Hi. I am a very overwhelmed new sugar glider mommy and I really could use some advice! My baby is a 10.5 week oop male sweetheart who I was so fortunate enough to take home almost two weeks ago (at 9 weeks oop) for a local small scale breeder. For feeding, I was instructed by the breeder to give him 1/2 ice cube nightly of a mix containing 50% yogurt and 50% gerber dry baby cereal. In addition to the cubes he also told me to feed him fruits and veggies as well as 3-4 large live mealworms (superworms) on a daily basis. He told me to feed him this diet for a few months and to then start giving him exotic nutrition's glider complete pellets and gave me a bag of the pellets for future use. After doing lots of research, I've formed the opinion that pellets are not something I think want to feed my baby and placed an order for your critter love plus package.... in the meantime, I had some concerns above what I've been feeding him these past couple weeks and contacted the breeder to ask if I should be adding a vitamin/calcium supplement to his food... he responded " yogurt has calcium. Add some baby food and honey." And sent me a link to a list of fruits/veggies and their c/ph ratios.... not very helpful. He also told me initially to never feed raw honey, only filtered/processed honey, because raw honey can cause botchilism (it seems that this is a whole other topic for debate too.). HELP!! Should I have been adding vitamin supplements all along? What is the ideal diet for him while I wait for my critter love plus package?? Should I slowly introduce this new hpw diet or should I start him on it immediately? There are some sites that recommend feeding a fresh diet at first and then switching to the hpw after a few months? Need REAL ADVICE from someone who knows what they're talking about ASAP! -thanks

ok first, breathe. Both diets your local breeder suggested are crap. Critter love is a fine diet and with the salads will provide all the glider needs. Peggy is usually very quick to ship critter love out but she is preparing to come to florida for the gathering here in a couple weeks so she may be backed up a little.

In the mean time, you can feed a protein yogurt, boiled or baked chicken or turkey , eggs boiled or scrambled ( no seasonings or butter or oil when preparing) a fruit and a veg along with it.

Rotate the protein either every night or every other night. You can leave the bone in the chicken. A young joey may not eat a lot of the fruit n veg so if it looks untouched don't stress over it they kinda grow into it.

the honey, depends on the diet which one to use, some diets use raw honey some use filtered honey. Both for different nutritional value reasons, neither to do with botulism. Though there is one persons diet that believes the botulism even though there is no documented proof and her diet doesn't use honey at all.

Critter Love is an excellent choice for diet!

In the meantime you can continue to feed him yogurt, scrambled-unseasoned eggs, or boiled-unseasoned chicken for protein and a mix of safe fruit and vegetables. For the f/v, check the list from CL website on Salads, and choose one to mix up in the meantime. It doesn't' hurt to start the salads now with a substitute protein until you begin full CL diet. Pellets are okay, if good quality, to be served as an extra. Many of us use pellets as a "side", though there are some who don't like to offer any or their gliders don't eat them. All three of mine like Happy Glider from Pet Pro, and they're a good quality, also offered on CL website. I like to leave some in forage toys, since they enjoy them so much, I feel healthier than yogis or mealies and I know they won't spoil so fast.

Lol, I see Leela posted when I was typing, she gives great advice!

lol ty so do you

I got distracted while I was writing n didn't finish

You don't need to wait to start him/her on critter love, just follow directions exactly, and figure out which salad you want to use with it they are all listed n the critter love site http://www.critterlove.com/salad-mixtures.html


If you do opt to use pellets ( and some are better quality and used often by many in the community) Pleaseeeeeeeeeee make sure you store them properly. Store them in a sealed container in the freezer to prevent aflatoxins. I neither promote pellets nor bash them, it's a personal choice like everything else. But if your going to use them, use them safely

The no honey diet I was referring to is the highland diet, should you wish to look into it further. It is being developed by either a vet or something at Tampa zoo I believe. It's been a while since I've looked in her diet many people switched to a more consistent recipe the last time she changed the recipe which was last year I think might have been 2 yrs ago I'm not sure now.

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate the advice from real people and real pet owners - not just sites and companies trying to push their product!! I will add the unseasoned scrambled eggs to his diet.

