Advice on Sugar gliders

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ABBY W.

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
622
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA
I tried the glidercentral forum, but it is way confusing and I can't seem to find a thread with basic beginner's info in it.

I just ended up unexpectedly with a pair of three year old glider males. They have been getting Glide-R-Chow, by perfect pocket pets, and some fresh fruit with Glide-A-Mins on it, at their previous home. I have had them for two days and have been following this diet, but they don't seem all that enthralled with the pellet food.

I have read conflicting info on this diet, and I'm not sure if I should switch these guys or not. The gliders came with a petsmart type book on gliders, but based on the book they published on chins, I'm not putting much stock in it.

I know some of you have gliders, too. Can you tell me what you feed? Or maybe give me some links to good sources so I can figure this out. I read that giving them a lot of fresh food makes them smell, which I'm not thrilled with. Is there a good pelleted diet out there, or is fresh food the best for them?

Thanks!
 
Anything to deal with Perfect Pocket Pets should be thrown out. Gliders can not eat a pellet diet. PPP is a mill breeder who does not care for the well being of their gliders, they just mass produce them and try to sell off their crap as something that is wonderful. Sugar gliders mash their food with the roof of their mouth and need a soft diet to be able to handle this. The information that PPP gives is ridiculous - they even call sugar gliders, "sugar bears" as a sales tactic.

I suggest either using the BML, HPW or the Pet Glider Diet. There are many others out there, but I have experience with these three. I personally like the Pet Glider diet because everything is readily available at a grocery store other than the vitamins and minerals. The diets are rather expensive, but you'll see a difference in the gliders after you use them. You need to read up on Ca:p ratios, as these are important when learning what to feed your gliders in their feeds. You don't just toss in fresh fruits and veggies, you need to know how they balance.

As far as the smell goes, gliders have a distinctive smell. It's something you're going to have to get used to if you want to own them. A diet change should cut down on the smell a bit, but it's not going to do but so much. If you notice their bedding getting smelly, don't change it very often because as soon as you put new fleece pouches back in, they're going to stay up all night marking their cage. One thing for sure - if you have two males in a cage together, you're going to have an extra smelly cage. If these males aren't neutered, they're going to mark the cage left and right and you're also risking dominance fighting and possibly self-mutilation.

Here are some links to the diets I suggested:

http://www.sweet-sugar-gliders.com/sugar-glider-hpw-diet-high-protein-wombaroo-recipe.html

http://www.angelfire.com/nb/sugarglider/leadbeat.html

http://www.thepetglider.com/index/t...n-system/the-pet-glider-nutrition-system.html
 
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Thanks so much for the information! I will be making a diet switch. I assume the switch should be done gradually, just like a food switch with chinchillas?

I actually didn't plan to own gliders, but this woman contacted me and basically dumped them in my lap. Her kid was evidently scared to death of them, and she heard from a friend that I have experience with exotic pets. She was insistent that they leave her house right away, so it was my house or the local shelter...

As far as them being caged together, they are brothers and have been together all their lives. They are not neutered. I don't have any females and don't plan on getting any. Is dominance fighting really a big risk? They seem to get along beautifully, so I would hate to separate them unnecessarily.
 
If these animals were fed Perfect Pocket Pets food.. were they both purchased from Perfect Pocket Pets? If so, it's highly doubtful that they're brothers.. these people lie to get people in malls and fairs to buy them. They stick the gliders in pouches and just hand them off to people, not knowing which gliders go where. They don't even have a clue of the breeding lines in their animals.

I would see how much getting them neutered would cost. It helps out a lot because they will not be marking and it would decrease the chance of fights if they were to happen in their future. You don't have to get them neutered, but the glider community suggests that male pairs be neutered due to these issues.

Go ahead and switch them to a good diet. You can leave the pellets in, but if they're not eating them, they're most likely not going to eat them if you give them the proper diet. They're going to love a fresh diet compared to the pellets, just give them a small portion at first.
 
I'm not sure where they came from, but I would assume it was perfect pocket pets, since the book and food came from them. They sound like really great breeders :SarcasmA:

Anyway, thanks again for the information. I'm going to try them on the pet glider diet, since I can get all of the ingredients easily.

I'll check with my vet about neutering them. Thanks again!
 
threewingedfury said:
If these animals were fed Perfect Pocket Pets food.. were they both purchased from Perfect Pocket Pets? If so, it's highly doubtful that they're brothers.. these people lie to get people in malls and fairs to buy them. They stick the gliders in pouches and just hand them off to people, not knowing which gliders go where. They don't even have a clue of the breeding lines in their animals.

