While this seems to be more of a diets discussion than research, I think your ideas are really interesting, Charlie. These are actually variables that we can isolate easily in the death database. So as soon as we have enough entries to make our results reliable, we might be able to confirm your theories.

Let me expand on my concern about calcium carbonate which seems to be the calcium of choice in most glider diets. Calcium carbonate is nothing more than ground oyster shell and the more popular brand is rather coarsely ground by comparison to some of the others. Calcium carbonate is of an alkaline base and requires stomach acid to break down so that it can be used by the body. The human digestive tract takes a while for the calcium to work its way through. The glider digestive tract is not so complex and relies more on bacterial flora to break down the items that pass through. Even in humans only about 20% of calcium carbonate is actually broken down and utilized by the body. I would think that the gliders digestive system is even less capable of breaking down the calcium made from oyster shells.

You will have some tell you that you should not worry because if you overdose with calcium the glider will pass the excess through the urinary or digestive tract. NOT TRUE! At least part of this calcium gets into the blood stream, the liver, and the kidneys. Plus it will have and adverse effect on the heart by becoming embedded. Part of the calcium carbonate will crystallize and reach the penis of a male glider where it can cut the interior of the shaft and also cause partial or total blockage. Some will become embedded in the liver and kidneys. We tested one glider that had 5 times the amount of calcium in the blood than it was supposed to have plus there was calcium damage to the liver. This was not just the opinion of one vet but we consulted with other leading vets in the US to verify this.

It is my opinion that the calcium carbonate made from ground oyster shell is doing more harm to gliders than good. Calcium carbonate is no where close to anything that would be considered natural for a glider to ingest and I do not think their systems are designed to handle it.

Why for all these years have we used calcium carbonate to supplement our gliders instead of considering calcium citrate which is an acid base calcium that is more readily absorbed. And why are we after all these years taking gliders with prolapsed penises to a vet and demanding a urinalysis which usually show up negative. It would at least take a urine culture to tell in most cases if a glider has a urinary tract infection. Why aren't we getting the vets to check for oxalates, the tiny crystals in the gliders urine? I think that because of our ignorance on this issue we have caused many gliders to suffer un-necessarily!
Charlie H

Thank You Charlie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Calcium carbonate also contains lead and other harmful substances. It is most used because it is cheaper than the calcium citrate. Bad reason. There is no reason to use something harmful because of price for our gliders.

I find this all very interesting... I feel like I have a fair understanding of what everyone is saying, but it's frustrating because while I think I "get it", I also feel like I'm getting a glimpse into a whole other world- there's SO MUCH to learn about nutrition & what we put into our bodies- and theirs!

CharlieH - for me, this last part about the Oxalates ties back into what you said about the bell peppers. (Yay I made a connection!) With any of these diets, BML included, are we supplementing oxalates in any way other than through the fruits/veggies we give them? Does that make any sense at all? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinkerg.gif" alt="" />

charlie before i lost ruby her calcium was 5 times the limit too. they were all on bml now i use wombaroo high protein no other supplements yogurt for calcium only. i see alot more energy in my glider whom i have for 6 yrs i spoke with alot of australian vets about what your talking about. i have e mail from australia. dr ian hune said his gliders lived into their late teens on fruit veggies wombaroo high protein sprinkled on their fruit and on other days they get a little hard boiled egg. he dont see why we supplement and says theres no need to. i spoke with larry vogelnest the cheif vet at the taranga zoo they use a human grade vitamin supplement no calcium the australian marsupial society says no supplements just use the wombaroo high protein mix. people here in the usa who have 10 and 11 yr old gliders never gave a supplement just a varitey daily. one aussie vet thinks alot of out problems here is also from inbreeding. were destroying the beautiful round faced lg gliders that originally came in my angel is a 214 gram short nose cat like round face lg female a last of a dying breed i have her 6 yrs her mom and dad were wild caught from new guinea. i regret i didnt breed her i think shes too old now for a first time mom. and she was never paired with a male. the new baby i got now is 5 months and doesnt look anything like her at all.

