Wholesome Balance™ Chicken and Brown Rice Flavor (3/4 lb)

4.00 out of 5
(2 customer reviews)

$7.64

Human Grade * Real Chicken * NO SOY

Finished with Tasty Coconut Oil

SunCoast Sugar Gliders does not manufacture pet food.  What we do is try as many products as we can get our hands on and test it!  Then we only offer the superior products.

Since 1999, I’ve spoken to many veterinarians and animal nutritionists about best practices in sugar glider diets.  I’ve never heard anyone say that soy protein is superior to human grade animal protein.  Omnivores need protein to thrive.  In the wild, they eat insects, baby birds, eggs and other smaller animals to fulfill their protein needs.  Does anything on this list look like a vegetable?

The vets also recommend having a free feed in the cage 24/7.  Homemade diets are at risk to grow bacteria in 24 hrs or less.  Staple foods are intended to be left out.

Breeding season is when bugs are abundant, so that the sugar gliders can produce healthy, plump, strong offspring. A good source of correct protein makes or breaks a quality pelleted food.

65 in stock

Description

OK, I’m going to load you up with information here, but first, here are the links to the different quantity options we offer for Wholesome Balance.

* Save with Quantity Discounts *

  • Have lots of gliders?  Need more glider food?  Get the 3 lb Economy size for $23.43, feeds 2 gliders for 4 months, and you save $4.51  Click here
  • Have lots and lots of gliders?  Get the 9 lb Colony size for $68.22, feeds 6 gliders for 4 months, and you save $15.60    Click here
  • Trial Size:  Want to try this food?  Get 3/4 pound for $7.64, feeds 2 gliders for 1 month    Click here

 

Wholesome Balance Chicken and Brown Rice Blend is the first dry sugar glider food to use animal protein as the main ingredient while at the same time providing a more natural approach to sugar glider food.  We can now see that more mainstream pet foods are well integrated into this husbandry philosophy.  Just walk into any pet store and look at all the real animal protein, soy free products in the dog and cat aisles.  I’ve been a proponent of this approach long before it became so “trendy”, and I personally think it’s more than a trend, but a common sense approach to keeping all of our pets at peak fitness and health.

Crunchy foods are known to help keep teeth and gums healthy!

If you choose to live vegan, that’s awesome.  It can be a viable way to eat for some people.  Some of us are more like the caveman or the hunter, but many past civilizations were agrarian … so as humans, we can go either way.  We cannot assume that we can apply this same approach to our pets. 

Because it’s a dry food, Wholesome Balance does not have to be replaced each day. Sugar gliders love the taste and it’s easier and more economical to feed, according to the detailed feeding study we conducted.   I can also tell you that The Pet Glider (a large Houston based breeder) has switched from Exotic Nutrition’s “breeder formula” to Wholesome Balance.  Their overall food usage over a year period has dropped by approximately 50%.  The Wholesome Balance is just that much more satiating and nutritionally complete than the soy based formulas.  If you try this product and see that they are eating less, that’s OK.  “Real food” sticks to the ribs, so to say.  Wholesome Balance is not a food bulked up with any fillers, which do not ultimately satisfy the appetite.

Wholesome Balance Chicken and Brown Rice sugar glider food is a healthy alternative approach to glider nutrition that can save you time and money too!  And for those of you concerned about soy in pet food, this product contains no soybean meal or soybean oil.

Why is Animal Protein in Glider Food Important?

The selection of chicken was based on the knowledge that diets using animal protein as the primary ingredient (as opposed to vegetable protein like soy or corn) contain a better balance of essential amino acids to help gliders maintain health and thrive, not just survive.  Also, chicken has a lower fat content than other choices and while sugar gliders need some fat in the diet, they can be very sensitive to too much fat.  This dry food was designed to balance amino acids that may be lacking in other components of the diet; the animal proteins also mimic consumption of insects eaten in the wild.  Why is so much soy and corn used?  Because it’s a lot cheaper than ingredients like human grade chicken. 

Let’s walk through some of the main ingredients:

Chicken Meal made from Human Grade Chickens 

We found a plant that creates Chicken Meal from broiler chickens processed for human consumption.  The unused meat from these chickens is cooked off the bone and ground to make the meal.  Some fine bone is ground and intentionally added back to the meal for the mineral content, but this chicken meal contains no feathers, viscera, heads, or feet. Besides the animal protein, chicken meal brings omega-6 through the fat content, which helps maintain healthy skin and shiny coat.  This chicken meal is preserved with all natural tocopherols, rosemary extract, and Vitamin E, and contains no synthetic preservatives.  

Whole Grain Brown Rice

The processing of Brown Rice removes only the outermost layer, the hull of the rice kernel, preserving much of the nutritional value of the rice.  Among grains, rice is easily digested and least likely to cause allergic reactions.  Brown Rice is rich in fiber, B vitamins, calcium, and phosphorus, an excellent source of manganese, and a good source of the minerals selenium and magnesium. 

Barley Flour, Flax Meal and Oat Groats

Barley Flour is very high in fiber.  Flax meal supplies omega-3 fatty acids, and oat groats are high in several amino acids, particularly lysine, methionine, cysteine.

