Like I surfed have said, being a new owner. I've bout everything that there is possible to surf bout these gliders. I've read the controversy over the eucalyptus leaves. An that they may live in these type of trees in the wild, but not a big part of the glidre diet. I have read that the leaves are not that good and I've read it in a few different sites. BUT.. I have not heard alot bout Acacia Gum & the Bell Pollen supplements. I have read that there is alot of granular pellets that do have these 2 items in them. I want to know if any 1 out there in glider land uses these 2 items on their gliders food? An is the Bee Pollen that important in the gliders diet. I read that is?

Very good question!

There are many different types of acacia tree. However, the "acacia gum" that one can buy in a store or find in our food products does not seem to be from any type that grows in Australia or Indonesia. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gum_arabic for more information. The two species of acacia tree mentioned in that article are from Africa, and their are no marsupial gliders in Africa. Check out this list of acacia species, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acacia_species . Only two out of all of those are used to produce the "gum arabic" we use in foods. If the gum from different acacia trees were to be similar, then humans would be harvesting from more than just those two mentioned in the above article.

The species distinction between trees is enough of a difference that their saps and gums are distinctly different. The idea that some have that acacia gum is OK to feed sugar gliders is predicated on the notion that all acacia trees produce the same gum, and that's simply not true.
So if wild sugar gliders eat any sort of gum from an acacia tree, then it is very important to distinguish the exact species of that tree instead of lumping it with all acacias.

In regards to the diet of wild sugar gliders, bee pollen is consumed as a protein source when insects are not easy to acquire. This is according to the book Marsupial Nutrition by Ian Hume. I think it's debatable whether or not sugar gliders need a pollen supplement in captivity if given protein from other sources. Any sort of micronutrient that sugar gliders gain from eating pollen in the wild is dependent on the flower it comes from. Different pollens have different porosity, and that changes their digestibility. Their is variation in size and nutritional content between flowers. I think bee pollen supplements are a bit of a gamble due to the large variation in the source. Most likely what we find in the store is from clovers. The flowers that a sugar glider would find in the wild will definitely be a different variety, thus the pollen is different too. Their may be studies done that compare nutrient profiles from different types of pollen, but I have not seen any. The differences in pollen may be moot if they're nutritionally similar.

I'm in agreement with Eric here. I live in Australia and am lucky to be able to give my gliders real acacia tree branches. The trees here are certainly different to those that are used for the commerical production of gum arabic(acacia gum). The two worrying things to me about the use of this is that this product is being harvested in third world countries and then processed in countries like China for export around the world for commerical uses includng painting, photography, print making etc.

Now I steer clear of any food item that has been commercially processed in places like China. Their level of quality control just isn't up to our standards and it has been proven a lot lately through the world press, that substitution of fillers and shortcuts to quality control is often very evident. The other interesting thing, is it appears the public cannot buy imported acacia gum for personal use here in Australia and it is only imported in from China etc for commerical use by big companies to manufacture other items. I asked several health food shops about being able to buy locally produced wattle gum from Australian acacias and was told this was not available as local trees produce a different product. To me that says it all.

Another side to feeding acacia or wattle gum to captive gliders is that how their diets have changed their actual digestive systems. In the wild, when gliders eat wattle gum, the wattle gum has chemical properties (including tannin) which make it difficult to digest and in a huge majority of animals, it is considered indigestible. The sugar glider has an enlarged caecum and distinctive gut florae and it is believed this assists microbial fermentation of the wattle gum. Fermentation is vital as the gliders do not have the enzymes to break down wattle gum. I have been told by some vets here that feeding of products like yoghurt etc can subtly change the gut florae in the glider's digestive system. Whilst this has no obvious effect on the glider, it may possibly affect their ability to handle certain health issues and the digestion of food they would be able to handle in the wild . My gliders have never been fed yoghurt of any sort as I like to be able to feed as much native flora to them as I can. Interestingly here in Australia no glider diet includes yoghurt.

Yoghurt however is very popular in USA for gliders and so it makes me wonder whether the gliders over there possibly lack the ability to even ferment and digest true wattle gum properly. Food for thought!


I feed bee pollen, a tiny sprinkle once or twice a week as per the recomendation of the Healesville Sanctuary. If you purchase bee pollen again make sure its from a good quality source. Sadly again, China is a big producer of bee pollen and it's usually the source of a lot of the bee pollen available on line or in many stores. Companies buy it in bulk from China and then repackage into smaller lots of resale to the public and often try and pass it off as a locally made product so check the labels carefully. I use pure australian pollen. There are different types but I get one that is produced here in Victoria from a region where gliders live but that's just me being able to do that. Probably any US or Aus made bee pollen would do but be wary of the source of any pollen that may be a chinese import.

Thanks for your advise. I guess I'm still on the fence with this issue. But to address the part of were the bee pollen is coming from. Well I would have ordered the Acacia Gum powder & Bee Pollen powder from the exotic nutrition company. Does any one know about this company?

I've been wondering about trees as well. I found this site www.australiaplants.com/gliders.htm
and decided to get the Acacia mearnsii and the Eucalyptus pilularis. Those trees are in the areas that they find gliders in australia.

Miss doolittle, I haven't bought anything from that company, so I can't vouch for their products.


Majority rules, I think that page you linked to may have taken some things out of context. Specifically, the following excerpt:

quote:

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This reference is from Dr. Stephen Jackson, Melbourne Zoo, in an email dated 3/8/01: All species of Acacia (for the sap), Banksia, Callistemon, Corymbia, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca (for nectar or pollen). So basically, this would include any species, subspecies, etc. of the above items.

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Dr. Jackson isn't a botanist, so the proper context of his statement would most likely be any Australian species of Acacia. Gum arabic is not from an Australian species, and I think it's too big of a stretch for the author of that website to assume such a specialized tree would be nutritionally similar to native ones. Eucalyptus is different in that it is wholly native to Australia, Acacia isn't.

I don't think supplementing a glider's diet with gum arabic will kill it. However, their is literature that this is somehow part of a "natural" diet for them, and that simply cannot be the case since the gum arabic tree is not an Australian tree, and no wild sugar glider, either in Australia or New Guinea, would ever consume this substance.