Those readers that frequent the internet may have noticed several articles written about sugar glider nutrition that state that gliders are lactose intolerant and, therefore, should not be fed dairy products. However, this information is misleading.

          Lactose is a sugar (carbohydrate) found in most milks. But not all milks are the same. A cat has twice as much lactose in her milk than a dog. Cows and goats have about 5% lactose. Humans have about 9% lactose in their milk. Marsupials tend to have lower levels of lactose in their milk but, just like placental mammals, the exact amount of lactose varies greatly from species to species. Marsupials have just as much carbohydrate in their milk (on average) as placental mammals but it tends to take the form of sugars other than lactose. Each sugar that we ingest must be broken down by an enzyme that is specific to that particular sugar. For instance, lactose is broken down by the enzyme lactase. In general, animals only produce enough lactase to break down the amount of lactose commonly found in their mother's milk and even then there will be certain individuals that cannot produce enough enzyme to even do that. That is why some human babies have to be switched from breast milk to a milk replacer that is either made out of soy or has the enzyme lactase artificially added.

          There have been very few studies done specifically on sugar gliders but there have been numerous studies on wallabies and kangaroos (macropods). Macropods are lactose intolerant. Their milk contains low levels of this carbohydrate or sugar. If they are fed higher levels than that which they were designed to consume, they have a tendency to bloat and develop colic and diarrhea, which are the common clinical signs associated with lactose intolerance.

          In the absence of information collected specifically from sugar glider studies, there has been a tendency to group gliders together with other marsupials. But what applies to macropods doesn't always apply to sugar gliders and lactose intolerance is a case in point. While gliders and macropods are both marsupials, that is where their similarity ends. We would not presume to compare a deer to a flying squirrel just because they are both placental mammals, so why insist on making such a faulty comparison between two very different marsupial mammals?

          It is true that sugar gliders have low levels of the carbohydrate lactose in their milk but they are able to metabolize higher amounts because their milk contains the enzyme beta-galactosidase, which is able to metabolize the excess lactose quite successfully.

          Having said all that, I don't "push my luck" when it comes to feeding my gliders dairy products. I don't feed them straight cow's milk or goat's milk, which contains about 5% lactose. I prefer to feed them yogurt and cottage cheese. Yogurt is a great source of nutrition for gliders. Not only is it high in protein and calcium, but its natural bacterial cultures assist with lactose metabolism and promote the absorption of calcium. Cottage cheese contains only 2.5% to 3% lactose. If I am hand rearing baby gliders, I use puppy esbilac which contains 3.5% lactose. I do not substitute kitten esbilac because a cat's milk is much richer in lactose than a dog's at 6.5%.

          The same people that insist that gliders are lactose intolerant have also stated that gliders should not be fed yogurt, which is ridiculous. Yogurt is often deliberately mixed into the milk formula of animals that are lactose intolerant because it actually aids in digestion. They have also used the argument that "gliders don't have access to yogurt in the wild and therefore should not be fed it in captivity". This argument is illogical and irrelevant. Gliders don't have access to most of the food items in the wild that they are fed in captivity. Even the insects that we offer them are not the native species that they would have access to in the jungles of Australia and Indonesia.

          Dairy products have also been incorrectly blamed for the "white spots" that are sometimes seen in the eyes of baby gliders. These "white spots" are actually calcified fat deposits that result from a diet that is too high in fat. Cateracts are something different again and are usually caused by faulty genetics. My one hundred pairs of gliders have been fed yogurt regularly for the last five years with no apparent ill effects. My mortality rate is very low and they breed extremely well. I have never seen any eye complaints in my adult gliders (other than those obviously caused by trauma) or thier offspring.

          I give my glider pairs one tablespoon of plain, low fat yogurt, two or three times a week in a small glass dish. They just love it. Watching them eating it is quite entertaining. Not all of the gliders stick their face in the dish to eat the yogurt. Some of them actually use their hands to scoop it up and then they sit back on their haunches and eat it out of their palm just as neat as you please.

          If you cannot get your gliders to eat plain yogurt, try a naturally flavored yogurt instead. Avoid those brands which use artificial flavors or sweeteners or that do not have live cultures. You could also try mixing the plain yogurt with a puree of your glider's favorite fruit. Only feed the yogurt in small quantities so that your pets cannot make pigs of themselves.