Hello!

My family has decided to rescue 2 sugar gliders from a shelter in 2 months. We have the reservations and are ready to bring home our new babies. However, I am still a little confused. I have done a good amount of research but I am not sure who to trust as some people are discrediting certain websites with glider info and saying some diets are not healthy for the suggies. I have found a cage and some yogurt drops and toys and treats and bonding mitts/pouches, but I still need some expert advice on how to care for them properly and what I should feed them. I am still very new to the sugar glider community, but I am excited to see what the future holds!!

Congrats on nearly getting your babies! So exciting!
Do you have any specific questions regarding their care aside from diet? I’ll be happy to answer to the best of my ability. :)

As far as diet, there are several good, safe ones that have been tried and tested for a while. The main glider diets include BLM, OHPW (NOT HPW that Exotic Nutrition sells – that is not safe or nutritious for gliders), Critter Love and TPG (some controversy over that one). I can give you the links to all of the recipes for those if you want.

quote:

---

Originally posted by gliderloverforever

Congrats on nearly getting your babies! So exciting!
Do you have any specific questions regarding their care aside from diet? I’ll be happy to answer to the best of my ability. :)

As far as diet, there are several good, safe ones that have been tried and tested for a while. The main glider diets include BLM, OHPW (NOT HPW that Exotic Nutrition sells – that is not safe or nutritious for gliders), Critter Love and TPG (some controversy over that one). I can give you the links to all of the recipes for those if you want.

---

Thank you!! I am very excited.

My main questions are how strictly a diet should be followed, like if I fed the glider an extra piece of fruit as a treat, should I remove that amount of food from their meal for that day?

My other question is how well they bond with multiple people, as my sister would like to bond with the gliders as well, and do they get along with other animals? We have a friend who visits about twice a month and likes to bring his cat. We were worried that the cat would scare the gliders.

Lastly, would you recommend any routines or schedules for taking care of gliders? For example, when to feed them, when to give them bonding/tent time, etc.

Thank you for responding to my post!

Hello hello!!

this is such a fun time in the sugar glider journey.
as for your questions about when to feed them- I always feed them around 9 PM, it keeps the fruit fresh for them when they wake up and eat it (and usually if I'm good at keeping a schedule one will be up at 9!)
think about treats and such like this: when YOU eat a treat or a little snack, do you remove that much food from your dinner that night? No? of course not. don't worry about them. don't OVERFEED the treats so they don't eat their DINNER. But that comes with watching them, seeing what they do and don't like to eat... as you learn your gliders you'll be able to better understand what they devour and what they don't.
as for bonding with multiple people, you BOTH need to spend lots of time with the gliders. If one person does all the work, feeding, loving, playing, and time.. the other person will not be trusted. So keep that in mind. They will probably bond to one person better than the other. But there's 2 of you! so yay!
tent time/play time is best done in the evening when they're awake/waking up. I'll take Gidget out and play with her a little during feeding time while Stitch (my newer glider who doesn't trust me fully yet) gets used to my hands going in and out and my petting her while she eats and such.
keep in mind, this is a slow process. They will not fall in love with you immediately. They will not act the same in the first few weeks from day to day sometimes. They will calm down, they will acclimate. They will love you!

I hope that helps! if you have any other questions, feel free to ask

quote:

---

Originally posted by GandKaidos

Hello hello!!

this is such a fun time in the sugar glider journey.
as for your questions about when to feed them- I always feed them around 9 PM, it keeps the fruit fresh for them when they wake up and eat it (and usually if I'm good at keeping a schedule one will be up at 9!)
think about treats and such like this: when YOU eat a treat or a little snack, do you remove that much food from your dinner that night? No? of course not. don't worry about them. don't OVERFEED the treats so they don't eat their DINNER. But that comes with watching them, seeing what they do and don't like to eat... as you learn your gliders you'll be able to better understand what they devour and what they don't.
as for bonding with multiple people, you BOTH need to spend lots of time with the gliders. If one person does all the work, feeding, loving, playing, and time.. the other person will not be trusted. So keep that in mind. They will probably bond to one person better than the other. But there's 2 of you! so yay!
tent time/play time is best done in the evening when they're awake/waking up. I'll take Gidget out and play with her a little during feeding time while Stitch (my newer glider who doesn't trust me fully yet) gets used to my hands going in and out and my petting her while she eats and such.
keep in mind, this is a slow process. They will not fall in love with you immediately. They will not act the same in the first few weeks from day to day sometimes. They will calm down, they will acclimate. They will love you!

