Feeding Sugar gliders

31oktober2006
Source: Belangenvereniging Sugargliders Nederland
Sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) have become extremely popular in the United States in a very short time. Now they also are expecting to do the same in the Netherlands.
In captivity it is hard to give them their natural diet.
Their popularity comes from their appearance: it is a very small animal with a fur soft as velvet. However, it remains an exotic animal and not a cuddly animal.
They are called sugar gliders, because they resemble squirrels, while in fact, they are no squirrels at all, not even rodents, but marsupials!

Sugar gliders are omnivores. They partly thank their name to the fact that they mainly eat the juice of eucalyptus trees, which resembles honey. Apart from this, they feed on insects, eggs and small lizards. But also plants, nectar, fruit, leaves, buds, and juice. In captivity it is more difficult to give them their natural diet.

The following ingredients can be used as feed for sugar gliders: water, honey, mashed fruit, pollen grain (health food store, wholefood shop), soy milk (no normal milk due to lactose intolerance), rice flour, Brinta, Lori’s breeding feed, boiled egg, Roosvicee, dextrose, calcium, Carmix.

Sugar gliders require vegetables and fruit every day (strawberries and cabbages excepted) as well as some form of protein (albeit limited), as in grasshoppers, superworms, mealworms or crickets.

Two food related problems which may affect your sugar glider are hip defects and rickets, caused by a lack of calcium and vitamin D3.
Another thing that may occur is self-mutilation. This is mainly caused by stress. Other causes may be an infection of the urinary passages, parasites or a fungal infection. It is always wise to pay a visit to a vet, when experiencing any problems. Do pay in mind: more than half of the Dutch vets do not even know of the existence of sugar gliders!