In Reply to: Diet follow up posted by ID on January 11, 19100 at 11:09:12:

Wendi,
The diets issues are really confusing, we all can agree on that.. That is why the importance of haveing a diet page that is basically objective, where I didn't take any ones persons diet and say it is the "BEST", What we did do is get togethar a bunch of "PROVEN" diets and dietary information and slapped it on a page. Gliders diets in the wild vary from season to season, so as far as a captive diet, we all pretty much know what most of the NECESSARY needs are, this issue will be researched for a very long time. Over the years, the long time breeders/owners have all concerned themselves with the dietary issues. As well as many new owners. Many times a wav of deaths point to specific problems, hence the need to correct those problems. Like last year, the were a number of deaths, when the diets were checked, most of them were feeding Brisky's, adding a variety of fruits and veggies. What was happening, was that although they were adding fruits and veggies to give variety, the people were failing to add the proteins to "rebalance" the originally balanced feed. before that we had a bunch get sick, and they were over supplimenting their feeding with calcium due to a calcium defiency panic. So when you hear people say this causes this, or this isn't good, chances are that it was after something horrible had happened to a large number of gliders, or research had been done. The information on the net and in some books are seriously outdated. There are certain feeds I don't advocate, as well as things others don't either, Where the diets are concerned, the long time breeders/owners have found various things that have worked for them over the years, because it has worked, they will continue to use it. That is not to say, that if something needs changed/modified/ replaced, that any one person is so locked they won't change it. When gliders were first introduced, catfood, nuts and seed, was the first thing that was tried. Over the years things have been found out, many breeders changed the diets to accomadate those changes. for instance. as far as catfood is concerned..lets take Caroline MacPherson, she feeds catfood to her gliders, however; it is not a sole diet, she will never advocate the use of a cheap catfood and never as an only food source. Some users of briskys do feed it as a sole source, but those that don't, will stress the importance of balancing the added items. As my page had stated.. if you use the original ratio of 25/75 and you add 15% more fruits and veggies, you now have a balance of 15% proteins 85% fruits and veggies, which would clearly show the balance is well below what is healthy..A lot of us will stress , that until you know more about the diets, to use a "PROVEN complete diet plan" that someone else uses of long time standing. Examples are. If you wish to use catfood contact a long time breeder who also uses it, find out EXACTLY what they feed with their diets and why, follow their plan to a T. The same with Brisky's, Leadbeaters etc.. I have heard the catfood issues have researched by the University of Michigan, and they found that it causes intestional blockages and renal diease. Even though I have never seen the report, and don't know under what circumstances the testing was given, for me it is enough to say this may not be the healthiest thing for my glider, so if in Doubt.. Don't. As for the nuts and seeds. well..a gliders intestine is thinnner than a toothpick, so I can also see where blockages may occur there. Each animal has it's own dietary needs. Catfood when given to dogs can make them sick, cats won't eat dogfood, and if they do you know that it too may make them sick. but you don't feed all rodents the same foods, nor do you feed all mammals the same foods. Another rule of thumb is specific animal foods are made for those specific animals. you wouldn't feed birds, hampster foods, or vice versa. Tiffani I am sure she wasn't jumping, I know how people think that though, I too have been accused of the same thing. After seeing so much unnecessary gliders deaths from un balanced diets, many of us get real passionate about it. We all continue to research , hoping one day to find the "precisely right feed. But for now, we all must stay with "proven" diets, that have been tested and researched over the long haul. We see many controversial outdated diets come and go, the most common mistake made by new owners is that they do just what you have done, and try to take bits and pieces from others diets to come up with one for them, without understanding the "whole" picture. Don't feel bad, it happens a lot. The best advice anyone can give is to find a "proven" diet plan and stay with the "whole" diet. Until you learn more regarding it. The leadbeaters has been changed and modified by many people for many reasons. but when the modifications were done, it was with the knowledge, research, testing to suit those people. For example, my modified version accomated for the fruits, that my gliders don't care too much for, they will eat it, but not as regularly as I would like. but you do notice that it isn't a large percentage of the diet. In fact it is a very small percentage. The calcium:phosporus ratios are also very important. Caroline lists foods in the back of her book and stresses the importance of calcium in their foods. but also keeping in mind too much can be just as fatal. Too many people try everything at once, they use glideraid with the repcal in the leadbeaters, or they "dust" their insects as well as adding the calcium suppliments to their diets.. Again this in part is caused by being overly concerned about the "calcium defiency", and what people don't realize it is too much and can kill their gliders. A slow death sometimes, sometimes it can take a couple of years to see the effects of a bad diet..A majority of the time, when a glider dies, the diets are the culprits, I believe it is like 80% is caused by the wrong diet. My advice will be short and sweet. Find a "proven" diet plan and stick with it. Don't deviate from it. For those that want to play around with the fruits and veggies regarding proteins. calcium phosphorus, there are links on the bottom of my diets page to charts that lists the analsis of each food. the calcium:phosphorus ratio should be about 2:1..when adding fruits and veggies to a already high calium feed like leadbeaters, you may want to try to stay as close to 1:1 as possible...fruits and vegies are not part of their diet in the wild, but then again they are no longer in the wild, but there are nutrients, vits, minerals that they need that are found in them. Keep in mind that too much can be just as deadly as not enough..There are also links for the insects ratios. My gliders get the big mealworms (not the superworms) and they get between 5 and 8 a day. But I feed mine their insects in the morning, so they eat their regualr food at night.they get other insects as well, june bugs, crickets, etc.. Insects are a major part of their diet, some long time breeders suggest up to 50% of their diet should be insects. But they must be fed at a time interval, that doesn't interfer with their other foods. I do hope this has helped some, I am sorry I could make it as cut and dry as even I would have liked, but the diets issues are controversial.They require constant research..

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