.
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Funny you said that. I met a lady with who just purchased one from them at a pet fair and she literally scoffed at me when I mentioned that diet was wrong. They told her that when someone mentions the other diets, they are obviously misinformed and their food is complete and right. I was seeing red by the time I walked away from her. Dumb A**!!!
 
I absolutely HATE seeing those people at street fairs - knowing that they are 'pushing' those poor sugar gliders on uninformed people who think they (Perfect Pocket Pets) know everthing. Their prices are extremely high and they lie up a storm. It should be against the law to sell animals that way.
 
they have a glider breeder on c list in my area and me and him have been going at it for weeks now!!! he tells me im an idiot that his gliders are well taken care of and that his female will be "neutered" before she leaves his home and bla bla bla!!! MUCH LESS HE SPELLS LIKE A 1ST GRADER and you cant understand half the crap he says....he post on c list that im a psycho sugar glider breeder and my info is wrong.........when really hes the psycho sugar glider breeder with the wrong info...I DONT EVEN BREED SUGGIES!!!!and he swearsssss by god with pocket pets and it makes me SO MAD!
 
OK, so I followed the "recipe" for the pet glider diet. I ended up with a chunky apple sauce-y mess. Is this how it's supposed to be?

Either way, the gliders are going nuts for it, which makes me feel good. They are alternating between standing in the bowl to get food, then climbing on my arm to leave little apple sauce footprints on my arm. Is that much apple sauce ok for them? I got the unsweetened kind, so they're not getting a lot of processed sugars. I also found a comprehensive listing of safe fruits and veggies with the calcium to phosphorous ratios listed. Almost everything I bought had at least a 1:1 ratio. Can they get too much calcium?
 
Yes, it's pretty much an applesauce mess. You do need to purchase the vitamins and minerals from the Pet Glider website though, as it's made to be used with them.

Your goal with the calcium and phosphorus ratios is that you want to have more calcium than phosphorus in the diet. You can give them calcium supplements, but too much phosphorus can be a problem. You can use Rep-Cal from a pet store, or it's cheaper to order online most likely. You can use it until you get the Pet Glider vitamins. I use it sparingly every once and a while in the mix with the vitamins. You want the diet to be high in calcium so that you prevent hind-leg paralysis. For instance, corn is very high in phosphorus compared to it's amount of calcium, so you want to either not use it or limit it to a few pieces. Papaya is a good fruit to use, as it has a 4.8:1 ratio. Very high in calcium. Also, you want to pay attention to protein intake. Mealworms are my main choice of protein, but the chicken and eggs in the Pet Glider diet are also high in protein.

Read through this page also:

http://www.sugar-gliders.com/sugar-glider-diet.htm

http://www.sugar-gliders.com/glidervet-60.htm
 
ABBY W. said:
O
Either way, the gliders are going nuts for it, which makes me feel good.
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This makes me want to cry for all the gliders out there being fed this pellet diet. It is so unnatural for them.
 
I already have mealies and waxworms for my hedgehog, so I can give them some of those guys (ick! I am not at all fond of bugs and worms). I also have vionate on hand that I can sprinkle on their food until I get glider specific vitamins.

Brenda, I know how you feel. I felt really bad for them when I saw how sparingly they ate the pellet food, then how they attacked the fresh food tonight. These poor guys have been dealing with that pellet stuff for a couple of years, I guess. The only fresh food they got was an apple slice or a baby carrot at night.

They were also in a cage that was virtually empty, only a few small cat toys to play with, and they're sleeping pouch was laid on the floor of the cage. The more I learn about them, the madder I get about how uninformed their previous owner was.
I have already stocked their cage with all kinds of hidey places and branches and toys to climb on (safe woods, of course). They seem to be responding really well to the changes.

Next on the list is to get them to the vet for checkups.

Thank you guys for all your help, especially you, Threewingedfury!
 
:laughitup: I just have to laugh at the irony... I started out on GliderCentral and now have 6 sugar gliders, then wanted to learn more about hedgehogs first, and recently chinchilla's (my brother in law gave me his) and I just bought a hedgie... And I am lost on this site!!!

I love Glidercentral, to me it's easy and clean cut and the people are great! On here I'm just trying to "chicken peck" my way around.

Congrats on the new sugar gliders btw. I love mine, they are so much fun to watch. Bonding with them is even more fun. I have my first joey, and he's my little bra baby.
 
:)
Good Fruits & Vegetables. I give them good vitamin/calcium supplement.
Most sugar gliders like melons, mangos, grapes, apples, oranges, peaches, pears, apples, kiwis, strawberries, broccoli and corn. I give also fruit flavored cereals, pelleted bird foods, jarred baby foods, and nuts – limit their nut intake because they’ll ignore the other foods. :thumbsup:

sugarglideraspet
 
I have a question that is probably a huge and obvious no-no but can you use baby food for gliders?
 
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