete) in the cage just in case they weren't taking a liking to it right away, but they ate all of everything. They have not gained or loss any weight, but I worry that after I started taking out the pellets that they are still pretty hungry. When I wake up for the day all of their food is always gone and they seem antsy to eat, so I will give them a few treats (meal worms, yoggies, etc.), but they are acting different in the morning since I took out the pellets like they are hungry.

So I guess the main questions for my start of the new topic is:
Is it really in most people's opinion okay to leave pellets in the cage just for them to munch on?
Should I leave more fruits and veggies every night?---would be more spendy
Is there another variety of something I can offer in their cage?
Should I even change anything? (They're fine with what they got)

I'm really just a worry wart and want to make sure they are as satisfied as possible, but any ideas or tips and tricks to try would be helpful,

thanks in advance!

Awww, poor babies! I'm so glad you rescued them!!

1 tbsp of fruits and 1 tbsp of veggies per glider per night is the recommended amount so it sounds like you've got that part right! How much of the hpw are you feeding them? I think the correct portioning for the instant is one ice cube per two gliders (I could be wrong on that, but it'll say on the package I'm sure).

If you're doing all that then I don't see any need to add more staple. Feeding your gliders treats though (dried fruit, yogurt drops, meal worms, etc), might help curb their hunger and also it's a fun way to bond! (I'm by no means an expert on malnourished gliders, though, so if anyone with more experience wants to chime in/correct me feel free!)

The main concern people have with instant hpw as opposed to the original, that I've heard, is how processed it is. The less processed a food is, the better it is - for people and gliders both lol. Also, while it's called 'hpw' it wasn't actually made by the creator of original HPW. So while OHPW has been used for years and proven healthy, the instant has not (though I think it has similar ingredients so I imagine it's similarly healthy). In my opinion, the original is probably better for your gliders, but I don't think the instant is horrible. It's WAY better than a strictly pellet diet at any rate!

As for pellets, you can absolutely leave them in the cage for your gliders to munch on. Pellets aren't bad for gliders necessarily, they're only bad when fed as the main source of nutrients. They're perfectly fine as a snack =)

Good luck with your new babies!

I agree with the above post. My understanding as well is 1 TBS veggies, 1 TBS fruits, and 1 TBS staple per glider, per day. The two staple diets that seem to be the most popular are HPW and BML. Katie did a great job explaining the differences in HPW. I've used exotic nutrition pellets before. I was impressed with what I read about them. One glider loved them and the other didn't (unless she's famished ). I've heard Happy Pro is one of the better pellets out there. I like leaving them in the cage as well, as long as they're eating their main staple. Enjoy your babies. You obviously love them and they're lucky to have you.

I'm happy for them you found them!



Truth be told, I've just about servers my gliders pretty much all the forms/ brands of HPW type diets, with the exception of the jar food YUK!

This can be confusing, I'm using acronyms, here's a brief history and a key:
HPW - High Protein Wombaroo which uses Wambaroo high protein supplement (WHPS), created by Peggy Brewer. Peggy has done extensive studies and works with experts to formulate her diets. She then formulated her own, American brand of high protein supplement. The HPW diet then was labeled the Original High Protien Wombaroo diet, her new diets were named HPW Plus, which is made the same way as OHPW, and HPW Complete, which is an instant formula. There was much confusion with the EN brands, Peggy had her business name trademarked and renamed all her diets Critter Love Brand. So OHPW is now CLO (Critter Love Original), the other diets are known as Critter Love Plus (CLP) & Critter Love Complete (CLC). She also has other varieties. I cannot link her website, due to my pic being in shop now, but you can find everything about these diets on the website and I highly recommend checking it out. Try googling the Critter Love Diet Center, it should come up.

I started with the EN HPW kit, then switched to the real OHPW, which is made using Wombaroo brand HPS. Then I had to move across country so switched to CLC. I used this diet for almost a year because of the simplicity of it and my living arrangements at the time. I then had to move back across country, to save some money I purchased th EN Intant (EN uses a different brand of HPS as well, I believe ZooMed). I used it for a while, then switched back to CLC. I switched back to CLO, and am currently using this formula.

As for pellets, I use PetPro Happy Glider, they're good quality and popular for those that use pellets. I serve them in their forage toy containers.

I think I got the name of the pellets wrong. Looks like it's "Pet Pro Happy Glider".

No wonder people get confused

Thanks for clarifying, TJones!

awesome, thank you all!

I will be checking out all of the suggested food options