Hello all!
My name is Cheri and I am a new glider owner, about 4 weeks in. I have 2 little ladies, Lucy Balle and Grace. My husband and I fell in love with them so much, we have 2 more coming this weekend once we get the larger cage set up. Lucy is a White Face Blonde, Grace appears to be Black Beauty with a white tip on her tail. The 2 new ones to be are Luke and Mercy. Luke is a Black Beauty Mosaic neutered male and Mercy is a Cremeino female. We are truly blessed to add these sweet creatures to our family.

I do have a question. Lucy and Grace are beginning to bond very well. I started to change them over to the TPG diet and neither care for it. The 2 new ones coming from The Pet Glider, which is local to us, and I know that they feed TPG. Do you think that the new ones will influence the original gliders to eat TPG?

Also, some of my best times with Lucy and Grace have been bathroom play time and first thing in the am when I am getting ready for work. I put my hand in the cage and they greet me expecting their little morning treat of a yoggie drop. They hop up on my hand and commence to sometimes licking between my fingers and "nibbling", in which I calmly tell them no biting. For the veterans here, what do you suppose the nibbles and sometimes harder nibbles mean? Should I allow them to do this?

Hi! And

The nipping can be a couple of things. First, they may be experiencing their environment by tasting and touching your skin for texture and smell. Gliders are driven by scent and they may be reacting to a smell of soap or food on your hands. Be sure to wash with unscented soap.

Also they are predators and are testing the "waters" so to speak to see if your hand might be edible. You can move their nose away from where they are trying to nip and follow with a "Sssst" or "Tsssk" noise. In glider talk it means " I don't like what you are doing". Sometimes they become fixated and may need a firm "No" behind the above noise. If it becomes more than a nip, you can try to give them a toy or fleece to distract them. Don't reward with a snake. You will form a habit of biting to get what they want. They do eventually quit.

Watch them around moles, freckles and scabs. They will try to clean them off.

As far as diet, it takes a few days for them to get used to what you put in front of them. May I ask what diet they were on?

Hello, and thank you for responding to my inquiries. Lucy is about 15 wks OOP, and Grace is about 19 wks OOP. Thanks for the tip about the nipping. I will do that, and not reward the behavior.

I started out with a mixture of omnivore and insectivore and mini-monkey biscuit as a something to have in there at all times, which they were okay with. For fruits, I fixed just apples with their vitamins. I did not get them from TPG. As I began my journey researching further into the diets, and especially having TPG somewhat close to home, I decided to start them on that. They were not thrilled, and licked up the wet, but for the most part disregarded it.

When I took them to my local exotic vet for a well check, she told me to go back to the first diet and begin to introduce a little of the TPG at a time, but still have the other available. By that time, I had been mixing carrot in with their apple and Lucy really likes carrots--Grace, not so much, but will eat one occasionally.

This past week I picked up some fresh melon, kiwi, strawberry, mango, and blueberries and created a small diced mixture for their fruit. I am waiting for my papaya to ripen up. I freeze what I don't use in a couple days and defrost 2 servings at a time. I fix scrambled egg and chopped up non-seasoned chicken thighs which they love a lot, for their protein, mixed with a little kale and pea&carrot mixture. They seem to enjoy it, but would like to also make sure I am mixing appropriate ratios.

Guess I should have logged in first....I am not anonymous. Hello, and thank you for responding to my inquiries. Lucy is about 15 wks OOP, and Grace is about 19 wks OOP. Thanks for the tip about the nipping. I will do that, and not reward the behavior.

I started out with a mixture of omnivore and insectivore and mini-monkey biscuit as a something to have in there at all times, which they were okay with. For fruits, I fixed just apples with their vitamins. I did not get them from TPG. As I began my journey researching further into the diets, and especially having TPG somewhat close to home, I decided to start them on that. They were not thrilled, and licked up the wet, but for the most part disregarded it.

When I took them to my local exotic vet for a well check, she told me to go back to the first diet and begin to introduce a little of the TPG at a time, but still have the other available. By that time, I had been mixing carrot in with their apple and Lucy really likes carrots--Grace, not so much, but will eat one occasionally.

This past week I picked up some fresh melon, kiwi, strawberry, mango, and blueberries and created a small diced mixture for their fruit. I am waiting for my papaya to ripen up. I freeze what I don't use in a couple days and defrost 2 servings at a time. I fix scrambled egg and chopped up non-seasoned chicken thighs which they love a lot, for their protein, mixed with a little kale and pea&carrot mixture. They seem to enjoy it, but would like to also make sure I am mixing appropriate ratios.

Not sure what you were feeding when you first got them, but diets is a hot debate anywhere you go.

I myself only recommend Critterlove diets or BML.

I don't like the sprinkle on of the vitamins with TPG, to me which ever glider gets to the bowl first is going to get to many vitamins, the last one to the bowls isn't going to get enough. There are also to many variables with the TPG diet. Plus it hasn't been tested yet.

I myself feed Critterlove with the 5 recommended salad mixtures that you mix up and freeze. Critterlove has been tested and continues to be tested. My gliders have been on it since it was introduced to the public several years ago.

I got my gliders from TPG as well. One thing I found that caught my eye right off the bat is you mentioned apples. I cannot get my suggies to touch apples. They seem to be their least favorite of all the fruits. What did you use in the TPG batch you made? I did kale, snow peas, carrots and red bell pepper for veggies, mango, strawberry, blueberries and Banana for fruits, yogurt, orange juice concentrate, wheat germ, applesauce and Oats. They didn't eat too much of it the first night or two but now every morning their food dishes are empty. Maybe stay away from the apples?? I'm super new to suggies myself so that's just a guess.

Mine are food snobs. They love apples but not the cheaper red delicious and Granny Smiths. I buy honeycrisps and eat them and cut off pieces and they will wrestle over them.

I offered a honeycrisp and they left it over night untouched. Little boogers. Lol. They inhaled the organic navel orange slices that I left there tho.

Chase,
I use Applesauce, OJ w/ Calcium and Vita D, plain whole milk yogurt, ground flax seed, kale, spinach, mixed veggies, pan sauteed chicken thighs (sometimes scrambled egg), mango, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, pineapple, banana, a little raw honey (ad lib away from the recipe). Since I wrote this a while back, the babies still don't take to the apple chunks when I set next to the bowl with the TPG. It's hit and miss. I use McIntosh, I think it is. They love blueberries and pan-sauteed chicken chopped up as "side dishes". Occasionally they go for the papaya, but not mango for a side dish. They go nuts for a side dish of scrambled egg when I put that and the chicken out on occasion as a side.

They have started munching down on the TPG. I believe the influence of Mercy and Caleb helped Lucy and Gracie with it. They each eat at different times of the evening. I mix in some TPG vitamins and also sprinkle a little of the 1/8tsp on top and it gets sprinkled on top of each dish I put out. Each of the babies has their likes and dislikes, so I really cannot tell who is eating how much of what. So far, they all are doing well. I recently uploaded a video of them playing on their old wheel a few weeks ago. Its on YouTube under Cheri Pool "Sugar Gliders Playing". I recently got them new Raptor wheels. So much quieter.

Also, one of them has found a voice and is making the cutest bark. I just don't know who it is. I thought it was Gracie, but not sure.