I recieved an email from "GliderChat", a Sugar Glider Mailing list I belong to that brought up this website's "FOOD" section... There are a few mistakes:

First off, gliders do not adapt to many foods very well at all. These are exotic animals -- one of the more delicate of exotics and are very susceptible to malnutrition among MANY other ailments and disorders, but I'm focusing on diet here, mainly. A glider's diet should consist of NO LESS THAN 25% protein (meat). This has been a topic of debate among the glider society for some time now and as more and more research is done, they are finding that gliders need more and more protein. When a female is pregnant, or nursing young, her diet should consist of NO LESS THAN 50%, or else she may cannibalize her young.

Also, Onions are bad for gliders. I don't remember what it's called off the top of my head, but they contain chemicals that are harmful to the gliders. Seeds, and especially nuts are very high in fats and if fed on a regular basis, you will run into serious obesity problems which can be fatal with gliders.

And for the "liquids" section, Most gliders do not like milk because they are LACTOSE INTOLERANT. Cow milk contains lactose levels WAY higher than milk produced by a lactating female sugar glider. Even if a glider does seem to like milk, it will cause digestion complications and can lead to illness. Yogurt is acceptable because the bacterial colonization which makes "yogurt" break down the lactose to tolerable levels (but too much can still cause diarrhea).

I advise anyone interested in keeping a healthy sugar glider to join the ISGA "Glider Chat" mailing list, located at http://www.ISGA.org -- it's full of experienced glider keepers and will clear up just about any questions you might come up with.

Follow Ups:

• I think the jury's still out Capri 03:46:42 04/01/2000 (0)
• They are NOT lactose Intolerant Bourbon 20:39:42 03/31/2000 (0)