Adult Sugar Glider

There is no quick simple diet that will lead to success.
If you don’t provide enough minerals and vitamins, you are putting your pet at risk. Calcium deficiency is one of the leading causes of illness and death in young sugar gliders.

 

Our Recommended Diets

There are as many different diets on the Internet as there are sugar glider websites.  Many of these diets have dangerous nutritional imbalances that may lead to life-threatening illnesses yet still some well-known books and websites continue to recommend them!  If you are keeping a sugar glider, you are faced with a lifetime commitment of providing a quality diet which means an extra bit more work for you than if you were feeding a dog or a cat.  Simply put, there is no over-the-counter diet for sugar gliders that works!

High Protein Wombaroo Diet, often known as HPW Diet, is one of the easier to prepare diets.  The American Sugar Glider Diet, also known as the ASG Diet, is also relatively easy to prepare. We also include Bourbon’s Modified Leadbeater’s Diet, often known as BML Diet,  which has gotten a bad reputation because many people mistakenly used a portion of the diet as the sole diet leading to nutritional deficiencies.  Currently BML Diet is a subject of great scrutiny and it is a diet that is rapidly falling out of favor.  However, since many sugar gliders are on this diet and are difficult to switch to a new diet, we have included it for completeness.  (Note: We make no claim to be the originator of these diets.  They are readily available on other websites and in many articles on sugar glider care.  www.glideruniversity.org, www.sugarglider.com, and www.glidercentral.net are among the better policed websites out there devoted to sugar glider care.)

HPW Liquid (High Protein Wombaroo Recipe)

2 cups warm water
1-1/2 cup honey
3 scrambled eggs
2 tablespoons bee pollen
1/4 cup High Protein Wombaroo Powder (increase to 1/2 cup for breeding or pregnant gliders)
(This product is available from many sources.  Check out forum threads on www.glidercentral.net or try using an internet search engine)

Preparing HPW

• Step 1. Cook Eggs, set aside.
• Step 2. Make HPW liquid.
  • Mix water and honey in a large bowl, stirring until honey is completely dissolved.
  • Add in HPW powder, mix well.
• Step 3.  Combine ingredients.
  • Add eggs, bee pollen and 1/2 to 1 cup HPW liquid to a blender.
  • Blend for two minutes.
  • Add in additional liquid and blend for another two minutes.
• Step 4.  Pour into a freezer-safe bowl with an airtight lid.
  • Freeze. Will freeze to consistency of ice cream.

HWP Complete Diet

Each night you’ll want to offer the following diet to each sugar glider:

• HPW Liquid, thawed, 1.5 teaspoons
• Fresh or frozen fruit, 1 tablespoon
  • Fold a few pieces into the HPW and put the rest in a side dish with vegetables
• Fresh or frozen vegetables, 1 tablespoon
  • Fold a few pieces into the HPW and put the rest in a side dish with vegetables
• Insects (e.g., crickets, mealworms, waxworms, Phoenix worms)
  • Offer a variety of insects over the course of a month
  • One sugar glider may eat every night
    • 4-6 crickets, or 4-5 mealworms, or 2 superworms, or 6-8 large phoenixworms or 6-8 waxworms
      • Some sugar gliders learn to eat canned grasshoppers and crickets available from Zoomed and other manufacturers.  It seems likely that the canned insects are lacking in vitamins and other nutrients found in live insects so these should only be used as temporary measures.
    • Some local pet stores sells lobster roaches.  These may be offered if frozen and thawed but they may move too fast to be caught by the sugar gliders before getting out of the cage.
    • Some people mix the insects into the HPW but many sugar gliders don’t like eating the HPW with wiggling things in it.
    • Some people offer the insects to their sugar gliders first thing in the morning instead of at night with the other food.  If you do this, consider dusting the insects with the RepCal with vitamin D3 dust.
• If your sugar glider eats it all in one night, you may want to add a little more the following night.  Continue to increase until you find a little bit leftover the next day.