I hope that helps! if you have any other questions, feel free to ask

---

Thank you for the advice! Also, I love your gliders' names, they're so cute. Quick question though, are there any reputable sites that have good sugar glider supplies or resources to study? I've seen ThePetGlider (TPG) but some people say they sell harmful supplies and give out misinformation, etcetera etcetera. I know Pocket Pets is untrustworthy and harmful, but other than that I'm not sure what websites or companies to trust with my sugar gliders' well-being.

Glider Gossip has a lot of information, I've come here for a lot of questions I've asked. when you look something up, chances are it's been asked here. (And usually you get a few different opinions and can decide for yourself which one works best for you) My cage, wheel, and a few toys are from Exotic Nutrition. I use their food as well for when my sugar gliders decide allll of their fruit is not enough and they want a bit of the hard food.
Etsy has a LOT of good cage supplies!!
make sure you know where a vet is that could see your gliders, I'm blessed to have a vet within 20 minutes that sees both raptors and sugar gliders. Both of which I've needed them for!
SunCoast Gliders seems to have a good repute.
You can easily make toys for your gliders as well!
I've never had a bad experience with Exotic Nutrition either.
While, of course, accidents can happen with anything. I don't think it's always a manufacturer problem. So if someone comes in here saying "my glider died because of Exotic Nutrition!" I'd be a little interested to hear the circumstances behind that. One of mine died of cancer but at first I thought it was an allergy to a new food...
Also, keep in mind, just like owning a dog or parenting a child, everyone has different opinions on what is BEST for their glider. While yes, Pocket Pets is DEFINITELY 100% widely agreed on to be horrible... Other, smaller things are often up to you and your gliders.
you're doing amazing asking questions beforehand! I can't wait to hear all about it when you get the babies!! do you know what you'll be naming them yet?

Thank you!! I am very excited.

My main questions are how strictly a diet should be followed, like if I fed the glider an extra piece of fruit as a treat, should I remove that amount of food from their meal for that day? i would feed OHPW/critterlove OR BML. I just give a few treats in addition to the meal. mealworms, yogurt drops etc.

My other question is how well they bond with multiple people, as my sister would like to bond with the gliders as well, and do they get along with other animals? We have a friend who visits about twice a month and likes to bring his cat. We were worried that the cat would scare the gliders. [my friendly gliders like most everybody, love to explore and check out new people. My wife's glider will, if ON her and happy, nip at someone putting their hands in his face sometimes, like a LEAVE ME ALONE IM HAPPY HERE kind of message. I keep my gliders 100% away from other animals, cats dogs etc. the hunt and get instinct in my german shepards and beagle and cats is way to strong, ONE MOMENT, ONE SECOND, and a cat/dog could naturally pounce. for me that is not a risk I'm willing to take, and for what? gliders are happy with each other and people.

Lastly, would you recommend any routines or schedules for taking care of gliders? For example, when to feed them, when to give them bonding/tent time, etc.
during the day I let them sleep, that is their bed time. during darkness they come out, I serve food 8 to 11 pm depending on my schedule. food is removed in morning. they have multiple water sources all the time, bird water silo and the ones with metal balls. I give them pet pro kibble most of the time so they can have a snake during day plus these are health and good for teeth cleaning. I go into glider room at darkness, keep room very low light and spend time with them give a few treats. they will come out at 8pm to get food, come running at 2am for treats, and at sunrise 7am they are usually doing a run around the room full speed before they go to sleep for the day.

1. if they are not friendly or bonded, it will take TIME to train them, some gliders fast, some glider very very slow. I have one female that still prefers to stay away from me unless I have a treat, she just doesn't like humans, and she SUPER hard grooms me so I let her be with her colony. I got her to not bite and I can pet her during dinner time or pick her up to cut nails, so we have a good understanding. training time can be many weeks to many months.

2. spend time with gliders in LOW light. be SLOW and DONT try to just pick them up or grab them, that is how owls and snakes attack them. use treats to see if you can get them to step on your hand to get the treat, go slow and LOW. some day if gliders are willing to walk on your arm/hand to get treat they will start letting you pick them up. if gliders scared, during tent time sit STILL dont MOVE. give a treat and let them explore for the first many, how ever long it takes for them to start approaching you tent times.

Thank you for responding to my post!
[/quote]