Diet & Nutrition
Sugar Gliders need a balanced diet. There are several recommended (not "approved") diets to follow. All diets should include a staple with fresh water and fresh vegetables. Below is the link to the diet that I recommend not only based on my personal experience, but by scientific evidence to back it up.
BML
For additional diet options, please visit the Diet and Nutrition page on the Sugar Glider Help website. Please realize that this is a comprehensive listing of the various diets available for sugar gliders. Their inclusion on the list does not indicate that it is a healthy or a recommended diet. Please research the diet by reading any reviews and discussing them with your veterinarian and other sugar glider owners. Not sure which HPW™ to use, read HPW™ Diets to help clarify the differences in them.
Regardless of which diet you choose to feed, follow the diet as it is intended to be fed to your gliders. Do not alter these diets. When selecting vegetables and fruit for your diet, most diets allow variety (not necessarily a good thing). BML and Critter Love® diets have specific lists/recipes of vegetables and fruit; do not alter those lists/salad recipes. Variety is not the key to a balanced diet, variety actually allows for imbalanced nutrients as proven by the nutritional research.
Which diets are tested and approved for sugar gliders? Most diets out there have NOT been tested. To discredit a diet by stating it hasn't been tested is a pretty bogus argument and is very misleading to people trying to learn. The only diets that have been tested to date (as of April 2016) with published results are BML, Insectivore Fare, a dry kibble (cat food), Critter Love Complete®, Critter Love Plus®, Glide-R-Chow™, GliderKids Reduced Honey and personal testing with OHPW™. Additionally, The Pet Glider Diet and Critter Love® Original (formerly Original HPW) were evaluated. [In 2014, I personally had all of my (non-pregnant/nursing) gliders tested on the BML diet to help further diet research for sugar gliders.]
There are a multitude of safe vegetable and fruit lists out there. I feel it is much easier for you to know what is not safe to feed rather than knowing an entire list of safe options. If you do not feed the following items, most all other options are going to be safe (however, if you are unsure, you should always seek advice from an experienced sugar glider owner and/or your veterinarian). Remember that "safe" doesn't necessarily indicate that it should be offered to your sugar gliders.
Unsafe food items for sugar gliders:
Do you have a picky glider and need to know what to do? Try this. (Please remember if you feed BML or Critter Love® to still only include the fruits and vegetables from the diet plan. Do not modify the diet.)
Another thing to try when your gliders seem to get "bored" is to switch up the presentation. Don't just put the food in the bowl in the same spot every night. Make it fun!
Keep it Healthy, Keep it Fun!
BML
For additional diet options, please visit the Diet and Nutrition page on the Sugar Glider Help website. Please realize that this is a comprehensive listing of the various diets available for sugar gliders. Their inclusion on the list does not indicate that it is a healthy or a recommended diet. Please research the diet by reading any reviews and discussing them with your veterinarian and other sugar glider owners. Not sure which HPW™ to use, read HPW™ Diets to help clarify the differences in them.
Regardless of which diet you choose to feed, follow the diet as it is intended to be fed to your gliders. Do not alter these diets. When selecting vegetables and fruit for your diet, most diets allow variety (not necessarily a good thing). BML and Critter Love® diets have specific lists/recipes of vegetables and fruit; do not alter those lists/salad recipes. Variety is not the key to a balanced diet, variety actually allows for imbalanced nutrients as proven by the nutritional research.
Which diets are tested and approved for sugar gliders? Most diets out there have NOT been tested. To discredit a diet by stating it hasn't been tested is a pretty bogus argument and is very misleading to people trying to learn. The only diets that have been tested to date (as of April 2016) with published results are BML, Insectivore Fare, a dry kibble (cat food), Critter Love Complete®, Critter Love Plus®, Glide-R-Chow™, GliderKids Reduced Honey and personal testing with OHPW™. Additionally, The Pet Glider Diet and Critter Love® Original (formerly Original HPW) were evaluated. [In 2014, I personally had all of my (non-pregnant/nursing) gliders tested on the BML diet to help further diet research for sugar gliders.]
There are a multitude of safe vegetable and fruit lists out there. I feel it is much easier for you to know what is not safe to feed rather than knowing an entire list of safe options. If you do not feed the following items, most all other options are going to be safe (however, if you are unsure, you should always seek advice from an experienced sugar glider owner and/or your veterinarian). Remember that "safe" doesn't necessarily indicate that it should be offered to your sugar gliders.
Unsafe food items for sugar gliders:
- Rhubarb Leaves (stalks are safe)
- Onions, Leeks
- Raw Garlic (large quantities)
- Chocolate
- Mint (including Cat Nip)
- Uncooked Beans (such as Lima Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans...green beans are safe)
- Iceberg Lettuce (safe but has no nutritional value)
- Canned/Processed Foods (salt, preservatives)
- Artificial Sweeteners
Do you have a picky glider and need to know what to do? Try this. (Please remember if you feed BML or Critter Love® to still only include the fruits and vegetables from the diet plan. Do not modify the diet.)
Another thing to try when your gliders seem to get "bored" is to switch up the presentation. Don't just put the food in the bowl in the same spot every night. Make it fun!
Keep it Healthy, Keep it Fun!
