Healesville Sanctuary & Taronga Zoo diets

[Marie]

The Taronga Zoo Diet

• 3 g apple (approx. 3/4 tsp)
• 3 g banana/corn (~approx. 3/4 tsp)
• 1.5 g dog kibble (Eukanuba®)
• 1 tsp fly pupae
• 3 g grapes/kiwi fruit (approx. 3/4 tsp)
• 2 tsp Leadbeater's mix (see below)
• 4 g orange with skin (1 tsp)
• 2 g pear (approx. 1/2 tsp)
• 2 g rockmelon/melon/pawpaw (papaya) (approx. 1/2 tsp)
• 3 g sweet potato (approx. 3/4 tsp)
• On Wednesdays: feed day old chick

When available feed large insects or mealworms Note: without native foods, i.e., in North America, need to add calcium to this diet: Sprinkle lightly with calcium carbonate.


Leadbeaters mix
• 150 ml honey (approx. 10 Tbsp)
• 1 shelled boiled egg
• 25 g (~ 6 1/4 tsp)high protein baby cereal (fruit flavored rice cereal)
• 1 level tsp vitamin/mineral supplement (Vionate®)
*Note: for gliders accustomed to sweet fruit juices, start with apricot/peach or a fruit "nectar" instead of the water; gradually work to a less sugary/sweet solution with plain water.
Mix warm water and honey. In separate container, blend egg until homogenized. Gradually add water/honey, then vitamin powder, then baby cereal, blending after each addition until smooth. Keep refrigerated until served

[Alfalfa]

The Healesville Sanctuary Diet for Sugar Gliders by The native animal Zoo in Melbourne Australia

Water

Daily Diet per animal:
1 Dog chow/Advance.(Hard Dog Chow)
6g Fruit, chopped (1 tablespoon)
3ml Nectar mix.
1g fly pupae(1/4 teaspoon)
5g corn
2g Sprouted seed
2 mealworms.

Supplement:
5 pollen grains-once per week(bee pollen grains available at Health food shops)
3 sultanas-3-4 times per week(Dried Sultana Grape)
2 sunflower seeds-once per week
1g Pet health food(small cube)-once per week. No additives all natural
1 almond-once per week
Insects-3-4 times per week (moths crickets etc.)
Acacia, eucalypts. other blossoms as avavilable.

Nectar Mix:
2 litre formular:
700ml of Honey,
1 litre Hot water,
3 eggs(hard boiled no shell)
Soluvet 20 ml(liquid vitamin for birds)
Calicivet 20ml.
250ml cold water
cereal 70g (High protien baby cereal)

Blend together hard boiled egg, Soluvet, calcivet and cold water. Once blended add mix to honey and water, together with High protein Baby Cereal. Can be frozen into ice cube trays.

Just thought some people might be intersted in this Australian diet. It is the current Sugar Glider diet used at this Aistralian Zoo. The Zoo only deals with Australian Native animals and have been breeding Sugar Gliders since the early 1960's with great success.
The only comment i would make is it has been recommended by our local vets to add as many insects as we can catch to the diet for more calcium and more green vegetables.

[jungleflockmom]

This is the diet standard. Most people don't want to feed fly pupae. lol

[Alfalfa]

Just wanted to add that Australian honey is not as sweet as the Us honey and this could be the case with the honey available in the UK. Many sugar Gliders do not like things too sweet.

[Marie]

That's the problem with many of today's pet owners, it's all about what the human want's, not what the animal wants (or needs)!

It's very annoying WE make the decision to give this animal a home yet IT has to fit in with OUR lifestyle!!

[Amalthea]

The only honey I buy for the gliders is Australian. I figure, it's from their natural environment, so it's probably better for them than the native honey

[jungleflockmom]

I've never tried Australian honey as I don't feed honey. But I think I will try Australian honey - If we can buy vegemite here, I bet I can find Aussie honey.

[Amalthea]

Our asda sells Aussie honey.

[Marie]

When I tried the Leadbeater mods I only used Australian honey!  But when I mentioned using it on GC (ages ago ..)  some also thought it was a good idea others were shocked at my suggestion, it just hadn't dawned on them!  How bizarre. 

[Amalthea]

I think it makes perfect sense 

[jungleflockmom]

Don't even get me started on the American diets. . . . I don't know how we got to the point of feeding a walmart diet to our marsupials. lol

[Amalthea]

  Walmart sells glider food?!? 

[jungleflockmom]

Walmart sells all the ingredients for bml - probably the most common diet.
Luckily, I don't feed that since there's no Walmart anywhere near me.

[Alfalfa]

Just wanted you guys to note on another glider forum a poll was posted about what diet was used and the results were that only 47% of people posted they used the BML diet. The rest polled used various other diets.

[jungleflockmom]

I think that's a pretty high percentage. So 53% used one of a variety of other diets, but 47% used bml? Wow!