Hello,

I have two gliders named Marci and Mable that I have had for two years. I got them from the Pet Glider, and because I got them there I decided to stick with the Pet Glider diet. However, I am contemplating changing the diet. After taking Mable to the vet, I found out she is a little underweight. She is a very picky eater, and no matter how I try to switch up the vegetables and fruits, she will not eat a lot. At the same time my glider Marci is obese and needs to lose weight. I have tried separating their food bowls, but I don’t think it’s helping. Marci is my alpha, but I don’t ever see them fighting over the food.


I was told by my vet to try the Mazurati? diet, but I’m not sure how to feel about it. I guess I have three questions at this point: What is a popular and healthy diet, if and how should I start to change the diet, and how can I get my one glider to gain and the other one to lose weight?

Critterlove Plus with the recommended salad mixtures is my diet of choice. You can learn more about it at Critterlove .

You will find the salad mixtures HERE.

A little something about so called fussy eaters.My gliders won't eat fruits and vegetables.

I also feed Critterlove, it is a proven/tested diet(. I feed salad #3). As well as the BML diet.
http://bmldiet.com/bml-recipe.html

Marci needs more exercise. Foraging helps a lot. Especially if she has a favorite fruit or vegetable that's part of her diet. She may need some tent time to help her run off what she eats too. Some toys a glider safe wheels are a big plus too.

Cut down on treats. Offer parts of their diet fruits and vegs instead.

My biggest concern about the TPG diet is change. Gliders have a sensitive digestive system and can be upset if their foods are changed out too much. Some gliders also don't care for change. Flavors, textures and smell sometimes take many feedings or offerings before they become used to it.

As far as introducing a new diet, we have learned it's better to just change them over all at once. Their digestive system will thank you.

Mazuri has been around a very long time and it's kind of part of the way we fed a few years ago. The vet may have outdated information. diets have been tested within the last 5 years and Critterlove and BML are the top 2 recommended.

I hope this helps.

Thank you for those links!

Thank you. Yeah, I do give them treats; I recently got them cupcakes from Gourmet Glider’s because of how adorable they looked. I will definitely cut back on the treats and allow more play time outside the cage. My room is glider proofed, so I let them jump around my room.

Are there any studies I can read about on the Critter Love and BML diet? Besides the frequent change, is there anything else that concerns you about the TPG diet?

2009 study only facts:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19341949/


2018 study. Now this link is a brief description. There is a full link you can click on to get the whole publication. It's long...

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28464410/

Edit:
I forgot to answer your question about the TPG diet. Somewhere in the long version of the 2018 diet study it states why tpg was taken off the study. It had to do with all the variables with fruit/veg part of the diet. They couldn't set up a baseline, as it could change with different fruit veg combinations. Also TPG wouldn't give an ingredient listing of their sprinkles for the fruit and veg part of the diet.

Many glider owners prefer TPG due to being able to change the fruit and vegs to what they want to feed. For me, that's why I don't like TPG. Gliders have a unique digestive system. They can only process soluble fiber. For the most part, they spit out insoluble fiber. I prefer to keep them on a consistent diet.