The Importance Of A Proper Diet

[SugarShock]

Sugar Gliders are exotic animals and being exotic animals, require a veterinarian-approved, balanced and nutritious diet. Gliders need the right amounts of calcium, protein and other essential vitamins and nutrients to be happy and healthy. Too much or too little of these could result in major health complications such as calcium deficiency, dull or unhealthy looking fur, obesity, and many other conditions that could potentially be fatal if ignored. It is imperative that you perform an extensive amount of research when it comes to selecting your Gliders' diet.

There are many great proven diets out there, such as BML, The Original HPW, HPW Plus, HPW Complete, The Pet Glider Diet, Suggie Soup and many, many others. For a complete list and recipes please visit my website, http://sugarshock.webs.com/gliderrecipes.htm.

In addition, it is extremely important that your Gliders have fresh, clean water available at all times! I personally choose to use the "Lixit" bottles with my Gliders as I have found that they don't leak, and the plastic drinking ball is much cleaner than some of the metal ones! Allowing your Gliders to drink from a bowl or dish is risky. Many Gliders will choose to urinate and/or defecate in their water, and then proceed to drink from it! Again, this could result in many health complications. Please make sure that your Glider is staying hydrated and drinking regularly, especially with this killer heat wave across the United States!

[helen88uk]

How you began that post was spot on, however, to be honest, I think that anyone who isn't clued up about the dietary requirements of suggies may find your website a little confusing. There are so many diets listed on there ... one of which you have listed in detail and then put next to it *this is not suitable for sugar gliders* ... I wouldn't feed my girls any kind of honey based mix, leadbeaters or whatever ...
I think the information already on this site is spot on and with it being such an active forum, if people do want to check up on detail they can ask questions which are replied to within 24hours by an experienced suggie owner.

I'm not disputing the information on the website link you have posted hasn't worked effectively for you so far, but there are so many different diets it's hard for someone reading it to trust which is the correct one. They cant all be right or else they would all be the same ...

What you have said about the importance of the right protein/veggie/fruit mix and calcium/phosphorus ratio is spot on, I just think that the the diets previously posted by marie and other experienced owners are tested and proven and I trust their judgement.
As a new suggie owner, I would go on the diets that are posted as stickies on this forum.

[helen88uk]

Grapes have also been listed as "safe fruits" on the website you linked to. I have been advised never to feed my gliders grapes and I trust that advice. I would also not consider giving Wombaroo as a daily protein source. I prefer Iams as these also aid the condition of the gliders teeth.
And I wouldn't be advised to feed baby food as part of a daily diet either.

I really don't mean to be picky, I just trust the advice I have received on this forum and you website seems to go against alot of it x

[SugarShock]

Helen,
Thank you for your response! as far as my website goes, I have had a few people ask about the original "Leadbeater's" and how it's different from the modified versions today. i posted that diet simply as a reference and made a point to state that. I do believe that all the other diets on that page are proven diets - hopefully somebody with more experience will be by and can correct me if I am wrong but I have researched diets in particular quite a bit and I try to provide the most up to date information on which diets are approved. I personally have not tried any of the diets Marie has posted but I am sure others have and they work well! HPW in particular is a very popular, wonderful, proven diet in the US with outstanding results. i used several other diets including Priscilla's and BML before switching to HPW (I use the plus version, not the complete or original)... i will never go back, but that's my opinion! HPW Plus has worked great for me, put weight on all of my Gliders and has made their coats significantly thicker and much more healthy looking! It is quite possible that UK diets differ from US diets due to ingredient availability... i'd be very curious to learn about some of the diets that you all use. i was only speaking from personal experience and my own research when I posted this thread. As far as grapes go, I've never heard not to feed them. I am hesistant to feed them seeded grapes for fear that they might choke on the seeds. I used to feed my Gliders the black seedless grapes without a problem and they loved them! They would suck all of the juice out and leave just the skin! Again, somebody please correct me if I'm wrong but I've seen grapes listed as "safe fruits" on many experienced Glider websites.

[Amalthea]

Grapes have been linked with renal failure in many animals, gliders included.  No animal in my care will ever get grapes or raisins...