Here is a link that will better explain what I have been trying to say about the effects of supplements on the gliders urinary tract. This site is about dogs but I think basically it applies to gliders. I feel that pregnant moms, joeys, and young gliders need supplements. Once they reach the age of 18 months to two years I feel the addition of supplements should be greatly reduced. I also think that the type of calcium we supplement with should be changed from one with an alkaline base to a calcium with a more acidic base. This site helps bring forth my theory about the cause of gliders prolapsed penises.

http://www.executec.com/urolith.htm

My thinking is that it is not only the type of calcium but the excess we are including in the gliders diet. Not only does it effect the urinary tract but also the heart.
Maybe I sound like a broken record here but this is a subject that I really feel like should be addressed.
Charlie H

Charlie, for years before I found GC, I had been feeding my own diet. I started with Judie's version of BML but my gliders got to where they wouldn't eat fruits and vegies on thier own so I started adding to Judie's BML baby food fruits and vegies. I still fed fresh fruits and vegies and on average, 3 times per week additional protien like eggs or chicken (and they got their bugs) I did not for a very long time add vitamins to their diet because the gliders "smelled" like the vitamins which indicated to me, they were getting to many. Humans that take to many vitamins will have their urine start to smell like the vitamins. I did put in the calcium though. My gliders have always been healthy, my oldest is somewhere in his 9th year, possibly 10th. About 6 months ago when my number of gliders drastically increased, I had to make changes due to the cost of "my diet" and went back to Judie's BML. I make it now as written. About half of my gliders really only pick at it so I'm having once again to consider diets. Reepicheep has been on Judie's BML since I got him but I do add the wambaroo HPS to his food. Now, I don't know if the HPS is what has made the difference in Reep or not.
One of the problems I run into with the PML diet is the availability of the HPS in the US and the cost. I make a double batch of BML every three days. When calculating the amount of HPS I would need to feed the PML, I just can't do it.
Since I am once again having to look at diets, I believe I will be switching the type of calcium. From what I can gather, the calcium carbonate is not easily broken down and asorbed so how is it benefiting the gliders? Also, I have been thinking about the oral calcium often given to gliders with HLP and wondering if adding oral calcium to their water would be of more benefit. However, I am afraid to "experiment" with my babies to find out.
What is your thoughts on the oral calcium? Also, is it calcium carbonate based or citrate?

Actually, when dissolved in water I believe it's neither (and by dissolved I mean completely dissolved with no sediment).

The calcium dissolved in water exists as a cation (positively charged ion), and is no longer a salt (like calcium carbonate or calcium citrate). Dancing perhaps you could be right and it may be an easier form of calcium for the gliders to absorb.

Recent medical studies have shown that calcium in fruit drinks have been an effective way of calcium supplimentation in humans, more so than milk.

Is "oral calcium" the solid sometimes chewable, chaulky tablet for humans? If so, it usually is calcium carbonate, as well, but dissolved in water, it dissociates into ions, and completely changes the chemical state of the calcium (and hence its chemical and physical properties), which means then that the calcium is no longer calcium carbonate. Therefore, though calcium carbonate may be difficult for the gliders to process, it may be different if the calcium is taken in through the drinking water.

