GliderCENTRAL

Overweight Sugar Glider

Posted By: dmay

Overweight Sugar Glider - 07/02/17 02:16 AM

Several months ago I took in two more gliders for my sanctuary enclosure, a mother and a daughter. Bambam, the daughter, came with a tooth infection and I had to take her to the vet twice to take care of it. It hasn't come back since but she was placed on a soft diet per the vet because her previous owner said she'd get a tooth infection when she eats hard food. So I have to cook all their veggies to meet her restrictions.

Well, the older one, Bambi started to self mutilate after a couple months so I looked to see what I could be doing wrong with them. They have plenty of toys, and it gets changed up 1-2 times a month, their cage is more than big enough, and everyone in the cage plays nice. I looked further into their diet and decided to change it to see if that was the cause. I changed it to the BML diet and I followed it to the T aside from corn because even after I cook it it's not soft enough for Bambam. Success! She stopped self mutilating and Bambam's tooth infection didn't come back.

That was great until she started to gain weight, and then more weight, and more... I know mealworms are fatty so for the past week I've left them out of their cage (my other enclosures still get them) but that hasn't changed much, although I know a week isn't long enough to tell a difference. I have 10 gliders and Bambi is the only one who's overweight. I really don't want to change their diet again because I don't want her to go back to self mutilating and I have breeder gliders in my other enclosures so I don't want to stress them out by switching it up. Is there anything I can do for Bambi's enclosure without making the rest of the gliders stressed? I've thought about cutting the portions down for her enclosure but, as I said, I've followed the BML to a T and worry about 3tablespoons of everything not being enough for all 4 gliders in her enclosure.
Posted By: Feather

Re: Overweight Sugar Glider - 07/02/17 02:28 AM

What do you have in their enclosure to make them exercise?

Wheels?

Foraging toys that you could put their veggies and fruit in and make them work for their food?
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: Overweight Sugar Glider - 07/02/17 03:02 AM

Watching their weight is easier if you have a gram scale. That way you see what's going on daily.

Feather mentioned whether you had a wheel. If she does, does she use it?
Posted By: dmay

Re: Overweight Sugar Glider - 07/02/17 04:34 AM

They do have a wheel in there. I haven't seen her use it but I know the others do, I only assume she uses it during the late night when I'm sleeping. I do have forging toys in their cage along with other toys and perches.
Posted By: KarenE

Re: Overweight Sugar Glider - 07/02/17 02:27 PM

Would it be possible for you to post a picture of her? Do you have two feeding stations in their cage to ensure there isn't any food aggression or as much as possible?

It does sound like you are doing everything right,
so it might be she is simply a fluffy glider rather than truly over weight.

A scale would help. Amazon has many to choose from at very reasonable prices. More money doesn't mean a better scale wink
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