[SugarShock]

I never knew or heard of it being linked to Gliders as well! Thank goodness I don't feed them anymore, my babies did enjoy them though! The HPW det they are on now does use grapes, so I guess that's a good thing! =)

[Amalthea]

Even if it hadn't been a proven link in gliders, why take the risk when so many animals have died from grapes?  Dogs, skunks, parrots, cats, etc...  Not worth it.

[helen88uk]

Glad ya not feeding the grapes anymore then
There are so many differences between US and UK diets, you say that the one you use has always given good results, us saying the same about ours lol. Personally, the myself and my girlies are happy with the diets found on this forum and so I wont be changing.
You seem to be pretty clued up about suggies in general, I didn't mean to come across asif I was slating you post because I wasn't intending to. I've re-read the diets on the link and they still would confuse me lol, just saying for a newbie looking for information it could be a little overwhelming. Like I said, there are quite a few differences in the diets on there, if they were all ideal wouldn't they be more similar?x

[Amalthea]

That's why Tillie was so kind as to make the recipes...  Very easy for new glider keepers

[Marie]

Noooo, no honey based diets!  Way too much sugar linked with obesity, fatty livers, dental issues, eratic blood sugar levels. I only ever use honey if I have an ill glider that has gone in to torpor.  The sugar brings them round.

Alot of people in the UK follow a well balanced diet that has been tried and tested for well over 10 years.  Of course, with new information the diet has evolved and will continue to evolve but not toward the honey side.

[SugarShock]

Helen,
I did not invent the diets posted on my website, but I can see how it would be confusing for a new owner. I am going to go through it again tonight and delete all of the diets that I do not have personal experiences with or do not recommend! Hopefully, that will make it a little bit less confusing. Many of the popular diets listed on the website, including BML, HPW, HPW Plus, HPW Complete, The Priscilla Price Diet and Suggie Soup are widely popular here in the U.S and have been tested by many Glider owners. I understand what you are saying about how if all diets were "good" or "proven" shouldn't they all be similar? My answer to that would have to be no. In a way, they are similar. They all contain the essential nutrients and vitamins in the correct amount the Gliders need. However, some of the ingredients in certain diets may not be available to owners in that particular location. Additionally, somebody might have a "picky" eater who doesn't like a certain diet! Having a variety of "proven" diets available allow owners to pick the one they think is easiest for them as well as a favorite among their Gliders. For instance, BML is an excellent diet that many people have had great success with, I believe it is even listed on this website, but my Gliders have not ever cared for it. However, my Gliders love their HPW and were pretty content when I had them on Priscilla's as well. It all depends.

[Marie]

BML is listed on this site, but it is not one that we recommend.  I believe even in the States it is no longer used as much as it used to be 8 or so years ago.

I understand what you are saying about how if all diets were "good" or "proven" shouldn't they all be similar?

I never said anything like this, lol!  I just don't think much of the honey based diets, having tried them myself, I quickly dismissed them!  The HPW I made up but ended up giving to my striped possums that I had at the time because they actually eat honey in the wild. Before that I tried bog standard Leadbeaters, and then the BML diet, then PML and even Pricilla Price's diet but one by one I dismissed them and always ended up reverting back to the trusty diet I use a version of today. 

[helen88uk]

I posed the question about diets being similar marie,  I just wondered that if something is proven to be so effective, shouldn't all diets include it?
Guess there will always be differences x

[stormsma]

Thought I would stick my oar in here and just say that this websites diet plans and the advice from other owners has changed my suggies life a million percent.  They were grubby, stinky, matted things when I got them from someone else.  After feeding them on the plans and recipes from this website they are now sleek whiff free gliding machines! All thanks to sugar glider forum, I trust the advice given by the people on this site 100% and I rave about them constantly. Sugarshock, have a read through the diet stickies here, you never know you might find something else from across the pond that your babies would like to try too!
OK, oar officially stuck!

[Usha77]

I believe that any diet that is healthy and beneficial to your gliders and keeps them healthy and happy is just fine.  People will never agree on diets - such a hot topic and I say feed what you feed, I'll feed what I feed and as long as our gliders are healthy and happy - who really cares if we're feeding the same diet let alone a similar one?  There are so many diets out there and some have been given the title of "proven" and some haven't, but that doesn't mean they're not good.