A good question. I don't have the answer, but a good question


I know over that last few years there are times I have accidently given the gliders something that has a hint... of garlic or onion in it, and not known it till afterwords. And I saw/see no ill effects.

Like a baby food mix on the road, or a piece of chicken that was cooked with an onion and or garlic.

I have always heard it will kill them, is toxic, but I don't know where that information came from. I'd be interested to know. I just try to steer away from it.

Garlic and onions are members of the Allium lily family and are toxic to a lot of animals. Now, I THINK that a lot fo the toxicity is lost in cooking. So that may be why Alicia hasn't seen any ill effects frmo the little bit her gliders have gotten. I am sure my gliders have inadvertantly gotten a bite of food in my home with either or both in it because I use onions and/or garlic in EVERYTHING.

http://www.drkatrina.com/yourpet/Cats/Lilytoxicityincats.aspx

I panicked when Badge jumped on a pizza and snatched of all things, a big piece of sausage. He ran so fast and was eating it while I was chasing him! He managed to eat the whole piece, THEN he came to me. No ill effects but I scared for a week. (no, the pizza was NOT hot)

Before I knew not to give garlic/onion, I let him have the chicken sticks (Gerber) for years.

But then again, garlic and onion are actually good for rats. And small amounts of onion don't hurt cattle. So it really all depends on the species and how well they handle toxins.

Someone would have to do a study to see whether they'd hurt suggies, to be sure.

I have read that Garlic is toxic to cats, A few vets have told me to NOT give it to them, HOWEVER, you can buy brewers yeast as a diet supplement that has GARLIC in it as well as other supplements for cats that contain garlic. Garlic is also recommended by "holistic healers" as a remedy for internal and external parasites. This makes one think that it depends on the AMOUNT ingested???

SO....in regard to sugar gliders, I would never ever give them fresh raw onions or garlic. BUT a tiny TINY bit as a spice in a food...heavy sigh of thought here....I doubt it would do any harm. BUT BUT BUT, I still dont recommend it, just in case. Keep in mind that I am sure individual animals, even within species, can react differently to different foods just because of individual make-ups. Also keep in mind that the more a species is "selectively" bred by man, and they get further away from the "wild side" the species actually will not be able to handle odd things quite as well as natural counterparts. did that make sense?

good point about the POWDER also, it doesnt have quite the same effect.

since we are on the subject of if garlic and onion is really toxic, HOW did the idea come up that CATNIP is toxic as well?

Cat nip is toxic, it will kill your gliders, even playing with a cat nip toy will kill them. There are many threads on here with catnip, mostly in the rainbow memorials, but also in health and hygiene. Several people on the boards have lost gliders after having given a toy that had catnip in it.

my girls have drank the 'naked' brand 'super food', green stuff, which does have a trace of garlic in it. 'odwalla' brand does not have that in it, which makes it safer to feed, but I can't buy this in Perry,Iowa. the girls seem to do fine w/it,though. when I go to the city(Des Moines),I try to find some there, but sometimes I have no luck @ the stores I frequent.
talk @ ya L8R

now I have never given this to my gliders..
but the lady I got my first from told me she gave one gerber chicken stick a night as part of her feeding..
and Darwin is fine.. but on the other hand.. she does have two with HLP!! Sooooo was this the cause?? most likely not but still.. something to factor in..

I have always stayed away from both just because I have heard it's toxic.. and I would never want to take the chance to find out if it's true or not..

Two that I got were being fed vienna sausages and I'd also heard of one boy from his teacher that would feed the lasagna baby food which has onions and garlic in it. I know garlic can be good for your heart, but onions are in the same family and are bad for dogs while garlic is good. I think its kinda like grapes. We know there is something in them that will build up and kill them over time (for the most part) so I'd avoid when possible.
I'd read an article about a lady with a teacup Chihuahua that ate some grapes and within an hour was in severe distress. Doesn't take as much for a smaller body to become affected.
I've also had a little scare with lima beans.

Since we are currently discussing this again, started as an off topic in another thread, I am copying my comment from the other thread for further discussion.

Copied:
I think pieces of the actual garlic & onion bulbs are the biggest hazard. The are not easily digested because they are so fibrous.

My neighbor's small dog ate some homemade spaghetti sauce which had diced onions in it. The dog had to have surgery to remove an intestinal blockage caused by the pieces of onion she had eaten.

The tiny amount of garlic in the various green juices does not seem to have had any adverse affects on gliders.

I believe SMALL amounts of garlic powder or onion powder probably will not cause issues but I would not offer my gliders anything that has actual pieces of garlic or onion in it.
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I completely agree, Candy.

My post from the other thread:

We just need to use good common sense as these are small animals.

At the same time, I don't believe we need to take at face value something we have been told or seen on message boards or fb just because someone said it. That is exactly how the garlic/onion being toxic as well as lima beans and other foods.

Following the trend:
Here's me:

I will admit to having succumbed to weakness and shared some human food with Arwen such as jarred spaghetti sauce, doritoes, and a number of other foods that have been seasoned with garlic, as well as pizza and scrambled eggs that I seasoned with garlic for myself. She is a healthy well adjusted glider.

I dont know how much she actually ingested.

and:
the stuff I (highly) season for myself is usually done with garlic powder.


another thought:
Is it possible that a glider fed a SMALL amount, and then increasingly larger amounts could develop an immunity or ability to digest?