Eating habits

Question
QUESTION: my new sugar glider, Mitsy, is really great and i love her to death. i feed her either apples, fruits and veggies, or grapes.  i leave her dry food out during the day <sunseed subscription vita sugar glider formula> and a treat(usually a dried banana or dried carrot or yogurt drop.) she eats everyhting and barely ever leaves anything in her bowl. she is 3 months old. to drink i leave her either water or apple juice, or sometimes i mix it, she seems to love it, she won't drink out of the water bottle i bought her, so i leave it in a bowl. am i doing everything night? am i overfeeding her? she is very active and certainly works it off during the night, but i just wanted to make sure. Thank-you
Allison

ANSWER: Dear Allison:

Sugar gliders should have a variety of fruits and vegetables, a good staple mix and a protein source every night.  I don't like using hard pellets as my staple mix.  I prefer The Pet Glider Diet http://www.thepetglider.com/index/the-pet-glider-nutrition-system/the-pet-glider

The only things I see desperately lacking are a protein source and calcium supplement.  

You can feed mealworms, crickets, scrambled eggs or chicken as the protein source.  

For vitamins and calcium supplements, you should use the ones recommended for the diet you choose.  

You are better off to mix the juice half with water.  It's most important that they get their water.  If she is eating all of her food, she is not being overfed.  

It sounds like you are doing a great job so far.  I would just like to see you add protein and a calcium supplement and vitamins and hard pellets are not my favorite.  

Best of luck.

Laurie
affinitysugargliders.com


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank-you so much for getting back to me. i really appreciate it. i give mitsy a calcium supplement called repto-cal. the woman i bought her from said that she used it and it was good. i've been trying to give her different varieties of fresh fruits and veggies as a protein source.. i forgot to mention that she loves apple sauce as a snack every once in a while, tonight she had bananas sliced up, she really seemed to like those. thanks again for answering my question!

ANSWER: Dear Allison:

You are doing well to give her fresh fruits and veggies.  However they are not good sources of protein.  Protein is found in better quantities in meats, nuts, soy, etc.  Sugar gliders eat large quantities of insects in the wild for protein.  They also eat small baby rodents and small baby birds along with nectar, trees sap and acacia gum.  

In order to supplement the protein, you can feed her mealworms, crickets, scrambled eggs or shredded broiled chicken breast as protein sources. Do not feed red meats, soy or cheese.  You can also feed a little yogurt and tuna.  

By adding a protein source to your regimen of fruits and veggies, you will be rounding out a better diet for your sugar glider.

Laurie
affinitysugargliders.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello and thank-you again for answering my questions, i have just one more, today mitsy has been acting really weird. she wont let me hold her touch her or pick her up. it's really weird. just wondering if you had any advice

Answer
Dear Allison:

It's very hard for me to know why she would be acting weird.  It could be due to her being sick (I am always over cautious when it comes to gliders and recommend a vet visit to rule out sickness).  It could be that she's upset with you for some recent change.  They are fickle little creatures and you really haven't had her long enough to form a complete bond, so there may be something she wasn't happy about.  

Maybe she didn't like the way you smelled.  Did you wash your hands first?  Maybe she didn't like the smell of the soap or your cologne.  There are just too many factors.  

If she is okay today, I wouldn't worry about it, but if she continues to act strangely, a vet check is in order.

Laurie