Introducing new foods to Sugar Gliders

How to introduce new foods into your Sugar Gliders diet.

Sugar gliders can be, and typically are finicky eaters. Not all Sugar gliders will adapt to eating new foods the first time they are offered. The Sugar gliders age, and present diet can be determining factors. Most Sugar gliders adapt to new diets immediately, but if your glider is reluctant, we list several techniques to make the transition.

First ... it is important that you do not allow your Sugar glider to 'fill-up' on treats, fruits or vegetables. Although the fruits and vegetables are quality foods, they do not contain the necessary proteins, fats or other essentials that a Sugar gliders will need in their diet. If your Glider fills up on these other foods, they will not be hungry enough to eat a balanced diet. Many times Sugar gliders will not show interest in new foods when they have plenty of treats and fruits available to eat. Withhold these 'sweet' treats for a few days ... allow your Glider to get hungry, then they will be less reluctant to try new foods.

Sugar gliders are hardy animals, they typically will not starve themselves. When they are hungry enough, they will eat the foods available, if you do not allow them to get hungry enough, then they will just wait for you to offer something different. If you are continuing to supply foods that they 'like' to eat when trying a new diets ... then your Glider(s) will wait for you to bring them the food they are used to eating, rather than be willing to try new foods. You have to be persistent and withhold all of the old diet, supply only the new diet for 2-3 days. When they get hungry enough, they will try the new foods and get used to eating them on a regular basis within a week.

How to introduce Exotic Nutrition foods to your Sugar Gliders' diet.

Suggested Method: Offer Instant-HPW along with the present diet. Instant-HPW is a great tasting, highly nutritious Sugar glider food that can be offered along with the pellet diet, it is flavored with honey & pure vanilla beans (sugar gliders love these flavors). Typically, Sugar gliders will immediately take to a pellet diet when it is offered in conjunction with Instant-HPW.

Gradual Method

Over a 7 day period fill your Sugar Gliders food dish 1/4 full several times a day maintaining the following proportions of the old and new diet.

Day 1 - 90% old diet & 10% new diet

Day 2 - 80% old diet & 20% new diet

Day 3 - 70% old diet & 30% new diet

Day 4 - 50% old diet & 50% new diet

Day 5 - 25% old diet & 75% new diet

Day 6 - 10% old diet & 90% new diet

Day 7 - 0% old diet & 100 % new diet

Sweetening Method

Add 1/2 teaspoon of honey to the pellets, each day cutting back the amount of honey added until you are feeding with-out honey. Gliderade nectar supplement can be used in place of honey if desired, but Instant-HPW is recommended over Gliderade due to it's higher nutritional value.

Please remember .... Just because your glider may not eat a new food the first day that you offer it, doesn't mean that your Glider won't adapt to the new diet in a short period of time. Do not replace the new food with another food .... until you have offered the new food for a 48 hour period. Let your Glider get hungry ... then see if they try a new food.

by: Sugar Glider Store

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