Hello everyone,

I am about to become a new Sugar Glider owner for the first time. I have been doing lots of research about these little guys to ensure they are well taken care of and happy. I have recently purchased a starter cage set(Brisbane Cage) from Exotic Nutrition. I have also started to get some items for the cage such as cage set(pouches, hammocks, vines, etc). What other items do you suggest? I have looked into making a "kitchen" to help with feeding.

Does anyone have any experience with the Exotic Nutrition Instant-HPW or Glider complete food? It came with my cage and I don't know much about it. I was thinking about doing the HPW diet. I have looked at some recipes and the staple is the HPW with honey, bee pollen, and egg added in. Is the Exotic Nutrition the staple and I still need to add the rest of the ingredients or is this an all encompassing food. As for the Glider Complete is this okay to give them on a daily basis. I have read in my research from didn't sources that "Pellet Food" isn't good for them to have as a staple diet. Is this something I would only want to give them like once a week or something? On top of the HPW diet I understand that I still need to have 1 Tbsp veggies and 1 Tbsp Fruit. Any favorites? I plan on feeding them at night the main meal and leaving snack(fruit/meal worms etc) in the morning just in case they wake up during the day and are snacky.

Is there any information or tips that anyone were suggest me know? I am very excited to become a Sugar Glider parent. I appreciate all the help and advice.

I tried EN's Instant HPW, Complete pellets in 2 varieties and various treats. I wasted a lot of $ and they wouldn't eat any of it. I now use OHPW from the Pampered Glider. Critter Love would also be a good option, it is the same recipe as OHPW.

Mine love corn, cucumber, avocado, snap peas, and some other stuff I can't think of atm.

They love apples, mangos, peaches, papayas, melons, grapes, bananas, and other stuff I can't remember.

I wouldn't recommend using the pellets. It turned mine a bad color brown. They are still a little brown in some spots and mostly grey.

Instant hpw I found to be a good diet. Only problem is they do get bored after a couple of years. It will work great until you figure out exactly what kind of diet you want them on.

I wouldn't give them mealworms as a snack. They go crazy about them! So it's better to use it as a treat so they associate getting a yummy mealworm with being with you. That and yogurt drops.

I didn't have a sugar glider kitchen for the first year I had gliders. I didn't think it would make a difference. I made my self one a few months ago to see why people like it and I can honestly tell you it has made a difference. Originally 80% of the food remained in the cage while the other 20%
ended up on the floor. Now 80% remain I'm the kitchen while the other 20% remain at the bottom of the cage. Makes cleaning less of a pain. No more food on the ground!


Just so you know it will take time to bond with them. Its the hardest part of owning them, but also the most rewarding. And everyone makes mistakes during the bonding process so don't worry too much. Don't freak out, take your time, and have patience. Eventually they will come around. It'll be a blast!

Congratulations on your soon to be new addition(s)!

Sounds like you're doing a great job getting ready and being prepared. I just recently purchased the Congo cage from EN and love it. I kinda wish I had of gotten the Brisbane instead though....much more manageable and still roomy. If you got the starter cage set, I'm assuming it came with an exercise wheel. My gliders love their wheel and it's an important part of their exercise and play routine. Our exotic vet recommended the EN HPW diet and while my first glider loved the pellets, my second glider didn't. In addition t the other diets mentioned, BML is a good one. For something snacky, I use Pet-Pro Happy Glider pellets. My glider loves them and they're among the best for a pellet diet. And yes, 1 TBS of fruits and 1 TBS of veggies per glider each day is standard. Mine love apples, bananas, berries, melons, and grapes (also citrus fruits in moderation). Veggies are a bit more of a challenge but so far green beans, peas, corn and carrots are popular. Some people like to blend the fruits into a smoothie but this is not recommended since gliders can't digest the fiber and can't be separated when blended (when eaten in solid form, they spit out the fiber).

Having gliders takes a lot of love and patience but you are in for a treat. Enjoy!

Thank you everyone for the help. My wife and I are looking forward to owning our first Sugar Glider shortly. We will continue to read posts and learn more and more helpful tips and how to better care for them.

