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Sugar gliders are omnivores. In their natural wild environment they will forage for blossoms, pollen, nectar, gum tree sap (eucalyptus and acacia), fruits, honeydew (an excretory product of nectar eating insects) and they will hunt for any number of species of insects such as beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, lerps, moths, worms. They will also hunt and consume small vertebrate mammals such as mice, lizards, and other small prey items such as birds and bird eggs.
The wild sugar glider diet varies slightly with geography and greatly with the changing of seasons. There may be times of the year when parts of the diet are unavailable. A captive diet will certainly keep this concept in mind.
The wild diet is very lean and low in phosphorus. It is not entirely known where wild sugar gliders obtain their intake of calcium, but for sure some of it will be from the small mammals they consume. A captive diet must take into consideration the balance between calcium and phosphorus or the animal will suffer. Too much phosphorus inhibits calcium absorption and too much calcium will destroy the liver and/or other internal organs. For captive gliders, over-supplementing may actually be a worse outcome than not supplementing at all.
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