Suncoast Diet Recipe for Sugar Gliders

Suncoast Sugar Gliders uses a "Suncoast Diet" recipe developed by a veterinarian that they work very closely with. This balanced diet allows you to vary the foods you offer to your sugar gliders, to prevent boredom.  This is a vet-approved and widely-used diet, but we have not tried it ourselves.  We find it to be easier and more practical for us to use a frozen diet like HPW and just rotate supplements and treats to prevent boredom.

Suncoast Diet Recipe

• A fresh protein source
• A fresh source of fruit and/or vegetables sprinkled with vitamin and calcium supplements
• A staple food available all day for random snacking - Suncoast uses Wholesome Balance

Protein Source

Fed on a 4-day rotation:

• Gut loaded mealworms (10-12 small, 7-10 medium, or 3-5 large per glider)
• Gut loaded crickets (3-5 per glider)
• Boiled eggs (no shell) mixed with corn flakes or Special K, and honey or apple juice (1 heaping TABLEspoon per 2 gliders)
• Blueberry or peach yogurt (1 heaping TABLEspoon per 2 gliders)

Fruits or Veggies

Suncoast recommends feeding an amount equivalent to 1/8 of an apple. Suncoast feeds the following fruits and veggies on a rotation (varying by availability): apples, pears, sweet potatoes, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, carrots, kiwi, mango, oranges (once/week & never to joeys), and blueberries. This list is not intended to be all-inclusive.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Suncoast recommends sprinkling a pinch of Vionate and Rep-Cal Calcium (phosphorous free without D3 added because Vionate contains D3) on the fruits and veggies.  They warn against overdosing on the vitamins.

For breeding sugar gliders, Suncoast recommends sprinkling 1/8 TEAspoon of a milk replacer like Possum Milk Replacer on the fruits and veggies.  It is ok for the male to eat the same foods as the lactating female.

Extra Advice

• Newly weaned joeys should be fed Gerber chicken baby food mixed with applesauce or sweet potatoes instead of crickets and mealworms. Try offering small mealworms occasionally until the joey learns to love them.
• June bugs or grasshoppers can be used in place of mealworms and crickets.
• Gliders are messy with their food. Try putting their food dish inside of a "glider kitchen". This can be a plastic (ferret) igloo on top of a plate or an upside-down plastic container with a hole in the side. This will help keep the mess and the cage smell down and make cleaning the cage MUCH easier.
• Suncoast Diet is one of the approved sugar glider diets designed to be fed as a main course. 
• More details about the Suncoast Diet can be found at http://www.sugar-gliders.com/sugar-glider-diet.htm.

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