Can Sugar Gliders Eat Lima Beans?

Whether you eat them in soup, stew or as a side dish. Lima beans are extraordinarily healthy addition to any meal.  These legumes have all sorts of health benefits for us humans. 

Since lima beans are so beneficial to us humans, it would make sense that lima beans would be a great addition to your sugar gliders meals.  Prior to adding any new food to your sugar gliders diet, it is a best to be in the habit of looking up whether your suggies can eat that new food first.

So, what about lima beans?  Can sugar gliders eat lima beans?  The quick and easy answer is: Yes, sugar gliders can eat lima beans.  However, you need to make sure you are serving cooked lima beans and not raw lima beans to your sugar gliders.

What Kind of Lima Beans Can My Sugar Glider Eat?

There are few considerations to take into account when feeding your furry friends lima beans.  First and foremost, as with other produce, the lima beans you serve to your sugar gliders should be fresh or frozen.  Never feed you sugar gliders canned lima beans.  The canning process uses preservatives that aren’t healthy for your suggies. 

Next, make sure the lima beans you feed your sugar gliders are cooked.  Raw lima beans are even poisonous to humans if consumed in a large enough quantity.  Raw lima beans contain a chemical compound that breaks down into hydrogen cyanide. 

Luckily for us and our wide-eyed pals, cooking lima beans gets rid of this risk.  Most bags of frozen lima beans come already cooked, so all you need to do is thaw them out or warm them up for your sugar gliders.

If you decide to cook lima beans for your sugar gliders, don’t add any of the goodies we add to our own lima beans.  Salt and other flavor enhancers are not something sugar gliders should be eating. 

Can My Sugar Glider Make a Meal of Lima Beans?

Sugar gliders are omnivores, meaning that they eat both plants and animals.  They need this range in their diets to provide the nutrients they need in order to survive.  One type of food, no matter how healthy it is simply will not give your sugar gliders everything they need for a long and healthy life. 

While lima beans are packed with lots of important nutrients, they also have an almost opposite calcium to phosphorus ratio.  Most sugar glider owners put in the effort to make sure their suggies are eating a diet that has a calcium to phosphorous ratio of 2:1.  So, you’ll need to get some higher calcium foods to offset the backwards ratio of lima beans. 

Some sugar glider owners also report that too many lima beans seem to make their pets gassy.  In addition to the unpleasant odor that you’ll have to endure, you sugar gliders could be uncomfortable if they eat too many lima beans.  So, when you first introduce lima beans to your sugar glider you might want to do so gradually.

With all of this in mind, it is clear that sugar gliders can have lima beans as an addition to their meals from time to time.  Just make sure lima beans are part of an overall balanced diet. 

Summary: Can Sugar Gliders Have Lima Beans?

Can sugar gliders eat lima beans? In a word: Yes!  Sugar gliders can eat lima beans but should do so as one part of healthy and varied diet.  Remember to never serve canned lima beans to your furry friends.

Always make sure to only serve cooked lima beans to your sugar gliders as raw lima beans can be poisonous.  And don’t add salt or anything else to lima beans when you cook them for your suggies.