From: ness
Removed my personal email Sent: Monday, 19 March 2012 2:24 AM
To: wombaroo@adelaide.on.net
Subject: Sugar Glider
diet Hello Mr. Rich,
1.) Would you be so kind as to send me the guideline used for your recommended Sugar Glider
diet? Alden only posted as a copy and paste with her own "notes"
2.) Alden has posted you agreed that the Green juice can replace the water in your recommended
diet either by whole or partial. I do not see this recommendation in the emails. Would you agree that this was recommended?
3.) Alden has also posted that you recommended the Mazuri Insectivore
diet as a substitute for your Small Carnivore
diet, I do not see this in the emails either. Would you agree that this was recommended?
4.) Do you have any studies or testing that would support the use of this
diet for captive bred/raised Sugar Gliders?
5.) Would you be so kind as to answer whether or not Sugar Gliders in the wild/zoos vs. Sugar gliders kept in smaller cages would/would not need as much food/vitamin/nutrient wise?
6.) Can you answer if all or some of this is accurate? This was posted by Alden which I can't seem to find all of these things listed publicly. " just in the Rich family alone you have a biochemist, a hospital scientist specialising in microbiology and haematology, a pathologist, an ornithologist and aviculturist, and a Chemical Engineer."
7.) In reading your emails I see that you refer to your product as HPS and not HPW, would this be the correct acronym used by your company in the selling of your product?
Thank you for your time and Effort,
Sincerely,
Finnessa
-----Original Message-----
From: Wombaroo/Passwell <wombaroo@adelaide.on.net>
To: 'ness'
Removed my email againSent: Tue, Mar 20, 2012 4:37 pm
Subject: RE: Sugar Glider
dietHi Finnessa,
Thanks for your enquiry regarding our feeding guidelines for Sugar Gliders. In answer to your questions:
1) Please find attached our feeding guidelines
2) We don’t specifically recommend the use of “Green Juice”. However this could be used as a “vehicle” for creating an artificial nectar, as blended fruit juice is mainly composed of water and carbohydrate – if you add some Wombaroo High Protein Supplement to this, it will provide the essential protein, fatty acids, vitamins & minerals.
3) We don’t specifically recommend the use of Mazuri Insectivore
diet – although they are well respected company in the zoo industry and this product looks reasonable at first glance. But we’re not in the business of critically analysing other company’s products. However, this product is quite high in Iron (335ppm compared to Wombaroo Small Carnivore which has <70ppm). I would question as to whether this level of iron is required for Sugar Gliders, however it may not be a problem if it is only a small portion of the
diet.
4) We don’t have any published studies on the use of this
diet for captive Sugar Gliders – there would be very few
diets that do. However we do have over 25 years experience in formulating food products for native Australian animals. Remember we don’t manufacture a 100% complete
diet for Sugar Gliders, we make a useful supplement that can be applied to a range of common food items to provide a more balanced
diet.
5) Our recommendations are based on an energy usage of 2.5xBMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), which takes into account the lower energy needs of captive animals. Wild gliders can have energy intakes of about 4xBMR – ie would require significantly more energy. However, many nutrient requirements (eg vitamins, minerals and most essential amino acids) are not directly related to energy intake. Therefore to meet requirements, captive
diets need to have higher concentrations of such nutrients than wild
diets.
6) I hope these answers clarify your queries.
7) Our product is called Wombaroo High Protein Supplement or HPS for short. We’ve never referred to it as HPW.
Kind Regards,
Gordon Rich.
Wombaroo Food Products / Passwell Pty Ltd
PO Box 151
Glen Osmond
SA 5064
Ph 08 8391 1713
Fax 08 8391 1713
www.wombaroo.com.auFrom: ness
Again lol Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012 11:17 AM
To: wombaroo@adelaide.on.net
Subject: Re: Sugar Glider
diet Thank you for your response, it helps greatly in learning more of the
diet side of things and making sure it gets done properly here in the states. I do have a few more questions though.
1. I see the mention of ISD in your dialog with Alden. You recommend against using the fortified toddler cookies. Do you see ISD often in Sugar gliders in Australia? There are owners currently looking into seeing if this is common here as well.
2. Would you happen to know of any special testing done there to determine ISD in Sugar Gliders?
3. Would you happen to know if your
diet recommendations in your guideline are widely used in Australia?
4. Do you think the use of "natural food supplies" would vary from Sugar gliders in Australia vs. Indonesian ones? Ours are believed to have originated from Indonesia. Would the requirements be similar and not risky to use something not truly "native" to our own?
5. Do you mind if I pass these questions/answer correspondings along to other owners?
Thank you for your time,
Finnessa
From: Wombaroo/Passwell <wombaroo@adelaide.on.net>
To: 'ness'
LOLDate:Tue, Mar 20, 2012 11:58 pm
Hi Finnessa,
We are always happy to answer questions about animal nutrition. In response to your news questions:
1. No we do not have clinically diagnosed ISD reported often in Sugar Gliders here in Australia, and we are not suggesting that it is a widespread problem. But we have certainly heard of reports of high levels of circulating iron as well as tissue deposition of iron in necropsied animals kept in captivity. ISD may be under-reported because very few people get necropsies done of dead animals. The main point is that these animals have low levels of iron in their natural
diet so why should we be feeding them a high content of iron in a captive
diet?. As many human foods are fortified with iron then it makes sense to avoid them as dietary items for gliders.
2. There is no special testing done for ISD in Sugar Gliders in Australia – its not really considered a major problem here. Most
vets should be able to diagnose ISD, or at least the precursor condition of hemosiderosis (iron accumulation in body tissue).
3. We’ve been feeding Gliders in captivity for over 25 years. As in the US, there are many variations to glider
diets also in Australia, but the majority probably use Wombaroo HPS as part of their
diet. We are not telling people what to feed – we are simply providing guidelines for how to supply a balanced
diet to captive animals.
4. The digestive physiology and nutritional requirements of Australian and Indonesian gliders would be very similar.
5. No problems!
Kind regards,
Gordon Rich.
Wombaroo Food Products / Passwell Pty Ltd
PO Box 151
Glen Osmond
SA 5064
Ph 08 8391 1713
Fax 08 8391 1713
www.wombaroo.com.au