Mikey <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dance.gif" alt="" />

Teresa the calcium that vets use for treating HLP is usually calcium glubionate, brand name Neocalglucon. There are some problems associated with trying to use this as a dietary supplement. Usually in most states it is a prescription drug. vets usually suspend it in a syrup at about 10% calcium. It is more easily absorbed by the system so the exact amount to use would be very iffy. The amount prescribed by vets are for gliders recovering from calcium deficiency so would probably be quiet different from a dietary dosage. Plus it would be dependent on the strength that the vet decided to mix it. Glubionate can be extracted from vegetables but can also be chemically formulated. It seems to be the calcium of choice by most vets for treating HLP but still falls into a gray area for a dietary supplement. Also would probably very expensive to include into a diet. I would think that Caltrate or calcium citrate sold under the brand of NOW would be better choices. Here again we run into a problem because no one knows what the daily requirements for calcium is for a glider. Also keep in mind that the absorption rate for calcium citrate is much higher than for calcium carbonate. Keep in mind too that the percentage of calcium in a bottle of calcium carbonate is not the same as the percentage of calcium in a bottle of calcium citrate. So with the differences in percentages of actual calcium and the difference in the absorption rate it is a problem trying to figure how to make a substitution.
Charlie H

if we give a high calcium yogurt daily like stoneyfield with 30 percent calcium on the label. thats the safest bet. its not a supplement yet their getting calcium.

Let me try to simplify something here... This is a great discussion.. I did not for a moment think Charlie was bashing. More like... wow, this guy really thinks alot and cares alot about gliders!! Honestly though, how could we ever think that we could possibly create a perfect diet for an animal that should have never been domesticated in the first place?? We can not expect tragedy not to happen even on the best of best diets. I am not saying we shouldn't own our little fuzzy guys but merely just understand that we don't even have a perfect diet for our domesticated dogs and cats!

charlie has started a subject ive been thinking of for a long time and didnt know how to post it it makes alot of sense especially after talking to australian zoo vets and glider breeders in australia. all of them say the same thing as charlie. if their getting a balanced good diet they dont think its necessary for supplements. they dont understand why we give supplements here. they all use the wombaroo high protein mix which has vitamins in it. but, dont take me wrong. if a glider has a bacterial illness then i think its necessary to give oral calcium since bacterial illness takes out the calcium in a gliders body. in this case it is necessary. just a thought maybe all the gliders yrs back with hlp had a bacteria of some kind which was leeching out the calcium from their bodies and caused the hlp. bacteria first hlp secondary illness to the bacteria.

Here is my point.. why do people keep buying dog food with corn in it??? They don't digest it.. it is a worthless, unhealthy filler. But, people that love their dogs dearly still buy it and don't pay attention to any of the ingredients on the back of the bag.. I think we need to look at this as a really big pic. Those whom don't add supplements but their diet is lacking otherwise will see more problems. Those who diet is good and has supplements may see a few side effects from the supplements but generally speaking have beautiful coats and live quite a long time. The diet I feed my gliders is one here but I have modified it to what I think is the healthiest and most useful for my gliders. Not everyone is going to pay attention to the detail of it and will pick a generally good diet and thats that. So, how are we suppose to handle the new findings that supplements as Charlie says might not be good for our gliders?? This is merely a question and I am not trying to bash at all. I think this is one of the best discussions I have seen on here as I really like learning more about glider diets... Thanks for starting this Charlie!!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />
This is really an interesting subject. I do know that in humas there are different kidney stones and the causes differ, sometimes these are genitic. Some are formed because of hormonal problems. Treatment depends on the type of stones. If there are different stones in humans are there different types forming in gliders? How many have been tested?
Here is one site about kidney stones and this one is about how they treat each different type of stone.
I think that many factors will need to be taken into account, including genitics and the gliders past history. Stress to the glider, hydration of the glider, diet (including the varience of a proven diet), ect. will all play a factor in the gliders health. So many issues its hard to know where to start. I have not had a UTI, liver problems or HLP in any of my gliders, although I know what to watch for, my experience with them is limited and I condider myself very blessed. With the rescues comming in some have health issues, but those resolve quickly. I will contiue to watch this subject and look forward to reading more.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />

Angie you are correct about the differences in kidney stones and the crystals that form them. There are several factors involved with the various types and their development. With the gliders I am focusing on the supplementing with calcium carbonate. It is the most widely used form of calcium and is heavily used in gliders diets. Why? Because it is cheap and easy for manufacturers to obtain. The containers the calcium come in are probably more expensive than the calcium carbonate. You could easily make your own calcium carbonate. Go to a coastal area and gather some oyster shells. Wash them, dry them and grind them into a powder. Presto! Calcium carbonate! Water will not dissolve calcium carbonate. If it would all of the oyster shells would dissolve. It has a strong alkaline base and takes an acid to dissolve it. The body has to manufacture the acid and I do not think a gliders digestive system is capable of producing the acid required to break down the ground up oyster shell. It is my opinion that this is not a product that is safe to be used by humans let alone gliders who have a much more primitive digestive tract. I think the medical profession as a whole has let us down on this issue.

Want to do a little test? Take two glasses and put a little water in one and vinegar in the other. Vinegar is a mild form of acetic acid. Add some RepCal to each glass and mix well. After a while check the glasses. The RepCal will mostly settle to the bottom of the glass with water and will have a gritty texture. The RepCal in the vinegar will dissolve with very little residue left. I'm not telling you to add vinegar to your gliders diet but just demonstrating how difficult it is to break down the calcium. There are many other factors involved for an animal to metabolize calcium but this will give you an idea of how difficult it is to break down.

Some of the things we feed gliders may seem to be good for them for a long time. It is the gradual damage we do not see until it is too late that we have to watch for. Just as in human diets we do not see the immediate effects some of these silent killers are doing. Think about the use of steriods by some athletes. It may be great at the time but what is going to happen to their bodies after prolonged use?
Charlie H

Charlie, what do you think about the high calcium in yogurt as stated above?? This is such a complicated issue. To stop with supplements... To continue with supplements... Hmmm.... I do add 5 ounces of organic vanilla yogurt to my gliders diet mix, but if I am reading this post correctly then the yogurt isn't really a great way to get them proper calcium.

wel w hy are we told to eat a diet high in calcium to prevent out bones from getting brittle. the docs say eat calcium in the form of milk which gliders shouldnt have and yogurt which is high in calcium but is good for lactose intolerance there are many types of yogurt some have higher calcium than others. there is also apple juice and other juices that have calcium added it all adds up. just another way of getting the calcium in them. i agree with the steroids. also pills for weigh loss etc. these things take yrs to affect us. just like the people who lay hrs on the sun as youngsters, the hrs we spent then comes back to haunt us later on in life. same with gliders same for people. cancer and heart disease dont happen overnight. since we live longer than gliders. and are larger in size. these illnesses take more yrs till they catch up to us. yes there are alternatives besides calcium carbonate. it just takes a little work to find the sources. charlie has the best example of a glider pac man who lived 15 yrs without calcium carbonate added to his diet. didnt eat the diets most of us feed out gliders. i know a few other very old gliders that never had a supplement of any kind added to their diet and are still fine. never been sick. maybe this is something we should look into more.

Although I have been knocking calcium carbonate and the excessive vitamin/mineral supplements I do not suggest any of you stop including supplements in your gliders diets. Actually I have seen more gliders with illnesses because of poor diets than any other reason. My concern is the number of cases of UTIs, liver problems, HLP, and heart problems that occur in our gliders even when on one of the 'approved' diets. Apparently the supplement vitamins and calcium we are using are wrong or we are over supplementing. As Karen mentioned, Yogurt is a good source of natural occurring calcium. If yogurt, dry baby cereal, mixed fruit and Ensure are made into a smoothie and fed with an equal amount of mixed vegetables and boiled chicken breast you have a pretty good diet for non breeding adult gliders. Replace the boiled chicken with scrambled eggs with cheese a couple of nights a month. I do suggest giving additional vit/cal supplements to sick gliders, joeys, pregnant moms, and young developing adults. I am not trying to play dietician here. We do offer fresh fruits from time to time along with other things such as turkey and we give meal worms every other night.