Sugar gliders may love one fruit or vegetable for a while and then ignore it.  Always have a variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables available so you may rotate ingredients frequently.  Avoid including seeds or pits as these sometimes get swallowed by the sugar glider and cause problems.  Some pits may have chemicals that are harmful of the sugar glider chews on them.

HPW spoils if not eaten within a few hours.  If there is any left over the following morning, decrease the amount of fruit and vegetables so that your sugar glider is eating all of the high protein elements of the HPW and the essential vitamins and minerals it contains.

ASG Diet (American Sugar Glider Diet)

Feed one of the following protein sources daily:

• 3-4 insects (large mealworms, moths, grasshoppers, crickets) OR
  • Some sugar gliders learn to eat canned grasshoppers and crickets available from Zoomed and other manufacturers.  It seems likely that the canned insects are lacking in vitamins and other nutrients found in live insects so these should only be used as temporary measures.
• Heaping tablespoon of yogurt OR
• Heaping tablespoon broiled chicken or duck OR
• Scrambled or boiled egg yolk OR
• Pinkie Mice

Fruits and vegetables offered every other day. Choose some healthy cleaned, chopped fruits/vegetables: (about 1/2 tablespoon each)

• Fruits: Fresh (in-season) Papaya, oranges, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, mango, kiwi, peaches, honeydew melon. You can also use frozen fruit to add variety.
• Vegetables: Cucumbers, yellow squash (or any in season squash), red & yellow bell peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes, bok choy, jicama and green beans.

Feed one of the following "Daily Staples":

• Small cup of insectivore fare OR
• Monkey Biscuits OR
• Sugar glider cereal

Feed one of the following "Enrichment Supplement" three or four times a week:

• Acacia gum powder mixed with water or diluted, unsweetened juice OR
• Acacia/eucalyptus branches (live) (These are easy to find in Arizona as they are very common ornamental trees.  Ask your neighbors for clippings or plant your own!) OR
• Fruit flavored Gatorade OR
• A commercial nectar supplement made for sugar gliders

Feed a daily vitamin/mineral supplement from one of the following:

• The Pet Glider Complete Multivitamin (1/8 teaspoon sprinkled over food per glider) OR
• Vionate (a small mammal multivitamin, usually found in pet stores), plus calcium in a nectar form, 1 tablespoon of the following mix per 2 gliders: 4 ounces unsweetened juice plus 1/8 teaspoon Vionate plus 1/4 teaspoon calcium (available at most pharmacies). DO NOT FREEZE! OR
• True Modified Leadbeater's

Sugar gliders may love one fruit or vegetable for a while and then ignore it.  Always have a variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables available so you may rotate ingredients frequently.  Avoid including seeds or pits as these sometimes get swallowed by the sugar glider and cause problems.  Some pits may have chemicals that are harmful of the sugar glider chews on them.

Many ingredients of the American Sugar Glider Diet spoil if not eaten within a few hours.  If there is any left over the following morning, decrease the amount of fruit and vegetables so that your sugar glider is eating all of the high protein part of the ASG Diet and the essential vitamins and minerals it contains.

