A New Year, and Diet Time

With all the attention on diet and fitness at the start of a new year I thought I would write a little about what sugar gliders, and in particular our gliders, eat on a day to day basis. In the wild sugar gliders eat insects, small vertebrates, flower nectar, and the sap and leaves of certain plants, in particular eucalyptus, acacia, and certain gum trees. They do have a penchant for sweet foods, and hence the name "sugar gliders".  In captivity, we try to keep a proper balance of protein, vegetables, and fruit.  Gliders are susceptiple to calcium deficiency which can lead to various problems, including Hind Leg Paralysis. In general a glider's diet needs to have a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2 to1. Over the past several years there have been a number of diets developed by glider owners and vets to provide sugar gliders with the right balance of nutrients. There have been a couple of pelleted diets developed, but none of them provide complete nutrition. Some are repackaged and relabeled food developed for other animals.  Gliders also like variety, something that pellets don't really provide.  There are two particularly popular diets,  the BML diet and the HPW diet. Both of these provide basic protein, vitamins, and minerals, and are supplemented with fruits and vegetables. There are many other diets out there as well, and they vary in their foods and their complexity to prepare.

Foehn and CB are on what's called the Blended Diet, which we feel combines the best of the BML and HPW diets and is more flexible about what fruits and vegetables you can feed them. Our gliders love this, and there has not been a night yet where they haven't "cleaned their plate". Gliders are small animals - Foehn and CB weigh about 75 to 80 grams right now (about 2.5 to 3 ounces).We give them each about a teaspoon and a half of the Blended Diet. M makes up a batch, freezes it in ice cube trays, then stores the cubes in a bag in the freezer. Each cube is enough for both gliders . We also give them a tablespoon each of fruits and a tablespoon of vegetables.  There are certain fruits and vegetables which are better than others because of their calcium to phosphorus ratio, and we try to give them a good selection. They do have their likes and dislikes.  They love papaya (most gliders do), various melons, grapes, and apples. Actually, they like most fruit we have given them. They are more picky in the vegetable department. They love bok choy (Chinese cabbage), collard greens, sweet red pepper, carrots, and to a lesser exent green beans. They aso like various squashes,  spinach and broccoli. However, you have to be careful to not give too much spinach and other leafy vegetables with high iron because it will inhibit calcium uptake. They do not like green peas at all. I tried again the other night, putting the peas on top of some carrots I chopped into pieces. Well, they showed me. They not only didn't eat the peas, but I don't think they touched the carrots, either, and they love carrots. That was the first time I can remember that they left that much in the dish. During the day, Foehn and CB also get mealworms as a treat.

Of course, not all vegetables are good for them and may in fact harm them - onions and garlic, for example. There are a lot of resources now available or glider owners to determine what is good and not good for their pets.