The Ideal Food Ratio

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Gavin_Mathews]Gavin Mathews
What kind of diet ratio is ideal for sugar gliders (SG) in captivity? Based on current trends in veterinary medicine, exotic pet veterinarians nowadays are leaning toward the ratio of 75:25.
Seventy-five percent of a SG's diet should be composed of commercial glider pellets, while the remaining twenty-five percent should be composed of fresh food such as vegetables and fruits and live/frozen treats such as mealworms and insects.
This ratio may cause some confusion since many pet owners state on online message boards that fresh, live, or frozen food should comprise as much as fifty percent of a sugar glider's diet.
Whatever hype you hear or read about fresh food, don't fall into the trap of buying expensive exotic pet food just because people are saying it's the best for sugar gliders.
As we mentioned earlier, a balanced diet can be given to pet sugar bears for $10 to $15 a month only. Remember: sugar gliders only weigh a few ounces at adulthood, and they do not need to eat so much food in captivity.
Many people ask me if variety is good for Honey gliders. Well, variety can add a little excitement at meal time, but as for the health benefits, variety doesn't really add any palpable value to an existing diet.
Many SG diets being espoused on the Internet over-emphasize the need for variety. It may sound good when you read it online, but think about it: what does variety really entail when it is applied to honey glider nutrition?
Every diet has a staple component. In the case of glider-bears in captivity, the most common staple component is commercial glider pellets. To create variety in a glider's diet, exotic pet owners resort to fresh/live/frozen food and the amount of pellets is reduced. Why am I emphasizing glider pellets?
Here's a fact: glider pellets have been in development for decades and many reputable manufacturers have been able to create a balanced mix for sugar bears.
This means that once a glider feeds on commercial pellets, it is already getting its adequate share of protein, sugars, fiber, and fat. If you reduce the amount of pellets in a sugar glider's diet and replace it with treats like mealworms, in the long term, the animal may suffer from malnutrition because it is getting a smaller portion of the pellets.
Many exotic pet owners treat their SG's like little royalties: different bowls of food are laid out in the sugar glider's cage to create variety.
If sugar gliders understood what was going on, the animals would feed on the pellets more and would pay less attention to food bowls filled with mealworms and other treats. Unfortunately, pets don't know any better. If your glider-bear sees treats, like a child, the glider will focus on eating the treats only and may ignore the staple food.
My name is Gavin Mathews, I am a pet lover and exotic pet enthuses me to go the extra mile. As a sugar glider enthusiast I would like to share some of the knowledge I have gained in the due course.
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Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Ideal-Food-Ratio&id=6621890] The Ideal Food Ratio