This interesting topic came about when many people have asked me on my opinion about it. So what about it?
I’m normally hit with stuff like “which brand?” or “is it good for them?” and so on.
Sugar gliders are sap suckers. They eat tree sap and nectar from blossoms. Their teeth are designed to chew on fruits and strip bark (that’s where the long bottom front teeth is for) and their back molars are for chewing up insects. So is it wise to feed them pellets? My answer is….. yes and no.
Whatever pelleted or supplement food available now for sugar gliders, majority is from the very established American company, Exotic Nutrition. They export world wide. And yes, it’s also in Malaysia, just renamed into many brands by the local petshop or company.
Have a look at Exotic Nutrition’s sugar glider page.
I have tried a number of pellets on my gliders, and they don’t really enjoy them. Why? Because it’s not a natural food for them. Some would readily eat and some won’t at all. To me, many of the pellets in the market are still lacking in high quality ingredients. I look at the ingredients and find alot of fillers like corn, soybean, beet pulp, and rarely or not much real meat. Coz I study a little on food nutrition, and I keep track on nutrition on dogfood, I realize that the dog kibbles like Innova Evo is way way better than what’s available in the market for sugar gliders today.
So does this mean we should feed dogfood? No no no…. we shouldn’t just feed dogfood to sugar gliders, they are not dogs anyway.
Back to the topic, any good sugar glider pellets should not be used as a staple food. Do not assume a glider can just eat dried food like how dogs and cats do these days. When we look at dogs and cats, they have been domesticated for a very long period, and lots of research and experiments have been done to produce good quality dog food. Sugar gliders are still new, so research on pellet nutrition is also still new. Pellets also do not cause gum disease (lumpy jaw), in fact, it helps reduce it. When a glider is consuming lots of sweet stuff in the wild, it cleans it’s teeth by stripping bark. When in captivity, gliders don’t do this often so their gums will somehow have some sensitivity. So if they chew on something very hard all of a sudden, it can cause gum injury, which would lead to an infection and that’s where lumpy jaw comes about. By giving your glider a pellet or 2 a day, your glider’s will exercise it’s jaws and the gums will stay healthy and clean.
Best advice, use pellets as treats. You can give a few pellets a day. My gliders enjoy Innova Evo, but since this is dog kibble and super high in protein, I only give 2 pieces of kibble to each glider and it’s not given everyday. As for pellets, I find majority of my gliders favour Sunseed Sunscription Vita Sugar Glider over glider cereal and premium sugar glider diet. Anyway, I only offer this when necessary and a teaspoon is only given to 2 gliders. I still believe fresh is the best, dry food should come second.
Be warned yah, you may end up wasting your money coz majority of gliders dislike the smell and taste of the pellets. If possible, try and get samples or ask a friend who has the pellets to let you have a few pieces to try on your glider. Coz I don’t want people buying and then complaining their gliders hate it. I get that so often with friends that were talked into buying pellets and biscuits, so it can be a big let down.
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