A couple more questions...... #128579;
Do I continue to give him the superworms?
Should I ditch the chicken apple baby food and the baby cereal?
The majority of homemade recipes that I have come across include either a reptile calcium with d3/calcium with no ph AND another vitamin supplement to be added to the mix/ sprinkled on their food - i know that CL is a complete balance of calcium and other vitamins, but is it ok for me to not have been giving him them so far on his current diet?
Should I buy some tomorrow, or is it safe to be without them until the CL arrives....?
Thanks again for the help

Oh yeah almost forgot..... gathering?? I live in southwest FL, would love to connect with other sg owners and lovers and learns as much as possible! I obviously can't rely on the breeder for info lol #128529;

I'm in Dover Fla just east of Tampa where you at??? the gathering is Sept 16th at Citrus Hills RV park Registration is still open!! who is the breeder ??

https://www.facebook.com/groups/653305761512723/ this is our fla gathering group lots of local folk in sw fla !!

and this is our website to register and get all the information,http://floridaglidergathering.weebly.com/ we will be having vendors and speakers and lunch is included ! my name is Carla Sloan on facebook https://www.facebook.com/carla.sloan.1 Myself and Sandy Wesley and a few other local people are hosting it

Ps Peggy is vending her critter love lol

you can keep giving mealies or super worms as treats but they aren't typically part of the meal.

If I were you I'd do something like this, it can be followed as a temporary menu but im just using it as an example and it's not meant to be a long term feeding plan but is what most of us do when we run out of staple or haven't made it yet .

monday boiled chicken, blueberries, green beans
tues yogurt, melons, corn
weds scrambled eggs, grapes, peas
thursday boiled chicken, cherries , carrots
friday, boiled eggs, melons, mixed veg
sat yogurt, apple, green beans
sund boiled chicken, melon corn

yes ditch the baby food it's not necessary and some of it is pureed and most people don't recommend pureeing glider food. It forces them to eat insoluble fiber that they normally spit out and don't ingest.

He'll be fine until the critter love arrives the recipe your describing sounds like bml it uses baby chicken food, baby cereal , repcal honey yogurt juice and is all mixed in a blender. This is a longggggggggg time used diet as well, however it is a strict diet. No need to get ingredients for that you won't need them with critter love.

Thanks again, I am so relieved! I am just south of Naples, this sounds like a fantastic event!! I'll definitely be looking at my upcoming work scheduIe to see if I can make it up there. The breeder is a guy in port charlotte, I forget what the name on his card says...I'll let you know when I find it lol. Do you feed your babies CL? I know it's all a matter of personal preference for the most part, I just want to feed him what's proven to be the healthiest and safest regardless of how strict/convenient/costly. Love this little guy!

:) yes please try to come if you can lotssssssss of good info will be shared!! There is a meet and greet at the hotel friday night too if you can over night it I believe there are still some hotel rooms in our blocked off area and camping sites at the Rv park.

No I don't feed critter love, but it's one of two diets I promote to newer owners. Personally I can't afford it for my 11. I also promote Bml, those are really the only two widely recognized diets I have confidence in when fed correctly.

There is nooooooooo better place to learn about diets than at the gathering. Peggy will be there as I mentioned, Bourbon will as well she created Bml, Shelly Sterk who is doing a diet study will also be there and slew of other veterans as well. It's a great opportunity to meet them and ask questions pertaining to their diets and what not.


I'm not sure of any reputable breeders down by you, I know there are a few backyard breeders tho. We got our first one in cape coral...... didn't know about backyard breeders at the time but I wouldn't trade her for the world

Hey there, I am in need of some advice again! Have been feeding the critter love and so far so good! Everything has been great and he is healthy and active...out of nowhere, he has diarrhea! No changes in diet (critter love plus, fruits and veggies). He seems to be hydrated and is not acting lethargic and still eats and drinks water. Of course, if the diarrhea continues I will take him to a vet asap, but any advice in the meantime? Could it be the kiwi he tried for the first time last night? Is there any fruits or veggies I should be avoiding? Thanks!!!

How's your little one doing today? If the diarrhea has continued then I would do as you suggested and take him to the vet for a check up, and definitely watch for dehydration. The only time my glider ever had diarrhea was when I gave her some pear and peaches that didn't agree with her. I'm not sure why...maybe they weren't completely ripe or I didn't wash them as thoroughly as I usually do, so these are 2 things I'm very careful about now (making sure fruit is ripe and all produce is washed, or at the very least, rinsed). The only fruits/veggies that I've heard aren't safe for gliders are rhubarb, onion, garlic, and lima beans (and possibly papaya since there was a recall recently).

I'm so glad he's doing well with Critter Love. Keep up the good work and please keep us posted.

fruit and veg like tomatoes, pineapple, oranges, grapefruit etc... are highly acidic and can cause diarrhea, it's part of the reason many of us don't feed those foods regularly or in their weekly meal plan, they are fed occasionally for treats

Thanks for your concern and your responses. Petey is much better. I put a drop of apple juice in his water to make sure he was keeping hydrated and had read on a different thread to try a small amount of canned pumpkin to help with digestion... and Yesterday he had some perfect solid poops again lol! Thank goodness!!! Must have been the kiwi that just didn't sit well with him, or maybe wasn't ripe enough? Anyhow, still keeping a close eye on my little guy.