What do you feed your glider? One vet says to feed them 75% pellets, but most sugar glider owners say to fed them all fruits, veggies, and proteins. Also, do pellets hurt sugar gliders' teeth?

Pellets shouldn't harm your gliders teeth. Especially if you get a glider specific brand. There are some exotic pet stores that will purchase other base food items and just simply relabel them as sugar glider foods. Although these nutritionally might work, they weren't originally formulated for gliders like some of the glider specific pellet foods. If you purchase from a bigger pet store, they should have a sugar glider logo and dietary information printed on the label.
My vet also promotes pellet based diet, and there are breeders I know who still stick with it. I think the main problem with the idea of a pellet based diet is that pet owners fail to incorporate other dietary needs and or do not understand the calcium phosphorous levels and might mess up if they only feed the same fruits or vegetables night after night.
Personally I feed mine something very similar to HPW (high protein wombaroo) with frozen fruit and vegetable cocktails (I know people don't like the idea of blending, but I blend my mixes and freeze them for personal convenience. It works for me, but I understand the issues others have with this). If you research some of the other diets such as BML, HPW, Priscillas and others, you can get an idea of some diets that have worked in the past. There should be a resource link somewhere on this site. I can find it for you if needed.
I also keep pellets, store bought kind: specifically for gliders, in the cage. It is consumed in small bits regularly.
The bag is a bit pricey, but I think it is good to keep on hand.
I picked HPW from the list when I got my first glider because it seemed the easiest and least smelly diet to follow. Thus far, I have never had a particularly overweight or unhealthy glider from following it. I have however, encountered very sickly gliders, whose diets and lifestyles were vastly different from my own.

If you have trouble getting some of the ingredients, there are other types of foods and recipes available that you can use in place of those. I'd try out a few to see what works for you. :)

*note* I have heard that live proteins such as mealworms, chicken, and others can cause gliders to produce a stronger odor. I'm sure someone else can share their personal experience with this.

Also, have you considered getting something like a 'glider fridge?' or glider eating area? I purchased this plastic bird bath cage accessory and it keeps the food from being sprayed all over the cage during feeding. I'm not sure why they like to spit and throw their food, but it can get messy. You can cut a hole in a small plastic container and make one too for their fruit or vegetables. Pellets don't seem to be much of a problem, but if you try HPW, or some of those mixes, it might be a good idea.

As for treats: meal worms, yogurt drops, and dried fruits seem to make the best choices. I've heard certain baby food snack items are great too, if you happen to have any.

Long post, sorry! hope some of this helped in some way!

Oh! If anyone could share a list of foods gliders CANNOT eat, that would be great for me too. I haven't encountered many things other than garlic and onions and nuts, but I had trouble finding a specific list on this particular site.

Pellets can cause numerous amounts of health problems if that is the only thing you feed. Gliders are natural sap lickers so their little bodies just cannot digest the hard pellet.

I personally feed gliderkids (reduced honey verison) and my gliders love it. I feed one fruit and one veggie each night along side the thawed cube of nectar. Also, on wedensdays I offer a leafy dark green veggies with bits of melon on top for a "salad." Sometimes I even sprinkle some mealies in.

One option with the pellets would be to grind them in a coffee grinder type thing and mix however much you want to feed with water so they aren't trying to chew the hard pellets.

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Originally posted by slyo

Oh! If anyone could share a list of foods gliders CANNOT eat, that would be great for me too. I haven't encountered many things other than garlic and onions and nuts, but I had trouble finding a specific list on this particular site.

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Here's a list of unsafe foods for gliders, it's in no way complete but I hope it helps:

1. Chocolate
2. Onions
3. Garlic
4. Lima Beans
5. Rhubarb
6. Any sort of pits or seeds

Why are seeds bad? I dried some cantelop seeds for mine and they love them and my vet feeds them sunflower seeds

If the fruit or vegetable has seeds that YOU would normally eat - tomatos, cucumber, squash etc. then they are fine for gliders.

Large pits such as cherry, peach or mango seeds need to be removed. Apple seeds should also be removed.

Gliders are not naturally 'seed' eaters - a sunflower seed, almond sliver or pine nut now and then are OK but these should not be a large part of the diet.

[quote]Originally posted by warmanj
Thank you!

I've heard seeds can cause constipation too.

