• Feed sugar gliders a daily serving of fruit, such as an apple, to help bring them to a healthy weight.apple image by lefebvre_jonathan from Fotolia.com
  
  Sugar gliders are small, omnivorous marsupials that are native to the southwest Pacific in places such as Australia and the island of New Guinea. Sugar gliders dwell in trees, like to feed on sweet things like nectar and are able to glide through the air due to skin flaps on their hands and feet. Sugar gliders are frequently taken in as pets, and adequate knowledge of a sugar glider diet is essential to the health and well being of a pet sugar glider. If you are interested in maintaining or increasing the weight of a sugar glider, follow a regular, consistent feeding schedule of protein, fruits and vegetables and grains. In addition to food sugar gliders also should be provided with vet-recommended vitamin and mineral supplements.
  
  

Protein

• Feed a sugar glider a protein each day. Rotate the type of protein you provide day by day. Sugar gliders in the wild obtain protein from insects and can be fed gut-loaded crickets or meal worms. Substitute insects with chicken baby food and applesauce for infant sugar gliders. Feed sugar gliders 4 or 5 crickets or about 10 small or medium mealworms for an adequate daily dose of protein. Other forms of protein that can be fed to sugar gliders for a day include a boiled egg, 1½ tsp. of full-fat fruit yogurt or 1½ tsp. of shredded chicken, fish, turkey or tofu. Add 3 tbsp. of fruit juice and 1/8 tbsp. of honey to the to the yogurt and to the boiled egg mixture to supplement the protein with sugar.
  
  

Fruits and Vegetables

• Feed a sugar glider a serving of fruits and/or vegetable each day. Feed sugars gliders about a one-cup serving. Options include apples, pears, melon, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes and lettuce.
  
  

Carbohydrates and Grains

• Mix in a sprinkling of protein-rich, sugar-free corn cereal with the yogurt servings to provide your sugar glider with weight-enhancing carbohydrates. Sugar gliders can also be given a tablespoon of brown rice per day. Mix in a bit of shredded chicken to make the brown rice more appealing to the sugar glider. Sugar gliders can also be fed 5 or 6 crushed monkey biscuits per day. Monkey biscuits are designed for sugar gliders and contain alfalfa meal, soybean meal, corn flour, soybean hulls, oats, corn gluten, fructose and a variety of vitamins and minerals.