Feeding Your Pet Sugar Glider

Sugar gliders are quickly becoming one of the most popular pocket pets in the United States. Adorable little marsupials that hail from places like Australia and Indonesia, sugar gliders have captivating little faces, friendly dispositions, and can live up to 15 years in captivity. While they make wonderful little pets, sugar gliders are still considered exotic animals and require specialized feeding, in order to keep them happy and healthy. Are you interested in bringing one of these cute little fellows into your home? Keep reading to learn about the dietary and nutritional need of the sugar glider.

In the wild, sugar gliders dine upon a wide variety of foods and their digestive systems have adapted to this.  Active little omnivores (or animals that eat both plant and animal proteins), these adorable marsupials require a diet that is not only high energy, but is also very high in protein. In the wild, a sugar glider will not only dine upon nectar and sap, but also fruits, insects and small animals, such as baby birds. In order to maintain a healthy sugar glider, it is therefore necessary to imitate not only his natural habitat as closely as possible, but also a similar diet.

Due to the fact that sugar gliders are high energy animals, they should be fed a diet that is high in carbohydrates and sugars, but low in fats. Diets comprised of 20-30% fruit, 40% vegetables, 30-50% protein, and 15% carbohydrates work well for sugar gliders and will help keep your pet free from nutritional-based health problems. The use of calcium and vitamin additives is highly suggested and will help to balance out your pet's nutritional needs.

Sugar gliders are very discriminating diners and, given the opportunity, will develop a picky palate. While we often think of this as a cute, human-like behavior, it can be potentially dangerous to your velvety little friend. Sugar gliders who are allowed to pick and choose what they will, and will not, eat often fall into nutritional ruts and can miss out on well-balanced meals, because their well-meaning humans avoid giving them healthy stuff, in favor of the yummy treats they prefer.