I have a Brisbane cage and ordered a bunch of Exotic Nutrition food wise. I don't really use the food from them though because I heard it's not that good. I use Critter Love PLUS as their HPW. I prefer adding the honey, bee pollen, and cooking the eggs and blending it all than using the Critter Complete which all you need is the powder to blend. I do feed them some pellets but just so they have something to eat in the day while I'm at work if they get hungry. I use the Happy Glider ones you can get from Pet Pro. There's a variety pack of the Chicken Breeder, Chicken n Honey, Global, and Fruity ones for like I think $18 or so that can last months. In the morning I give them a few yoggies by hand before I leave for work. This helps with the bonding process and they wake up every morning waiting for them.
For my fruits I mix papaya, cantaloupe, apples, blackberries, and blueberries. Mine also love cactus fruit(prickly pear). The problem is being able to find it in stock anyplace. Since it's summer I throw in a little bit of watermelon too if I have it. They devour this! lol Veggies they're very picky about. They get kale, bokchoy, green beans, peas, some little bits of carrot and some nights a few pieces of corn(just a few because corn is highin phosphurus). Most nights it seems the ignore the veggies(except the corn).

@kidqwik Do you use both the critter love Plus and Critter Love Complete or just one or the other. I was thinking about going purchasing the Critter Love Plus package since I've heard so much good things about it but wanted to try the stuff that came with my cage since I had it. Thank you for the advice. I set up the cage today and am not waiting for the cage sets to arrive. I have been looking at getting some toys off of etsy/facebook as well. I could be picking up our new member of our family next week. We are getting super excited but nervous as well hahaha.

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Originally posted by MumbleEOD

@kidqwik Do you use both the critter love Plus and Critter Love Complete or just one or the other. I was thinking about going purchasing the Critter Love Plus package since I've heard so much good things about it but wanted to try the stuff that came with my cage since I had it. Thank you for the advice. I set up the cage today and am not waiting for the cage sets to arrive. I have been looking at getting some toys off of etsy/facebook as well. I could be picking up our new member of our family next week. We are getting super excited but nervous as well hahaha.

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I use just Critter Love Plus. I like adding the eggs, bee pollen, and honey because I feel more involved with them because of the addition of me actually having to make the scrambled eggs(without butter, olive oil or anything), add that, the honey, water, and bee pollen and put it in the blender. Lol. I dunno, call me silly, but it makes me feel like I'm not just feeding them the powder in the blender but some fresh stuff. :-b A lot of people use the Complete because it's quicker to make and they don't have to go out and buy eggs, honey, etc. These are the things I have from EN food wise:

Baby Premium Glider food(I did use this initially for a few weeks)

Premium Glider food(I tried this recently now that they're a few months older and they don't touch the pellets. They do eat the dried fruit in the pack though. They get a few pieces of Happy Glider daily though)

Glider Aid(never used it)

Acai Nectar(Tried this a few times, they licked it but never were crazy about it)

Eucalyptus powder(they avoid anything I put this on...)

Bee Pollen Powder(I do use this when making the Critter Love Plus. When it runs out I'll be getting a different bee pollen powder though)

Premium Yogurt Drops(I all but gave up trying to feed them these until a few weeks ago. When my first two were about 6-7 weeks ago they wouldn't touch them. They wouldn't touch them for months afterwards. I've had two of them since February and now that they're older, they both love them for breakfast by hand. I give them each 2-3 in the morning. I have two additional young ones now and one eats them and the cremino is kinda meh about them. She prefer dried papya in the morning)

Tropical Trio dried fruit(papaya, pineapple, coconut) - They all seem to like this. I don't feed them much of the coconut though because it's high in fat. This is used as a treat like the yoggies and not a staple food.


Insectovore-fare - I put a little bit of this out on Thursdays during the day with the couple of pellets. They like it. I just don't give them a lot though

So wow. I guess I did use a lot of the EN stuff, lol. It's more so to get rid of it though tbh. I'll get the yoggies and dried fruit again but the pellets I'll stick with are the Happy Glider ones. As for mealworms and waxworms. I think 3 of them like the mealworms. I haven't been giving them a lot though. They prefer the live ones. They loved waxworms, but I stopped giving them because I've read a few posts where gliders have choked on them because their skin is stretchy and it can get get stuck in a gliders throat like they were trying to eat a balloon.

My gliders aren't the least bit fat. They're super active though and will be up all night on the wheel so I think they're pretty healthy. Oh! I had the Silent Runner Wheel from EN for a while but then I switched to a Raptor wheel which is wider inside and easier to clean. They love love love love the Raptor wheel!

If you contact Pet Pro they will send you some samples of several flavors of their pellets. I found this very useful to determine which ones my gliders like and I was able to order their favorites. Since the pellets last so long, I store them in an air tight container in the freezer to keep them fresh.

Update-We picked up our new Sugar Glider today. Rajah is now home with us and is getting settled into her new cage. Thank you everyone for the advice. We look forward to learn more about Sugar Gliders and are excited to be new parents.