When it comes to exotic pets, sugar gliders are one of the most popular types of exotic pets. They are cute, small, and unique-looking animals. If some of you haven’t seen one before, their appearance looks more like a mix of a flying squirrel and a chipmunk.
Like how you would care for other exotic pets, you should also know the animal’s care requirements, and of course their personality. But more importantly, you should be keen on feeding them with healthy foods and treats, as they require a special diet, space, and lots of attention. In this article, we would be discussing the list of best sugar glider food.
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10 Best Sugar Glider Food Can Eat
Sugar gliders are both omnivorous and insectivorous. They can eat meat, insects, and vegetables, but not all foods are suitable for them to eat. These animals are named because of their preference sweet foods, as they enjoy drinking sweet nectar and tree sap in the wild.
Here are ten healthy foods for sugar gliders to eat:
1. Mazuri Insectivore Diet
Since sugar gliders are also insectivorous, it is alright for them to eat insects regularly. However, make sure that the insects you are feeding them with are not too fatty to avoid obesity. Also, obese animals are more prone to illnesses.
This insectivorous diet is designed to be complete and well-balanced for insectivores, and it doesn’t require supplementation. This is good for your pet’s health as it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and highly fortified. In addition, it also contains high fibers, which helps stimulate the chitin element in your pet’s diet.
2. Vitakraft Sugar Glider Food
This pet food is specially formulated for a sugar glider’s food and diet, which contains a mix of parsley and carrots, a bit of honey, five various fruit juices, and freeze-dried mealworms.
Aside from those mixes, this VitaSmart food mix also contains a special ingredient to make it tastier for your pet to eat, while also providing it with a healthy diet. Moreover, it contains omega-3 fatty acids that enhance heart function, brain and health development, and good vision.
3. Exotic Nutrition High Protein Sugar Glider Food
If you are looking for a treat or other alternative healthy diet for your sugar glider, the Glider Complete would be your best choice. This pack is complete with a nutritional diet that contains quality protein pellets, which has eight varieties of pure fruit chunks like apples, honey, bee pollens, peaches, blueberries, apricots, pears, golden raisins, pineapples, and papaya.
In addition to this fruity treat for sugar gliders, it doesn’t contain any preservatives and it’s all natural. It is also fortified with vitamins and mineral, which makes it a healthier treat for sugar gliders.
4. Exotic Nutrition Instant HPW Food
Unlike any other sugar glider foods, the Instant-HPW sugar glider food is packed in a powdered form where you’ll mix it in with water. Therefore, instead of feeding your glider with solid food, you’ll be feeding it with a specially mixed liquid. Not only is it very simple to prepare, but you also get to have a good diet food and diet plan at an affordable price.
Additionally, the pack contains healthy ingredients such as eggs, flax seed oil, 3 fatty acids and omega 6, honey, bee pollen, and a ZooPro high-protein supplement.
5. Suncoast Sugar Gliders Fruity Flavor Food
If you are looking for a cooked, packed food for your little glider, then Happy Glider is the one that you are looking for. Each pack contains a cooked diet for sugar gliders that contains vitamins, minerals, a mix of toasted grains, and various protein sources.
It’s also packed with whole grain formula with fruity flavor coating, which your pet would surely love. Furthermore, the Suncoast Sugar Gliders are one of the safest and made of high-quality products for your pet’s overall health.
6. Exotic Nutrition Fruit and Veggie Food
This jar of sugar glider food is packed and ready to feed to your pet, each jar contains fruits, vegetables, acacia gum, eggs, bee pollen, and more. It also very nutritional and has a real vanilla bean flavor to offer great favor that your pet would love.
After opening the jar, make sure to always refrigerate it to prolong its storage life. Moreover, your little glider will love the fruits and veggies that are mixed with pure vanilla flavoring. It would also help support strong muscles and healthy bones with its natural protein. Just simply scoop and serve to your sugar glider.
7. Exotic Nutrition Insectivore-Fare
Vanilla bean flavoring is usually loved by sugar gliders, and this pack has that flavor. In addition, this pack contains omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, honey, bee pollen, eggs, wombaroo high-protein supplements, and flaxseed oil.
This is one of the most used diet plans for a sugar glider, as it provides an enriched diet plan with a high-protein diet. You can instantly feed this to your pet, or you can mix this with a bit of Instant-HPW, but don’t put too much powder to avoid obesity.
8. Exotic Nutrition Berries and Bugs
Sugar gliders also love eating fruits like how they love eating sweet foods and treats. Each pack of this sugar glider diet food contains ingredients like omega 6, wombaroo high-protein supplement, flax seed oil, omega 3 fatty acids, bee pollen, honey, and eggs. It also has the vanilla bean flavor that your glider would love.
You can either mix and freeze that can be stored for up to six months, or just it in its powder form that could last for one year.
