Sugar Gliders – Proper Diet & Feeding

A Sugar Gliders diet can be complicated, so you have to take extra care in providing your pet with the right foods. Your pet’s diet should consist of 75% fruits and vegetables and 25% protein, along with added calcium and vitamins.

Fruit & Vegetables:
All fruits and vegetables should be fresh and rinsed. Your Sugar Glider will enjoy a wide variety, such as: apples, oranges, cantaloupes, grapes, pears, mangos, water melon and pears.

Your pet may eat peaches, kiwi, strawberries, pears, pineapple and banana, but some are not so fond of them. Some Sugar Gliders will eat the flesh of the fruit; others will only chew on it until they’ve extracted the juices.

Pet Gliders tend to enjoy drinking a variety of fruit juices and nectars from a bowl.

Vegetables can include peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, squash and fresh greens.

Protein:
All meats for your pet should be lean and cooked well. Poultry is to be skinned and boneless. Cut the meats up into very small pieces. A Sugar Glider’s natural source of protein is live prey such as crickets, grasshoppers and mealworms, so add these to their diet.

Tofu is excellent source of protein, if they will eat it, as are dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese. Hard boiled eggs will also provide good protein.

Quality dry cat food can be added to their diets, but sparingly. Gliders get most of their water from the food they eat, so a dry pellet meal is not recommended.

Do Not Feed Your Pet Any of the Following:
- Avocado;
- Chocolate, coffee, tea, or soda;
- Fried meats, or eggs;
- Insects caught in the wild that could have contact with pesticides;
- Meats with any seasonings;
- Onions and foods that contain onion powder;
- Peanuts, or other foods with high fat content;
- Pits or seeds of fruit;
- Raw sugar, sugar substitutes, candy, or chocolate;
- Rhubarb, onion, garlic, salt, potatoes eyes, or turnip.
- Tuna

Treats:
Sunflower seeds and pecans make good treats, but peanuts to be given sparingly as they do contain a high fat content which is not good for your pet Glider.

Water:
Even though many of the fruits and vegetables contain much of the water Sugar Gliders need, your pet must have access to water at all times.

Supplements:
Normally, the biggest problem will be a lack of calcium, so good calcium supplements like Reptivite and Rep-Cal (reptile vitamins) can supplement their diet.