Quiet often you see me posting about gliders we are taking to the vet and all the medical problems some of our gliders are having. Keep in mind the gliders we have with medical problems are adult rescues we have taken in. Only one of the gliders that we bred has ever had any major problems. It ws PJ and he became prolapsed and mutilated himself. This was several years ago and he had been fed only one of the 'approved' diets. We did loose three gliders years ago
due to aflatoxins they got from human grade peanuts. We were using one or two peanuts a day as treats and learned a valuable lesson at the cost of three gliders lives. No more peanuts for our gliders!
Charlie H

What is needed is research. We should look at what the wild gliders are eating on a daily basis: the amounts they consume, composition of nutrients and vitamins, as well as the composition of nutrients and vitamins in their feces. Once we have this information then we can start to make diets around those figures so that captive gliders get about what the wild gliders get. This is however not a perfect system because a gliders needs in the wild might be different than its needs in captivity. But the wild studies would give a base line of all the vitamins and minerals important in the gliders diet, not necessarily in the proper amounts.

Then clinical trials would need to be conducted in which the copy of the wild diet was fed in captivity over a long period of time and the absorption rates of all the vitamins, minerals, ect… of the diet were observed and compared against the absorption rates in the wild. This would require several hundred animals.

Once these observations are made then a modified wild diet could be made so that the amounts of minerals absorbed in captivity are in sufficient amounts in the diet to permit absorption. This would again require a long-term study of the gliders.

This type of study is expensive and would take a great deal of time and animals, some of which will probably die during the study. The last time a study of this type was attempted there were unforeseen complications that resulted in the deaths of some of the gliders. This is the risk that must be taken. We do not know everything about how diets affect sugar gliders, as a result complications could arise and we must accept these and move on. If we cannot do so and we stop a study prematurely then it will be more difficult to get another study started and we will only be guessing at a gliders dietary need.

I understand that calcium carbonate made from oyster shell can contain lead( <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worried2.gif" alt="" />), what i am wondering is if there is any other source of calcium to be used? What about calcium citrate? is it any better? Just trying to figure this one out because i really am clueless when it comes to chemistry, sorry.

Charlie H what diet do u use if u dont mind me asking? and what side snacks/treats/foods do u feed as well? Just curious is all.

Ok--

Shoot me too if you would like all--

I refused to use the calcium with vit. D3 the day I got picked up my babies---the chemist in me said (after researching) they don't need it-they are nocturnal!! So, I purchased something called T-Rex microground boneAid--pure charged calcium carbonate that is suppose to be electrically charged to absorb quickly--I use half of the recommended amount BUT supplement with some yogurt (about a teaspoon for 2) each night. I left the reptivite alone basically, although I do use probably a little less than the recommended also. (Again this is due to the vits in yog, but a little less only--I don't half it or anything)

I am not a vet-however, I do consider myself a well-educated individual and feel that my chem/bio education has prepared me to rationally think through what I believe to be a biochemical problem with the calc. thing.

Of course, I pay very close attention to the gldiers-- I know that I may be taking a small chance here--but I think there is also a small chance taken with the whole calcium cupplementation, captivity in general.

Now, it would be perfect if a vet would come onto this thread and say--yes, by the way--I just started clinical trials on gliders to determine the solution to this dilemna. However, how likely is that?!

My vet and I have had a couple conversations about diet recently. My four are on BML with a very tiny amount of calcium and vitamins sprinkled on their mealies. My gliders aren't huge fans of BML--they'll eat it, eventually, if I bring that first and wait to give them fruits and mealies. But if mealies and fruits come first, they won't touch their BML. I've iced it and tried lots of things, and only giving it to them first really works. If I see they aren't eating BML, they get a little yogurt and I feel safer about calcium intake.