9. Exotic Nutrition Yogurt Drops
If you are looking for treats rather than a planned diet, then this pack of mini yogurt drops for sugar gliders would be your best option. Each treat is shaped conveniently for your pet to hold and enjoy its food. In addition, it is packaged in a resealable pack with a tamper-proof seal, which makes sure that your pet’s treats are always fresh.
But before you offer your glider with treats, makes sure that it has eaten a nutritious meal before eating its treats. We recommend that you feed your pet no more than a couple of drops every other day, this way you can keep your pet in a healthy weight.
10. Exotic Nutrition Assorted Treats
Is your pet getting sick of its same treat for the past days? If yes, then consider getting this assorted healthy treats that are exclusively packed for sugar gliders. Not only will your pet love its treats, but it gets to eat a variety of treats every other day.
This assorted treat packs a delicious mix of pineapples, island blend, coconut/yogurt drops (this depends on the climate), and papaya. The treat can lend a monotonous or variety of diet and can add a behavioral enrichment. The treats are purely made from fruits to ensure your pet’s overall health.
The food and treats above are indeed the best lists that you can feed to your pet. Each food product has their own healthy features that could perfectly fit your glider’s diet plan, just choose the product that you like and feed it to your pet depending on its required a diet.
Sugar Glider Feeding Guide
To make sure that you are feeding your pet correctly, here are some feeding practices that you can do which can help you keep your pet healthy and active.
Here are the best feeding practices that you can follow for your sugar glider pet:
Feed Your Glider with Variety of Foods
To make sure that your glider is getting the right amount of nutrients, and to keep them from getting bored of their regular meals, it would be a good idea for you to change the foods they get in their feeding.
Like for example, if you feed your pet with eggs one day as their protein food, you should feed with another type of proteins the next day, such as bugs or even yogurt. Prepare a meal routine for your pet to make this easier.
Note: sugar gliders can sometimes get finicky about their meals, where they would only pick their favorite parts in their meals and leave the rest in their bowls. To avoid this from happening, chop and mix their food thoroughly so that they’ll eat it in balance.
Morning and Dusk Feeding Routine
It’s important for you to feed your glider a meal during the start of the day, to prevent them from getting too hungry during the whole day. Since gliders are nocturnal, it would be a good idea for you to feed them just before the sun goes down to make sure they have eaten enough.
If you are worried about your pet getting hungry outside their feeding times, you can leave a bowl of food in their cage just in case they get hungry.
Chop the Food Before Feeding
Since gliders are small, they can chew on big chunks of food, so before you feed them with any types of solid food, make sure to chop them first into small pieces. This way it’ll be easier for your pet to eat, and it would help encourage them to eat a variety of foods as well.
Don’t Overfeed
Wild gliders eat about 15 to 20% of their body weight when it comes to food, but for pet gliders, they should eat less than what their wild counterparts eat, as they are not as active as the wild ones. In fact, feeding your pet with too much food can result in them getting weight gain, which could lead them to have health problems or premature death.
Remove Perishable Leftover Foods from Cages
After feeding your little glider, make sure to remove their leftover foods that are perishable. Gliders are quite picky sometimes, so they won’t be feeding on meals that aren’t fresh anymore. Just keep dry foods, like freeze-dried bugs in their cages just in case they get hungry again.
Mount Their Food Bowls a bit Higher
Sugar gliders are natural tree-inhabitants, so they are great climbers. They also eat lots of various vegetations, therefore if their food is placed at the higher places of their cage, they would be more inclined to eat and it would also keep the feeding bowl cleaner.
Occasionally Give Treats
Don’t spoil your little friend with treats or encourage their picky eating, also a lot of treats for sugar gliders aren’t good for them to eat all the time. This is the reason why some product reviews often remind readers to only feed their pets twice or thrice a week. But some recommend to only give about 5% of treat in their pet’s daily meal. However, this doesn’t mean that you could feed your pet with treats every day.
We recommend you to only feed your pet with treats every other day, and make sure they don’t eat more than two pieces a day.
What are the Foods to Avoid?
Gliders are required to eat a variety of foods every day to make sure they get all the nutrients they needed, but there are also a lot of foods that they aren’t allowed to eat. Do not feed your glider with wild worms, insects, spiders, and other small creatures as they might be contaminated with pesticide. Also, avoid feeding them with apple seeds and fruit pits.
Other types of food that they aren’t allowed to eat are artificially sweetened products, processed or deep fried foods, or high fat or sugar foods like chocolates.
Final Thoughts
Having a good understanding of your pet’s natural diet can help you understand how to feed them. Sugar gliders are considered to be an adorable exotic pet, but feeding them with the right food and diet plan can prove to be quite a challenge.
Therefore, it’s important for you to know when, how, and what foods they could eat to make sure they the nutrition they need, and so that they could a healthy and happy life.
