Proper Diet and Feeding of Sugar Gliders

Over the past decade the Sugar Glider has become a very popular pet in the American pet industry and homes of pet owners. With the rapid growth of popularity have come several commercial diets, supplements and additives which are all a blessing to the pet owner. Here at the Mississippi Rebel Glider Ranch we have cultured a good relationship with the folks at Brisky’s Pet Products, one of the premiere and initial innovators of Sugar Glider nutritional supplements. We are a distributor for their Sugar Glider Products and are proud to associate ourselves with them. Of all the diets they manufacture, Sugar Gliders are the only species they have a colony of to research their product and improve it effectiveness. We keep a moderate supply of the Brisky’s pelletized diet in each cage 24/7 along with a water bottle of fresh purified water. Be aware we use the term moderate supply in the previous sentence. The Sugar Glider is a very hygienically clean animal itself, but as any owner will tell you they are heathens in their environment. With this in mind a periodic examination of the container this food is kept in is essential. The animals have a tendency to defecate or urinate in the same bowl they just ate from and will eat from again. The digestion of the excretions will be devastating to the health as the animal will quite possibly contract Gerardia, an intestinal parasite that will cause extreme diarrhea and unchecked will lead to dehydration and death. Another phenomenon with the Sugar Glider is they have the capability to chew their food and with out swallowing the entire contents absorb into their system the nutrition and spit out the unneeded carriers. With this in mind, if you see the pelletized food in the food dish has been chewed up and still there the nutrition from that food has been digested and it is time to discard the remains and replenish with fresh new food. These are the basic area we watch for and care for concerning the manufactured Sugar Glider diets available. We feed this product as approximately a 10 to 20 percent ratio of the total diet. The Brisky’s diet contains the unique vitamins, minerals and eucalyptus in a concentrated amount which the Sugar Glider requires for a long and healthy life. We have found with our breeder stock that the least expensive and most efficient means of fresh food derives in using as a main course diet, frozen mixed vegetables, the corn, bean, pea, carrot combination available at any supermarket. Let me emphasize, the use of frozen, and not canned as any canned item will be loaded with preservatives that can and most likely will be detrimental to the animals health. To keep this diet interesting and keep the animal interested in this evening serving of fresh food we will use the mixed vegetable as the daily main course and along with this we serve the animals a slice of various fresh fruits or a spoonful of yogurt ( they love the strawberry) on an irregular basis with the vegetables. Concerning the feeding of fruit there are a couple of areas to be aware of. First, do not give citric fruits to Joeys that are not adult size yet. Their metabolism during the rapid raise in growth does not allow for the digestion of harsh food such as citric based fruits. Secondly, if you feed cantaloupe, watermelon or strawberries do not be alarmed if you experience what seems to be blood in the stool of you animals, this is a natural phenomena when they digest these fruits and is not of concern. As for quantities we use a rule of thumb, one heaping teaspoon full per animal of the vegetables per day along with either teaspoonful per animal of yogurt or a slice of fruit per animal. These quantities will be thrown to the wind when our females are carrying joeys in the pouch or still nursing resent OOP’s. A lactating female is given all she wishes to eat as she is eating for more than just herself and for the welfare of you Joeys we allow her all she wishes. Overfeeding and feeding high fat foods is very harmful to the lifespan and health of Sugar Gliders. They should be given a high protein, low fat diet. We currently have a female we took on trade from a couple who acquired her as an adult from owners who not longer wished to keep the animal. Unfortunately they apparently acquired the animal from a breeder who did not care for the continued health and will being of the Joeys he or she were selling but only the monetary gain. They either did not listen, did not care, or quite possibly were not told how and what to feed the animal. This female was on a diet of peanuts and bird seed and upon my weighing her found her to be twice the normal weight of a female Sugar Glider, a whopping eight ounces. We currently have her on a diet of Brisky’s dry food, vegetables and in her case to help burn off the fat at a slightly quicker rate a regular diet of citric fruit in hope the citric acid will stimulate the burning off of the excessive fat. We also lace our vegetables once to twice a week with a small amount of the Brisky’s Glideraid vitamin supplement. We have also formulated our own Protein Supplement product in a granulated form that we sprinkle onto the animals’ diet two to three times a week. This product is not readily accepted as a tasty item in the diet by the Sugar Glider but is very essential to good health so we will mix it into the yogurt the days we serve it as a side, to assure the animals digest it. The lactating females and their mate also receive a sprinkle of the Booster Milk additive on their daily fresh vegetables approximately two to three days a week. Be cautious when doing this and about a week or two before the Joeys are to be “pulled” discontinue the booster milk to encourage less production of milk and the weaning of the young. This will also discourage any possibility of the mother contracting Milk Fever when the Joeys are “pulled”. We can assure you with the above diet and supplement you will have health Sugar Gliders with a minimum of cost and hassle. The Proof is in the pudding as they say and our proof is in the size and numbers of offspring we produce from very healthy breeders who are on the above diet. In an effort to simplify and economize the diet and still have healthy productive breeders we have devised these guidelines through trial and error. You will read in many articles and publications about the Ledbetter’s Diet, which is a good diet but when you have as many habitats to maintain as we do in our facility, the cost along with the mess generated in the habitat feeding this diet is very prohibitive. Our Protein Supplement is a direct innovation from the need to make a limited number of breeders produce health Joeys without jeopardizing the health or life expectancy of our breeders.