It took me a while to figure out why my newest glider didn't like the dried fruit treats until I realized they reaked of nuts. Thankfully, I guess, the smell is enough to deter them.

The pellet food that my glider eats softens as he eats them. He chews it and spits out different parts, but it is a mush like consistency as soon as he begins to eat it.

I have fed my gliders a sort of monkey type pellet before. They listed it as sugar glider food but I found out later it was a different kind that the company simply labeled as glider food. They loved it and have not had any problems with it. I switched because these new pellets are a little bit smaller and easier to purchase. The other variety had to be purchased directly through exotic pet stores or online sources.

Thank you so much! This definitely helped.

I personally would not want my gliders to eat pellets. they are difficult to digest and can cause lumpy jaw. I try and feed as natural as possible because after all, gliders drink nectar in the wild. but everyone has different preferences:)

Thanks! After doing research and speaking with the breeder, I think I'm going to do the Cathy Delany Johnson Diet or HPW.

I use the HPW diet and my boys love it. Let me know if you need any help ^_^

I feed my gkider eggs scrambled with orange juice for flavored frozen into bits. He eats them while they thaw, usually i feed him that with fruit cocktail mixed. He goes crazy for it.

My babies love the Original HPW. They eat it all up before they touch the fruits and vegetables. Their treats are yogurt drops, pine nuts, almond slivers, mealworms and plain Cherrios.

316am

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I feed my gkider eggs scrambled with orange juice for flavored frozen into bits. He eats them while they thaw, usually i feed him that with fruit cocktail mixed. He goes crazy for it.

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This will not keep your glider healthy for long. There is no calcium source and gliders need a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Fruit cocktail contains a lot of added sugars (and some times artificial sweeteners) that gliders do not need.

I have links on my web page to a number of widely used glider feeding plans that have been proven to maintain healthy gliders for many years. My own GliderKids feeding plan is one of the options you might consider.

These feeding plans have a recipe for a nectarlike staple that provides the protein, vitamins and calcium gliders require. They are fed with a variety of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables to complete a balanced feeding. Canned fruits and vegetables should not be offered to sugar gliders.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/Staple-Recipes.html

I feed mine the BML diet with a wide variety of fruits and veggies. They also have a small dish of pellets which they barely touch bit do eat once in a while. For treats they get yoggies, mealworms, gummies(safe), pinkie mice(once in a while), egg or turkey(once in a while) yogurt honey agave nectar(for finger licking treats). We get fresh cane sugar for Chinese new year once a year so they love chewing on that but they don't get it often.

I currently have my gliders on what is now called Critter Love Original (CLO, I use CL for Critter Love in abbrev.).

I've always used a form of HPW "type" diets, I say "type" because I've used several brands and types over the period of time I've had them.

I started with (formally OHPW) at the time I first started the diet, only I bought the "kit" from EN. I didn't realize that it did not contain the brand Womaroo High Protein Supplement, but their own HPS. After learning it was not Wombaroo brand, I went with the actual WHPS recipe OHPW.

Then I switched to CL Complete because I was moving across country and need easy on the road food. I pretty much stuck with CL brand, either Complete or Plus, except a couple of times when I was really short on funds (from being out of work with both move across country and then back). So I purchased those two occasions the EN Instant HPW to use temporarily.

After moving back and settling in with work, I returned to the CL brand either Plus or Complete version, but usually the Complete. I just recently switched back to the Original recipe again, using Wombaroo brand HPS.

With these diets I have fed a variety of fruits and vegetables as it was originally instructed, and then even attempted to duplicate one of the salad recipes. These salads change, I guess to help offer more variety, but I found it difficult to find all of the specific f/v for a complete mix, as well as my gliders just won't eat some of the ones I have been able to get.

So, with that being said, I began to research a couple of other diets, s/a Priscilla Price and Australian (AWD, I think like Reeps), as well as one recommended by the makers of WHPS. I then reduced that the CLO is fairly similar to the WHPS version, so I went back to the basics I started with, using WHPS and following the original recipe.

Oh, and btw, I do offer pellets to my gliders. They love them! I get the PetPro Happy Glider fruit flavor. I usually offer them in forage toys or even in a small bowl every day. The OHPW or now CLO diet is one that was highly approved of by my glider's vet, she said it was her favorite diet, she also recommended offering pellets on the side.