Can Sugar Gliders Eat Strawberries? [Should You Add It To Their Diet?]

Can sugar gliders eat strawberries? When it comes to sugar gliders, it’s very normal to have a lot of questions like this. After all, they’re exotic creatures that most people don’t know that much about. Especially when it comes to their diet you might have some questions. It’s always a very good idea to do research before you start feeding your glider new foods, that way you’ll know for sure if something you’re planning to add to their diet isn’t harmful to them.

In today’s sugar glider nutrition guide I’m going to go over everything you should know before you feed strawberries to your sugar glider. I’ll set out to once and for all answer the question: can sugar gliders eat strawberries?

Luckily, sugar gliders can definitely eat strawberries. The fruit is low in calories and fat which your glider doesn’t need much of. It also contains a lot of vitamin C and other essential vitamins & minerals which makes it a good, healthy treat for your glider. Make sure to wash it and cut off the crown before feeding and your glider will love you for giving it to them!

However, there is more to it than that, so I recommend reading the entire article to get the complete picture.

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What’s in a strawberry?

Fragaria, more commonly known as the strawberry, is a fruit that’s widely known for its characteristic scent, bright red color, and juicy texture. They’re not technically a berry, but that’s a long story that we’re not particularly interested in here. What we are interested in is what is in these delicious fruits, so let’s take a look at their nutritional profile.

100 grams of strawberries contains the following nutrients according to the USDA (source):

• 32 calories
• 91% water
• 0.7 grams of protein
• 7.7 grams of carbs
• 4.9 grams of sugar
• 2 grams of fiber
• 0.3 grams of fat

In addition, they also contain a good amount of the following vitamins and minerals

• Vitamin C
• Manganese
• Folate (Also known as vitamin B9)
• Potassium

As we can see, strawberries seem to have a very good nutritional profile. Low calories, high amounts of fiber, and many essential vitamins and minerals, nice!

Are strawberries good for sugar gliders?

Now that we know what’s in this fruit, let’s see if our favorite marsupial can eat them. When we take a look at the nutritional profile of the strawberry, we don’t see any compounds in them that can be harmful to them, so that’s a good start. This means that they’re safe to consume for our gliders.

Strawberries are low in calories and fat which is good because the sugar glider doesn’t need much of those.

On top of that, they contain a lot of vitamin C which is an essential vitamin. It helps in wound healing and ensures that your glider has a healthy immune system.

Overall, I’d say this fruit is very good for sugar gliders and you can definitely give it to them.

How to feed strawberries to your sugar glider

Strawberries are very easy to feed to your glider, but there are a few things you have to do before you start feeding them this fruit.

First of all, if you’re going to feed them strawberries, make sure to introduce them to their diet slowly. While the fruit contains nothing harmful for your glider, you still want to make sure that their digestive system can get used to the new food. The best way to do this is by giving them a very small amount at first.

Secondly, you should always make sure to wash the berries properly, especially if you’ve bought them from the supermarket. Store-bought strawberries have a high chance of containing pesticides on the skin, which is not something you’ll want your sugar glider to consume.

Rinsing them under running water for around 30 seconds should do the trick, but if you want to be extra safe you can wash them with baking soda. Studies have proven that this is the most effective way of getting rid of pesticides.

If they’re organic this is less important because there’s a pretty good chance no pesticides were used by the farmers.

Thirdly, make sure to cut the crown/stem off the fruit before you feed it to your glider. You do not need to cut the strawberry into small pieces, but you can if you want to. All up to you! By cutting it up you do make it easier to control the amount you feed them.

Tip: This fruit is also an excellent component for a smoothie that you can give your glider!

How many strawberries can sugar gliders have?

Now that we know how to feed it to them, let’s discuss how much of this fruit your glider needs. As I’ve already said, if you’ve never fed your glider this food before make sure to start slow.

Sugar gliders are pretty small creatures, so even a single strawberry is a pretty big meal for them already. I’d recommend giving them a single strawberry every once in a while, this should be plenty for them! Luckily, there’s no real harm in giving them too much of it since there aren’t that many calories in it so there’s not a huge risk of overfeeding.

Do sugar gliders like strawberries?

As the name “sugar” glider suggests, these creatures love everything sweet. Strawberries have quite a high sugar content and for that reason, most gliders love to eat this fruit.

However, it’s very possible that yours does not like it and will not eat it at all. They’re all unique creatures with unique taste buds. If your glider doesn’t want to consume this particular fruit, consider feeding them something else from the list of alternatives below.

Other fruits sugar gliders can eat

It can happen that your glider doesn’t seem to be very interested in this particular fruit. It happens and is nothing to worry about. Rather than trying to force them to eat it, try feeding them some other foods instead. Take a look at this list of alternatives to get some ideas:

• Grapes
• Bananas
• Cucumbers
• Bell Peppers
• Blueberries
• Pears
• Apples

To learn more about what fruits sugar gliders can eat, I suggest you check out this post. It will also teach you what fruits sugar gliders can not eat and what foods are harmful to sugar gliders.

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Related questions

Strawberries are used to make a lot of other foods as well. However, just because your glider can eat the raw fruit doesn’t mean they can consume all the byproducts of these fruits. Let’s take a look at which ones they can and can’t eat.

Can sugar gliders eat strawberry jam/jelly/conserve?

I honestly wouldn’t give this to them. Sugar gliders like to eat sweet foods, yes, but these contain obscene amounts of sugar. It also has very little nutritional value. I’d rather just give them a fresh strawberry instead, much healthier!

Can sugar gliders eat strawberry yogurt?

They can! Just make sure that the yogurt you buy is not sweetened with artificial sweeteners but is natural. Any yogurt that says “diet” on it should be avoided as those are almost certain to contain these artificial sweeteners which are not good for your glider to ingest. Natural yogurt is fine for them to eat and most gliders absolutely love it.

But make sure to not give them too much of it, a very small amount is plenty!