Last fall, I had a male with a prolapsed penis resulting from a UTI. The vet thought urine crystals caused the UTI, but he said urinary crystals could be made of calcium or another type of mineral. Then a few weeks ago I had to deal with my other male glider who was sick and sort of walking weird in his hind limbs. He perked up with antibiotics and seemed to be doing fine, but we supplemented him with liquid calcium glubionate as a precaution (it took a couple days for that to come in as our local pharmacy didn't stock it, so I saw the effect of antibiotics without calcium). The calcium was prescribed because the vet had taken X-rays and thought his cortical bone (the hard compact bone around the edge of the bone) looked thin. So calcium levels in the diet may have (but not necessarily) caused two (or one, or none) illnesses in my gliders.

[Aside: Now I am not a vet, but my master's degree happens to be about bone histology (the structure of bone tissue), and I know gliders have thin limb bones, like all flying mammals. I didn't see a difference between the bone thickness in his X-rays and the thickness in Spice's, who had X-rays taken when she twisted her arm. But I'm not a vet, so I went with her assessment even though I wasn't sure she was correct.]

The vet did say something at the time that made a ton of sense. She said your glider can be on the best, most nutritionally-accurate diet in the world, but that won't help him much if he won't eat it, or if he won't eat all of it. So a diet that is 90% as accurate might be better if your glider eats all of his food every night, instead of half or none of the perfect diet every night.

I would like to bring some different diets to my vet to ask their opinion on suitability. Three of my four don't like Ensure, so that would present the same problems as BML. But I would like to bring my vet the recipes for BML, PML, Judy's BML, and others to see what she thinks.

It is too bad that we don't have too much scientific information on glider diets, and that people aren't doing much research on it. But getting scientific funding is hard, and running the multi-year studies on glider diets would be expensive. As I'm at a university, I have access to lots of veterinary journals, and there is actually very little in the literature about glider diets. Most of the articles mention the Taronga Zoo and "Chicago Zoo" (don't know if they mean Lincoln Park or Brookfield) diets, and a weird version of "BML" that's unlike anything I've seen on GC. These articles are written for regular vets and exotic vets who are starting to see more sugar gliders in their practice and want to know what to recommend to their clients for diets.

So if anyone can point me in the direction of the PML and Judy's BML recipes, I'd appreciate it.

Oh! One more thing that might interest you guys: The soils in eastern and northern Australia are super high in calcium-carbonate. There is a lot of it in the ocean in the form of shelled organisms and corals, and over millions of years, that gets incorporated into reefs and the ocean floor near the coast. When sea levels shift and continents change position, those reefs and near-shore seafloor can suddenly find themselves on land. Plants that grow in carbonate-heavy soils will draw it up the same as all the other soil minerals. Plants don't need too much calcium so they get rid of the extra. That's why acacia and eucalyptus saps in Australia are high in calcium, not because it's inherent to the plant. So if the acacia or eucalyptus tree is grown in the US, it might not have as much calcium in its sap, depending on the minerals in its soil.

I feed judies BML, here is the recipe... this is exactly whats on the website, here is the website - www.toandfrogliders.com

Mix the First 9 items Thoroughly in a Blender of Food Processor
1/2 cup Honey My Gliders Do Not care for Sue Bee at Sams-I purchase Walmart Brand with a Jug Handle
2 ounces Gerber Yogurt Juice This comes in two flavors; Mixed Fruit or Banana Juice. If you can't find it, look on the bottom shelf in the Babyfood Section for the 4-packs. If your grocer does not carry it, ask him to order it. You will have to throw away the other half of the bottle unless you double your recipe
1ounces of apple juice Treetop is great - Try not to use off-brands
1ounces of cranapple juice Any Brand will do - You may also use Cran Cherry or Apple Cherry by Old Orchard
2 jars (2 1/2 ounce each) Chicken Baby Food My guys like the Heinz and so do I as far as the smell, but the Gerber and Beechnut work fine too.
1 Small Jar Stage 2 Sweet Potato This is what they really love - Any Brand Works. If doubling your recipe, use Stage 3
1/2 cup Mixed Cereal (Dry Baby Food) You may choose any Type like Rice, Wheat, etc., - My guys Like the Mixed.
2 teaspoons Repcal Phosphorus Free - A ToandFro Item - No Substitutes
Then Add and Blend Thoroughly
1/4 cup WheatGerm Comes in a Glass Jar and Can usually be found next to the Cream of Wheat in the grocery store
1 boiled egg These may also be scrambled with no butter or margarine - The reason these are added last is because they cause the BML to be thick if whipped in too much
1 teaspoon Herptivite Vitamin Supplement A ToandFro Item - No Substitutes. - The last thing you should add should be the Herptivite - Turn on Blender for 15 seconds after adding the powder and then shut off. - no more blending!
Final Stage