Coconut Oil, Dried Whole Eggs, Fish Meal

The Coconut Oil is fractionated, meaning that a fraction of the coconut oil from which almost all the long chain triglycerides are removed.  Coconut oil has become a very mainstream “super food”  lauded for its antibiotic properties  Fractionated coconut oil is predominantly composed of Capric and Caprylic acids which provide a plethora of healthy benefits.  I make a cup of coffee each morning and blend it with a teaspoon of coconut oil.  I can personally attest to it making my skin better, reduced inflammation, and much better focus!  Now what’s really cool is that most sugar gliders LOVE the taste!  Not sure if your sugar gliders like coconut?  Choose Wholesome Balance or Diced Coconut as your FREE gift for ordering (anything).  You’ll see it at checkout.

The whole eggs are for added protein, and the fish meal provides both added protein and those great fish oils including omega-3 fatty acids.

What about the rest of the Diet?

Variety is the spice of life.  Captive exotics really seem much more interested in life when enrichments, like different daily meals are offered.  There are psychological benefits to rotating foods that can affect physiological well-being.  I’m going to suggest to you that NO single pellet food, or same meal day in/day out approach is going to maximize your sugar gliders happiness. Chicken and Brown Rice Blend is intended to meet only part of the sugar glider’s nutritional needs, and please don’t fall for the hype that any pellet food does it all.  Remember the psychological benefits of diversity.    I strongly suggest that you continue supplementing your sugar glider’s balanced meal plan with a single serving of fresh fruit or veggie,  a fresh protein such as mealworms, hoppers, crickets, boiled chicken, or other low fat / high protein food sources such as yogurt, and a complete supplement each evening.  Rotating the menu helps to keep them interested, excited about meal time, and goes a long way toward preventing picky eating.  Here’s a suggested diet format:   SunCoast Diet,  

Wholesome  Balance is nutritionally balanced as a freestanding food, but Blueberry Fortifier is still needed to balance the fresh food offerings that are recommended for the overall SunCoast diet plan.  Wholesome Balance can also be fed free choice with the other sugar glider diets such as BML, Leadbeater’s, HPW or popular variations on these mainstream diet plans.

Instructions

We suggest that you offer one tablespoon of Wholesome Balance in the evening per sugar glider.  If they don’t eat all the food and don’t spoil the food, you can “top off” each evening to bring the offering up to one tablespoon per sugar glider.  3/4 pound of Wholesome Balance sugar glider food will feed 2 gliders for 1 month.

Store in a cool dry dry place and keep bag sealed between uses.  Refrigeration or Freezing of this Product is not Required, as long as the product is used within 6 months.  This  product can be frozen for storage over 6 months.

Ingredients: Chicken Meal made from Human Grade Chickens, whole grain brown rice flour, whole grain barley flour, flaxseed oil, dried whole egg, oat groats, fish meal, flax meal, calcium carbonate, blood meal, animal plasma, dried kelp, Vitamin E supplement, salt, potassium chloride, Vitamin A acetate, D-activated animal sterol (source of Vitamin D3), DL-alpha tocopheryl acetate (source of Vitamin E), menadione sodium bisulphate complex (source of Vitamin K), Vitamin B12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, niacin supplement, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, folic acid, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, zinc sulfate, maganous oxide, sodium selenite, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, dried tomato pomace, yeast culture, monosodium phosphate, sodium sulfate, ferric sulfate, manesium oxide, cobalt sulfate, cane sugar, di-methionine, pyridoxine hydrochloride, ferrous fumarate, sea salt, l-lysine, lecithin, potassium iodide, beta carotene, zinc methionine complex, hydrochloric acid, yucca schidigera extract, algae meal, diatomaceous earth, cobalt choline citrate complex, ferric choline citrate complex, calcium pantothenate, copper choline citrate complex, magnesium amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, calcium amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, cobalt amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate, ferrous carbonate, amylase, cellulose, maltase, phytase, protease, lipase, mixed tocopherols, citric acid, ascorbic acid, lecithin, rosemary extract.

This product uses natural preservatives and should not be stored unfrozen longer than 6 months to ensure the nutritional value of the food is protected.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein Min 32%
Crude Fat Min 12%
Crude Fiber Max 6%
Moisture Max 12%

 

At SunCoast, we bring experience, quality and great customer service right to you!  We care deeply about sugar gliders AND our customers!  Sugar gliders are our onlyspecialty and we hope to be your specialists!

For more information on nutrition, or really any subject related to sugar gliders, please check out our extensive information library here 

 

 

Additional information

Weight 0.825 lbs
Dimensions 2 × 5 × 5 in
Weight

Size:

2 reviews for Wholesome Balance™ Chicken and Brown Rice Flavor (3/4 lb)

  1. 5 out of 5

    Anna Traverse (verified owner)

    Glider likes it!! She is VERY picky and really only enjoys cantaloupe

  2. 3 out of 5

    Patti Kunkel (verified owner)

    Although it has the same name, it isn’t the same thing that we got as a gift a few years ago that the girls went nuts for.

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