Treats
The following information is my personal opinion on feeding treats to your sugar gliders.
Diet Research
Please click on the following links to read the publications written by Dr. Ellen Dierenfeld, PhD on sugar glider diets. (Publications posted with written authorization by Dr. Dierenfeld, PhD)
Comparison of Commonly Used Diets on Intake, Digestion, Growth, and Health in Captive Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps)
Ellen S. Dierenfeld, PhD,
Debra Thomas, DVM,
Robin Ives, BS
Feeding Behavior and Nutrition of the Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps)
Ellen S. Dierenfeld, PhD, CNS
Check out the new diet study that is currently going on: Sugar Glider Foundation
Funding results:
Sugar Glider Diet Study 2014
Natural Diet
Food “categories”:
- 30% gums
- 25% flowers
- 20% nectar/sap
- 15% inverts
- 10% pollen
Synthetic Vitamin K
To address the controversy of synthetic vitamin K not being good in sugar glider diets....
Most of these claims are made by those that are uneducated about nutrition, or those that simply repeat the information they read from a facebook group or pet enthusiast websites. Not all information passed on is accurate. The truth is, synthetic vitamin K3 is necessary in the diets and is non-toxic. Vitamin K3 is, by definition, any of several compounds that are based on
2-methyl-1,4-napthoquinone (also known as menadione) that express anti-hemorrhagic properties (Suttie, 2007).
Dietary vitamin K can be provided naturally through green leafy plants and vegetable oils, or through stable gut fermentation (supplying vitamin K2). Unfortunately, the inconsistency in these sources, effects from processing, and gut health of the animal, make them unreliable as a viable source of vitamin K. This is why pet food manufacturers will supplement with K3 in their diets.
Commercial sources of vitamin K3 are produced through industrial synthetic chemistry. The AAFCO Official Publication (2007) lists only vitamin K3 sources as approved for use. They include menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (MDPB), menadione nicotinamide bisulfite (MNBS) and menadione sodium bisulfite complex (MSBC). There are no forms of vitamin K1 or K2 approved as feed ingredients. K3, water soluble, stabilized menadione (MSBC), is the only approved form.
According to the Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (NRC, 2006) and the Vitamin Tolerances of Animals (1987) texts, which are authoritative reviews on the topic, state that toxicity of menadione by nutritional routes is in excess of 1,000 times the requirement. Clearly pet food manufacturers are not putting in 1,000 times the amount needed. Vitamin K3 has been fed to many animals for over 50 years, including swine, poultry, and companion animals without incident. Further, it has been fed to sugar gliders since at least 1998 without incident.
Since small amounts of vitamin K are required in the diet which, theoretically could be provided by whole ingredients or healthy gut fermentation, the unreliability of these sources is why pet foods are supplemented with K3.
Bottom line, K3 is needed in the diet and is non-toxic to our sugar gliders.
Most of these claims are made by those that are uneducated about nutrition, or those that simply repeat the information they read from a facebook group or pet enthusiast websites. Not all information passed on is accurate. The truth is, synthetic vitamin K3 is necessary in the diets and is non-toxic. Vitamin K3 is, by definition, any of several compounds that are based on
2-methyl-1,4-napthoquinone (also known as menadione) that express anti-hemorrhagic properties (Suttie, 2007).
Dietary vitamin K can be provided naturally through green leafy plants and vegetable oils, or through stable gut fermentation (supplying vitamin K2). Unfortunately, the inconsistency in these sources, effects from processing, and gut health of the animal, make them unreliable as a viable source of vitamin K. This is why pet food manufacturers will supplement with K3 in their diets.
Commercial sources of vitamin K3 are produced through industrial synthetic chemistry. The AAFCO Official Publication (2007) lists only vitamin K3 sources as approved for use. They include menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (MDPB), menadione nicotinamide bisulfite (MNBS) and menadione sodium bisulfite complex (MSBC). There are no forms of vitamin K1 or K2 approved as feed ingredients. K3, water soluble, stabilized menadione (MSBC), is the only approved form.
According to the Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats (NRC, 2006) and the Vitamin Tolerances of Animals (1987) texts, which are authoritative reviews on the topic, state that toxicity of menadione by nutritional routes is in excess of 1,000 times the requirement. Clearly pet food manufacturers are not putting in 1,000 times the amount needed. Vitamin K3 has been fed to many animals for over 50 years, including swine, poultry, and companion animals without incident. Further, it has been fed to sugar gliders since at least 1998 without incident.
Since small amounts of vitamin K are required in the diet which, theoretically could be provided by whole ingredients or healthy gut fermentation, the unreliability of these sources is why pet foods are supplemented with K3.
Bottom line, K3 is needed in the diet and is non-toxic to our sugar gliders.
Safe & Unsafe Plants-Flowers-Trees
Many sugar glider owners like to provide tree branches and live or cut plants to their sugar gliders. Please ensure that what you are offering is either organic or has not been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides in at least the past 3-4 years. Below is a listing of various trees and plants and their toxicity levels. Use this listing to determine if the tree or plant is safe for your sugar gliders.
Safe Plants and Trees created by Moondance.
Safe Plants and Trees created by Moondance.
