So I ended up with a pair of 1 year old (so I'm told) girls. Neighbor died. They have been living off pellets and mealworms only. I tried making a nice staple diet but they won't touch anything except meal worms I use for bonding. I'm currently keeping the pellets in the cage so they don't starve, and I'm adding calcium to their staple diet. While I'm slowly switching them over to a staple only diet I am worried they might get too much calcium between the pellets (which is already high in calcium) and adding a supplement to the staple diet.. But I also don't want to stop adding the supplement so they're not getting enough calcium. These babies really only like mealworms! lol

Until they start eating their staple properly, stop treating them with mealworms and use other things as treat (pieces of fruits...).
It is possible to give them too much calcium, which is as bad as not enough as it causes calcification of tissues and joints.

What died are you trying them on? Maybe try a different diet if they refuse to eat this one?

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Originally posted by sjusovare

Until they start eating their staple properly, stop treating them with mealworms and use other things as treat (pieces of fruits...).
It is possible to give them too much calcium, which is as bad as not enough as it causes calcification of tissues and joints.

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My vet said it's not possible to give them too much calcium unless you're using the Rep-Cal with added vitamin D and even then it's hard to overdose them.

Sj is right to much calcium is as just as bad as not enough,regardless of brand.

Which is why we stress using a well known staple diet like Critter Love or Bml which have a measured amount of calcium evenly distributed through out the staple, rather than "sprinkling on" irregular unmeasured amounts of calcium.

If you are using a well known, tested, widely used diet and follow the directions and use the ingredients specified there is no need to add anything extra to it.

As Sj suggested ease up on the treats especially in the afternoon so when they wake up they are hungry.

What diet are you feeding, what fruit and veg are you feeding, how are you preparing it, how are you serving it, how old are the gliders, what time are you putting the food in the cage, what time are you taking it out of the cage... many things can affect a gliders eating habits besides the diet itself.



Paani
Vets can be wrong, especially about diets. I use 3 different vets, all have different knowledge levels of glider diets, none of which I agree with or take diet advice from. Vets aren't dietitians.

Please keep in mind most vets don't see gliders enough in their facilities to have even general knowledge and experience with gliders as much as they do with domestic animals. They also don't really understand the glider community and how it networks nor do they follow the glider community as a resource for current accurate information. Much of a vets info regarding diet is old and sometimes completely inaccurate.

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Paani
Vets can be wrong, especially about diets. I use 3 different vets, all have different knowledge levels of glider diets, none of which I agree with or take diet advice from. Vets aren't dietitians.

Please keep in mind most vets don't see gliders enough in their facilities to have even general knowledge and experience with gliders as much as they do with domestic animals. They also don't really understand the glider community and how it networks nor do they follow the glider community as a resource for current accurate information. Much of a vets info regarding diet is old and sometimes completely inaccurate.

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Out of date info is certainly possible, especially since the vet told me that several years ago and I've been away from the boards for quite some time. He had said without the vitamin D addition, they would flush out excess calcium. Of course, he also could have been generalizing as I think calcium deficient diets are the greater risk. Had there been a spate of gliders suffering from too much calcium? I measure mine out in accordance with the LGRS recipe but am always happy to learn ... :D