a few q's

[critterkeeper]

i have a few questions here ,
generally i research any new acquisitions way before they arrive but the new glider wasnt exactly planned 
my little fella appears to have had a diet of cow&gate baby porridge , sliced apple , almonds & peanuts as thats all i was given when i picked him up or have found in his cage .
i gave him a cricket on monday & he didnt seem to know what to do with it so i dont know how long he's had his previous diet .
my questions are -
could his previous diet have caused him any lasting problems or was it nutritionaly ok ?

do i have to puree all his fruit & veg , or can he have chunks of papaya etc ? his first night here i didnt have any food ready as i didnt know he was going to be here so he got shop bought pureed baby fruits
he ate quite a bit of it but i just wondered if all his fruit needs a trip through the blender or if it can just be chopped up ?

does the acacia gum need to be added as a powdered form ? or can the resinous product be utilised ?

is pureed fruits & veg with added vitamins & calcium coupled with iams & live insects a balanced enough diet ?

like i said i kinda got thrown in at the deep end here & im on a steep learning curve 

[Marie]

Hi, yes a poor diet can have a lasting affect on a suggie's health, the most obvious would be calcium deficiency.  I would say that the diet was not nutritionally sound, the baby food could be fortified with vitamins and minerals and be too rich.  Does his waste smell overly? (not an easy question for a newbie as you don't know how much smell is too smelly!)

The nuts are not nutritionally sound, cheap peanuts can carry aflatoxins.  An almond every now and then is not a bad thing but their gut is not designed to take nutrients from them. 

The diet I use is - http://www.sugar-glider.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,6165.0.html.  It's up to you if you whizz the fruit/veg mix through a food processor or not, I always advise to do it because that way they cannot pick and choose and they benefit from the whole diet not just their favorite bits.  It also ensures the vit and calcium powders are distributed evenly.

Acacia gum can be added to the food as a powder, or it can be mixed with water or fruit juice and used as an enrichment tool.

Hope that helps.

[critterkeeper]

thanks marie
not sure if he smells more than he should , but there is a definite odour to his cage although theres no real signs of defecation
would his faeces be mouse-like ? or more of a fruity splatter ?
i had assumed the odour to the cage was due to his high fruit diet , its not unlike the kind of smell you get with a marmoset or similar .
ive looked at your diets & notice they contain 'glider booster' & 'glider cal' what are the ingredients of these please ? as i have all kinds of supplements & calcium additives here already
with the acacia gum i just wondered if the raw substance chaar gund can be somehow dissolved or something ?
i'll try grinding some in a pestle & mortar see how it goes 

[critterkeeper]

im pretty sure the odour from his cage will soon be a long forgotten memory 
i dismantled it completely today for a thorough deep clean & gotta say .. blerghhhhhh
what i thought to be corrosion to the wire base was indeed an age worth of built up mess , both food & waste
just caked new layer on old & the smell was atrocious close up .
everything was sticky but i assume thats just urine build up & was easily washed off . the caked on filth at the bottom took a bit more elbow grease .
ive removed the wire base completely now though so he can have something other than wire & hammocks to walk on .
im gonna have to get a 2nd snuggle pouch & hammock to use while ones in the wash though as these both still hum a bit
anyone suggest a good place to buy spares ?
 

[Marie]

Suggies should smell nothing like marmosets!  Marmosets are incredibly smelly in comparison.  The reason I use booster and cal is so that you don't have to give both the vitamins and the calcium, you can give just vitamins or just calcium.  Gliderbooster is for daily use, and if your diet is balanced properly cal only 2 - 3 times a week.  Don't give them nutrobal as that is way too high in calcium.

I have never tried raw acacia gum and TBH I wouldn't be comfortable doing that, for me, I'll stick to the brand I trust.  The marmoset stuff you can buy from Mazuri is a no no also as it has extra vits and mins added.  It's just as bad to overdo the vitamins and calcium as it is to not give them enough.