So far I've had my glider for a while. I feed her BML, lots of different fruits, and usually a little bit of veggies (She dosn't seem to like them that much.) I'm not feeding her any bugs and I really rather not. I tried giving her mealies once but she stayed clear of her food for the whole night and didn't eat anything. I took them away in the morning, got some new fruit and new BMl and left it in all day and she came out and started to eat it once the mealies were gone.

Yes, you really do need to feed "bugs". They need the extra protein. If you don't want to feed live ones you can get crickets, mealies and grasshoppers in a can called Can-O-Worms, Can-O-Crickets, etc. and they also have crickets, mealies and waxworms that are freeze dried. Waxworms have a little bit higher fat content though so you don't need to feed quite as much of them. Your furrbutts will love you for it believe me. They make this little chirping sound when they are eating a good bug that is sooooo sweet. The canned and freeze dried ones are usually in the reptile department of your petstore or you can go to reptiledirect.com for a better price.

if she won't eat the bugs, have you tried boiled chicken?

Bugs, like mealies, are very important not only because the need of proteins, but because they help clean their teeth. If you are feeding BML, you really should only offer the fruits and veggies that are recommended with that diet. The diet was designed to account for the Ca:Ph ratios to balance with the additions of the specified fruits, veggies, and protein sources. The addition of any others can throw off this balance.
As far as when to offer mealies, if I offered mine at night, my boys wouldn't eat anything but. So at night, I give them their BML plus the fruits and veggies. In the morning, that is mostly gone, and then they get their mealies. This way, I know they are getting everything they need daily.

There are a lot of people out there that do not feed insects of any kind to their gliders and they are happy and healthy.

If you are feeding the BML diet plan you do not need to feed insects. All the protein requirments are met in the BML mix. The insects do help keep their teeth clean but you can offer other things such as safe branches for your gliders to chew on.

But even on the BML link on this site it says to feed insects each night.

Don't replace the mealworms with chicken it will throw off the ratios of the BML.

If your glider has never eaten mealworms before, she might need a little help to see that they are tasty. Some people will break a mealworm in half and put it to the Sugar Gliders mouth so they get a taste of the guts. I prefer to use tweezers and I just squeeze a little until some stuff comes out, then I touch it to their mouth and usually they lick and then grab the mealworm and start chowing down.

Give it a go....you might find if you offer them to her, rather than just putting them in her food bowl, she might just love them.

Also is she a young Joey? We have some Joeys who don't show any interest in mealworms until they are about 10-12 weeks old.

You do not, as stated, HAVE to feed the mealies, if you are using the BML diet plan. Mealworms are fed to clean their teeth, not for any nutritional value. Also feeding any item other than what is listed, not only with the BML diet but on ANY of the proven diets, is going to throw your Ca:ph ratio off.

diets really need to be followed as written.

If you choose not to feed the mealworms, you can place a safe tree branch in the cage to aide in the teeth cleaning instead.

We do not use meallies.. but we do offer wood for chewing to all our babies...

I can't imagine my suggies being nearly as happy without their mealies as they are with them, but they do love going in for that "kill", OUCH! Then again, I guess it's hard to miss something you've never had, lol. So, if the proven diet you're using doesn't call for it as a must, then I guess you're okay without them. I just thought that any sug would be happier with mealies since in the wild that is a part of their natural diet <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nixweiss.gif" alt="" />