BML Recipe

• Step 1.  Add to a blender the following ingredients:
  • Honey, ½ cup
    • Most honey bought in groceries stores are okay but do not use if the label states it is honeycomb, raw, or unfiltered.
  • Egg (hard-boiled), 1
    • We recommend leaving the shell on to provide an extra boost of calcium and some trace minerals.
  • Apple juice, ¼ cup
    • Bottled juice
  • Blend well in a blender.  Ideally the eggshell should be ground into tiny pieces.  If your blender does not grind the shell into fine enough particles, you should remove the shell from the hardboiled egg before blending and discard the eggshell.
• Step 2. Add the following ingredients:
  • Premixed Gerber™ Juice with Yogurt, Mixed Fruit or Banana, 4oz bottle
    • If you can’t find this, mix 2 oz of plain yogurt with 2 oz of a mixed fruit juice.  Each sugar glider may have a different preference so you may have to try different juice flavors to find one that works the best.
  • Rep-Cal Herptivite vitamin supplement, 1 teaspoon
    • This may be bought from local pet stores.
      • Substituting other vitamin mixes for this carries a risk.  If you are going to substitute, grind up a teaspoon’s worth of a human multivitamin with minerals.  You must use one designed for active men.  Do not use vitamins for women that contain iron--the levels of iron in these supplements may be dangerous for sugar gliders.
    • Blend well.
• Step 3. Add the following ingredients:
  • Rep-Cal Calcium Supplement with Vitamin D3, 2 teaspoons
    • This may be bought from local pet stores.
  • 2 ½ oz jar of chicken baby food (e.g., Heinz™, Gerber™ or Beechnut™), 2
    • The label may say Stage 1 or Stage 2.  It may or may not say gravy or broth included.
  • Wheat Germ, ¼ cup
  • Dry baby cereal (e.g., Heinz™, Gerber™, or Beechnut™), ½ cup
    • Choose rice, mixed or oatmeal.  Many sugar gliders like the rice with banana flavor.
  • Blend well.
• Step 4. Pour the blended liquid into the container suitable for freezing.
  • Ice cube trays work well. The volume of an individual ice cube mold is about 2 tablespoons but you should measure ahead of time to verify this.  A 2 tablespoon BML cube will feed two sugar gliders for one night when mixed with fruit, vegetables, and insects.
  • It will freeze to the consistency of ice cream.
  • Cover the ice cube tray with plastic film so that the blend doesn’t get freezer burn.
  • This amount of frozen BML Diet will feed one sugar glider for about one month.

The Complete BML Diet

Each night you’ll want to offer the following diet to each sugar glider:

• BML Diet, thawed, 1 tablespoon
• Fresh or frozen fruit, 1 tablespoon
  • Fold a few pieces into the BML and put the rest in a side dish with vegetables
• Fresh or frozen vegetables, 1 tablespoon
  • Fold a few pieces into the BML and put the rest in a side dish with vegetables
• Insects (e.g., crickets, mealworms, waxworms, Phoenix worms)
  • Offer a variety of insects over the course of a month
  • One sugar glider may eat every night
    • 4-6 crickets, or 4-5 mealworms, or 2 superworms, or 6-8 large phoenixworms or 6-8 waxworms
    • Some local pet stores sells lobster roaches.  These may be offered if frozen and thawed but they may move too fast to be caught by the sugar gliders before getting out of the cage.
    • Some people mix the insects into the BML but many sugar gliders don’t like eating the BML with wiggling things in it.
    • Some people offer the insects to their sugar gliders first thing in the morning instead of at night with the other food.  If you do this, consider dusting the insects with the RepCal with vitamin D3 dust.
      • Some sugar gliders learn to eat canned grasshoppers and crickets available from Zoomed and other manufacturers.  It seems likely that the canned insects are lacking in vitamins and other nutrients found in live insects so these should only be used as temporary measures.
• If your sugar glider eats it all in one night, you may want to add a little more the following night.  Continue to increase until you find a little bit leftover the next day.

Sugar gliders may love one fruit or vegetable for a while and then ignore it.  Always have a variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables available so you may rotate ingredients frequently.  Avoid including seeds or pits as these sometimes get swallowed by the sugar glider and cause problems.  Some pits may have chemicals that are harmful of the sugar glider chews on them.

BML spoils if not eaten within a few hours.  If there is any left over the following morning, decrease the amount of fruit and vegetables so that your sugar glider is eating all of the high protein elements and the BML and the essential vitamins and minerals it contains.

Copyright 2008
Kevin Wright and Jay Johnson
Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital, LLC
744 N Center Street
Mesa, AZ 85203
info@azeah.com