Differences for “ Diet ”

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Diet is a very important factor in the healthy keeping of sugar gliders.  Many 
things have been learned about their natural diet and many people have 
attempted to devise an acceptable captive diet to emulate and/or improve this.  
It is safe to say that the dietary needs of exotic animals such as sugar 
gliders are far too numerous to be met by simple off the shelf solutions.  
Therefore dog and cat food, ferret food, hamster food, pellets of any kind, 
monkey biscuits and the like are never going to sustain a sugar glider.
  
Wild sugar gliders are indeed "sap suckers" for at least part of the 
year.  They remove the bark of trees with their long teeth and suck the sap for 
nourishment.  They will also eat bugs, small animals such as mice, birds, and 
all sorts of other naturally occurring things in the Australian forests.  See: 
NaturalDiet
  
In captivity, sugar gliders do not need as much energy since they do not spend 
half of their day foraging and running and leaping between the trees.  Instead, 
they need a lower fat and lower carb diet that will keep them in the correct 
nutrients for a healthy life.  There is a lot of ongoing debate and 
experimentation to this end and because of that we are going to list links and 
summaries to as many of the "diets" that we can so that you can make 
your own judgement and do what you think will be right for your sugar glider.
  
On that note, a growing consensus in our community is that variety is the key.  
Feeding the same thing all the time every time is a poor practice and does not 
allow for the varied nutrition that the animals need.  Also, adding 
supplements, especially cheap ones, for the sake of doing it is showing to be a 
bad practice and a diet full of natural variety is the correct way to feed.  
  
  
== CURRENT or RECOGNIZED ==
The following is a list of various useful nectar replacement diet plans. 
  
  * [[LGRSSuggieSoup]]
  
  * [[HPWOriginal]] - Original High-Protein Wombaroo Diet
  
  * KazkosDiet Plan
  
  * AWD - Australian Wombaroo Brand Diet
  
  * ThePetGliderExoticDiet - Also known as The Priscilla Price Exotic Diet
  
  * PML - Pocket's Modified Leadbeaters
 
== OTHER ==
Other miscellaneous nectar replacement diet plans.
  
  * [[HPWPlus]] - Peggy's commercial powder product with no actual Australian 
[WombarooHighProteinSupplement HPW] in it.
  
  
  * [[HPWComplete]] Also known as Glider Gravy - Peggy's commercial powder
product with no actual Australian [WombarooHighProteinSupplement HPW] in it.
  
  * RWD - Reep's Wombaroo Diet
  
  * [[VGVDiet]] - Val's Green Variety Diet
  
The following diets are predecessors for the popular captive diet plans.
  
  * NaturalDiet
  
  * [LeadbeatersDiet Leadbeaters Original]
  
  * 
[http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=18109 Healesville Sanctuary Diet]
  
  * AustralianCaptiveDiet
  
  * Ruth's Original ModifiedLeadbeatersMix
  
  * BML - Bourbon's Modified Leadbeaters
  
  
== SEE ALSO ==
  * 
[http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=29199&whichpage=1 Affects of a bad diet]
  * Beware of supplements using K3 / MENADIONE.
  * MealWorm
  * WaxWorm
  * BlapticaDubia
  * [http://files.meetup.com/768852/Ratios.pdf Calcium/phosphorus ratios 
explained] 
  * [http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26197 A list of 
popular diets]
  
  * 
[http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/Exotic-animal+medicine/Feeding-behavior-and-nutrition-of-the-sugar-glider/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/628666 Feeding behavior and nutrition of the sugar glider]
  
  * 
[http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24924&whichpage=3#198776 Diet Discussion]
  
  * [http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=24413 
Discussion about pellet foods ]
  * [[Blending]]
 
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