Can Sugar Gliders Eat Bananas?
Banana, that delightful and tasty fruit. If you eat bananas on a regular basis, you are probably well aware of how healthy they can be for us humans. In fact, the term ‘superfood’ originated as a way to promote bananas!
Surely, since bananas are healthy for humans, they must be healthy for sugar gliders as well, right? While these often go hand in hand, not every food that is healthy for us is also healthy for our furry friends.
Before you give your sugar gliders any new food or treat, be sure to look up that new food first. You’d hate to accidentally make your suggies sick!
So, what about bananas? Can sugar gliders eat bananas? The quick and easy answer is: Yes, sugar gliders can eat bananas, but be sure to follow the precautions outlined in this article. And, like the majority of fruit you treat your sugar gliders to make sure you feed your buddies bananas in moderation.
Why Should Sugar Gliders Eat Bananas in Moderation?
First it is important to realize that sugar gliders should have every type of fruit in moderation. There isn’t one single fruit that can make up a diet full of all the nutrients a sugar glider needs to thrive.
When it comes to bananas though, about once a week is plenty for sugar gliders. One of the main reasons for this is that bananas have a terrible calcium to phosphorus ratio.
Most sugar glider owners work hard to maintain a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1 for their wide-eyed pals. Coming in at a ratio of 0.3 : 1, bananas can wreak havoc on this plan. So be sure to make up for the banana treat with something that has much more calcium than phosphorus in it.
Can Sugar Gliders Eat Dehydrated Banana Chips?
Yes, sugar gliders can have dehydrated banana chips, but due to the reasons outlined below, make your own banana chips and only treat your suggies to banana chips once a month or so.
When bananas are sliced and dehydrated, the sugar concentration goes up quite a bit. And while this results in a sweeter flavor, it isn’t exactly healthy for your sugar gliders. With the high concentration of sugar, your fury friends will end up eating more sugar. When overdone, this can obviously lead to health problems down the road.
Commercially available bananas, and other fruits, that are dehydrated for human consumption also usually have added sugar. This is definitely something you’ll want to avoid feeding your sugar gliders.
Sugar gliders should be able to get all of the sugar they need naturally from their diets. Added sugar (as well as other flavor enhancers such as salt) do not belong in your wide-eyed pal’s meals.
Sometimes there are also other preservatives that sugar gliders shouldn’t eat added to dehydrated fruits. Make sure you aren’t feeding your sugar gliders anything but pure dehydrated banana.
To avoid the added sugar you can make banana chips at home. They are quite easy to do in a food dehydrator. This will help you make certain that the banana chips you treat your sugar gliders to are purely banana.
Can Sugar Gliders Eat Banana Seeds and Banana Peels?
When it comes to most produce if you eat it so can your sugar gliders. Fortunately, this also applies to bananas. So, just like you don’t pick out banana seeds for yourself, don’t worry about picking them out for your sugar gliders.
The skin follows the same rule. While your sugar gliders will most likely ignore the skin and eat around it, don’t tempt them. Bananas are often heavily treated with pesticides. While the skin protects the fruit on the inside, it will still be coated in pesticides itself.
You don’t want your sugar glider ingesting any pesticides. Because they are so small, sugar gliders are much more susceptible to the negatives effects of eating pesticides.
Tips For Treating Sugar Gliders to Bananas
One thing to keep in mind when you offer your sugar glider a banana treat is that that a lot of sugar gliders don’t actually like banana. So, if this is the case with your lovable, but picky eater, there is no need for alarm.
However, rather than give up on bananas after one try, be sure to offer banana to your sugar gliders a few times. Some sugar gliders need to be around a new food a few times before they will give it a try.
Also try blending bananas with other fruits. Many sugar gliders enjoy strawberries blended with bananas!
If your sugar glider does love bananas, you know they can make quite a mess when they gobble the banana treat up. One good way to cut down on the mess a bit is to freeze banana treats ahead of time.
This way, when you give your lovable friend the banana it won’t be as soft and mushy which will cut down on the mess quite a bit.
Can Sugar Gliders Eat Bananas That Have Been Cooked?
Cooked banana is fine for sugar gliders as long as nothing is added to it. Just like with banana chips, no added sugar or anything else should be added to the cooked banana you treat your sugar gliders to.
However, like banana chips, cooked banana will have a higher concentration of sugar, so your furry friends should have it sparingly.
When it comes to treating your sugar gliders to any produce, fresh and frozen are the best and do not feed your sugar gliders any canned bananas.
That also means if you’re lucky enough to have some banana jam around the house, you can’t feed it to your sugar gliders. All of the additives used in the canning process and in jam recipes have no place in your sugar glider’s diet.
What About Plantains? Can Sugar Gliders Eat Plantains?
Yes, plantains are also fine for sugar gliders. Follow all of the precautions about bananas mentioned in this article when treating your suggies to plantains and they will be fine.
Summary: Can Sugar Gliders Have Bananas?
Can sugar gliders have bananas? In a word: Yes! Sugar gliders can have bananas as long as it is in moderation about once a week. Sugar gliders can also have banana chips but only about once a month due to the higher sugar concentration.
Be sure to remove the banana peel from any piece you treat your sugar glider to. And avoid feeding your wide-eyed pals canned or jammed bananas.
Remember, bananas have very little calcium as compared to phosphorus so be sure to keep an eye on your sugar glider’s overall calcium to phosphorus ratio.
A lot of sugar gliders don’t like plain banana, so don’t worry if your sugar glider is one. Try mixing or blending it with other fruit to see if you sugar glider enjoys banana that way.