Pour mixture into ice cube tray and freeze

One large cube feeds (2 Hefty Tablespoons in one cube) two adult gliders

You do not need to thaw before serving

Along with this BML Recipe include the Following Foods.

Once a week I offer 1 teaspoon of Yogurt or Cottage cheese with their BML for each glider

BML - Judie's Version
1 Glider 1 Tablespoon or 1/2 Frozen Cube
2 Gliders 2 Tablespoons or 1 whole Frozen Cube
Fruits
1 Glider 1 Tablespoon Frozen or Fresh
2 Gliders 1/8 Cup Frozen or Fresh
Veggies
1 Glider 1/8 Cup Tablespoon Frozen or Fresh
2 Gliders 1/4 Cup Frozen or Fresh
Insects
1 Glider 3 Giant Gold Meal Worms (Recipe for Mealworms)
2 Gliders 6 Giant Gold Meal Worms
Mazuri New World Primate or Pet Pro Happy Glider Food
1 Glider 3 Pieces per night of Mazuri or 1/2 tsp of Pet Pro
2 Gliders 6 Pieces per night or tsp of Pet Pro


Fruits:
It is Important that you don't feed pits to a glider. No apple seeds, Cherry Pits, or Peach seeds. Thorougly wash Fresh fruit before serving. Even after refrigeration (parasites can live in your refrigerator)! Do not use canned. Baby Food is acceptable for joeys and on occasion when the refrigerator is empty or traveling. Wash fruits before serving, always!
Cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, mango, grapes, apples,pears (over-ripe), peaches, apricots, oranges (occasionally)grapefruit, kiwi, papaya, pineapple, plum, prune, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, coconut, raisins, fig, cherry (pitted) Only one citrus per week
Veggies:
Sweet potatoes (boiled, raw or baked) ,spinach, green leaf lettuce, bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, Bell Pepper (Yellow, Red or Green), Corn, Green Peas, Squash, Zuchinni, Kale, Broccoli, Snow peas
Insects or Protein:
It is best to buy bugs, crickets and mealworms from a supplier rather than collecting them in your yard. You may not spray pesticides, but your neighbor might. Do not feed lightening bugs. A good choice in summer is the Man 0 War (giant insect that looks like a mosquito). Depending on your home (living in country, etc.) June Bugs and Moths can be Fed. See vendor Supply Page for a list of Reliable Suppliers. Female breeders could possibly require more protein for nursing. If you see the female coming out early in the evening and looking very hungry searching for extra food, you might want to increase the protein by adding a few more insects or a small piece of boiled chiken . Some joeys will not eat insects until they are 3-4 months out of pouch (oop), so as a new owner, don't load up on the insects as you may be waiting your $. I offer 5-8 small mealworms in the AM for breeders.
Mealworms, Crickets, June Bugs, Butterworms, Moths
Dry Food
Mazuri - New World Primate In a bowl in cage about 3 pieces per glider per night. Do not give to young joeys(up to 4 months oop) unless it is soaked in apple juice. This Food is coated with Dental Guard to prevent gum disease.