Sugar Glider Treats and Supplements

Sugar glider treats and supplements should be fed in addition to a proper diet.  We tend to rotate through the items listed on this page, giving one or two things every day.  This provides variety and enrichment for the gliders.

Protein

Extra protein can be given to your gliders, in accordance with their main diet.  Different diets recommend different amounts and types of protein.  We try to give ours something every other day or so (closer to daily if our female is nursing joeys).  Some options are mealworms, wax worms, silk worms, crickets, caterpillars, hard-boiled egg (shell-on – it is good calcium and is fun for them), boiled chicken, baby food chicken or turkey, and yogurt.  Most of these are great to feed as finger foods, to bond with your gliders.  They can be fed as treats. We recommend feeding them in the morning, after they've eaten their primary diet and before they go to sleep.  If you're trying to keep the overall diet less complicated, we suggest sticking to the bugs and an occasional hard-boiled egg.

It is good to stay away from too much cottage cheese or anything that is very fatty.  There is some debate as to what amount of protein sugar gliders should have in their diet.  It is pretty safe to say that around 40-60% is good in the sugar glider food.  Gliders in the wild eat different amounts of protein during different seasons as well, so some people try to mimic that in captivity.

Nursing mothers require more protein in their diet.  As of right now, the HPW diet is the only diet we are aware of that actually increases the protein for breeding gliders.  With the other diets, increasing the protein in this category is a good way to keep mom and babies healthy.  Another way to increase protein for a lactating female is to mix about 1/8 tsp Wombaroo Possum Milk Replacer into the food.

NEVER feed lightning bugs to your sugar gliders.

Sugar Glider Treats

Sugar glider treats should be given in moderation, as suggies have really small tummies (about the size of a thumbnail) and you will want them to be hungry enough to eat their primary sugar glider food.  Some good treats are dried fruit (most love papaya and it has lots of calcium), yogurt drops, pine nuts (but stay away from any other type of nut), grapes, raisins, and Cheerios.

Sugar Glider Enrichment Supplements

These are some additional things you can provide your gliders with for enrichment:

• Tree branches are good for giving the gliders something to chew and climb on.  It is important not to give them anything that could have been sprayed with pesticides and not all trees are safe.  We will post a list of sugar glider safe trees soon.  You can also find apple tree wood in the hamster section at pet stores and put them on a kabob.  You can also find suggie-safe eucalyptus branches, chew sticks, and leaves in our store. 
• Acacia Gum – Sugar gliders eat this in the wild and they love it.  You can mix a little with water (to get a gummy consistency) and put a dish of it in their cage.  Another option is to sprinkle it on their sugar glider food.  If your gliders are picky about their sugar glider food, sometimes sprinkling Acacia Gum powder on it will get them to eat it.
• Apple juice, mixed with water (1:1) – Make sure to put this in a separate water bottle at night and remove it from their cage in the morning.  They do not need much and they really like it.
• Gatorade – Some gliders really like this and it can help replenish electrolytes and encourage hydration.
• Gliderade – This supplement provides the carbohydrates that gliders need to support their high metabolism.  It has the nectar and bee pollen that they would be consuming in the wild.  It is good for lactating females too.  We give this to our gliders in a small ceramic dish and they love it.  Stay tuned for our review on a small plastic drinking tube that we tried to use for Gliderade. 

Calcium and Vitamins

These supplements may or may not be necessary, depending on which sugar glider diet you choose.  They are not used in the HPW diet, for example, but we try to keep calcium around and sometimes sprinkle some in the sugar glider food on nights that we give our gliders corn (because the calcium:phosphorous ratio in corn is very low).

If you believe anything written on this Sugar Glider Treats and Supplements page to be incorrect, have a food to add to our list, or have an experience you would like to share with any of the foods listed, please use our Sweet Sugar Glider contacts page and let us know.

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