Can Sugar Glider Eat Pomegranate?

Pomegranates are delicious, high in vitamins and minerals and offer many benefits. They can help to control blood sugar and improve memory.

They are rich in antioxidants and a good source of calcium, too. However, they have a high oxalate content, so they should be used sparingly as treats.

Fruits
Sugar gliders are omnivorous, and they can be fed a variety of fruits. However, they should only be given a small amount of fruit each day.

In the wild, they eat the sap and gum from eucalyptus and acacia trees as well as pollen, nectar, honeydew, and a wide variety of insects and spiders.

As per Jennifer Meador of sugarglider.website, these opportunistic omnivores have very special bodies that allow them to find food in the most difficult of environments. These unique features include night vision, claws for climbing, and ears that move independently to help them locate the location of prey and predators.

Bananas are a healthy treat for them, as long as they aren’t overly soft or mushy. They are also low in calories and contain very little fruit sugars, which is good for them.

Vegetables
Vegetables are a great source of nutrients for your sugar glider, but it’s important to keep them to small amounts. If you feed them too much sweeter vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes, they’ll spoil their appetite for other veggies and may miss out on calcium or other essential vitamins and minerals.

Vegetables that are good for your sugar glider include collard greens, kale, broccoli, spinach and brussel sprouts. Some fruits can also be included in their diet, such as apples and pears.

Fruits and treats should make up around 5 percent of a sugar glider’s daily diet. Treats should be limited to one every few days, and try to be very sparing with them – sugar gliders love insects, so they’ll be very happy to have crickets or earthworms as a treat. Raw unsalted nuts are also a popular choice, although they are high in fat, so be sure to only give them out occasionally.

Nuts
Sugar gliders are nocturnal, arboreal mammals native to the rainforests of Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. They nest in tree hollows with other adults and have one or two young, called joeys, each year.

They eat an omnivorous diet of insects, fruit and nectar, but are lactose intolerant. They also eat leafy greens, berries, and fungi.

But a true nut is a dry fruit with a single seed encased in a hard outer shell that does not open on its own, according to Judy Jernstedt, a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis. Chestnuts, hazelnuts and pecans fit the botanical definition of a nut, she said.

Nuts can be a healthy addition to a sugar glider's diet, but they can also cause digestive blockages, constipation or impaction in some animals. Therefore, it is important to only give nuts as a treat, not as a main source of nutrition.

Insects
Pomegranates are an excellent natural food for birds, but they can also be eaten by insects. Insects have been around for centuries and they are a natural part of many cultures’ diet.

Aphids, a type of mite, are one pest that can be found on pomegranates. They can cause a lot of damage to the leaves and fruit if they are not controlled.

Another insect that can damage pomegranates is leaffooted bugs. They look like a tiny plant bug with a leaf-like appendage on their rear legs.

These insects are a nuisance for pomegranate growers and their infestations can result in leaf wilting, discoloration, curling and browning of the leaves and fruit.

The best way to get rid of leaffooted bugs is with an organic treatment, such as Neem oil or insecticidal soaps. These pest control methods will not affect people, pets or most beneficial insects, but they are less toxic than chemical pesticides.