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
Suncoast uses a three-part feedingroutine:
- 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 Zookeeper's Secret
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.