Recently there seems to be some concern over the ingredients, mainly the spices, being used in my cookies. The same type of concern it seems over BHT in our pet foods. But we accept it because it is a “small amount” could not the same be true of any ingredient we are unsure of? Let me honestly say that I would never ever intentionally use something unsafe in a food fed to my darling sugar glider Arwen. That being said, let me make a few points.
1. Government agencies routinely say an ingredient is safe after much testing, only to find out years later that “oops” it causes cancer.
2. An item found to be safe today may not be found to be safe tomorrow
3. An item researched on the internet today can be thought to be safe, but may turn up a different article in a search tomorrow that states it is unsafe.
4. A small amount of anything, including herbs ad spices, can be safe or even beneficial, but the same herb in large quantities or over time may be unsafe
5. An herb may be safe for one species and not another
6. Individuals in a species may have a reaction to an herb that another member of the same species does not have.
Making the above points, do I ever worry I am harming my own gliders, or other gliders, with the feeding of my cookies. Sure I do. Can any of you imagine how I would feel over this? Can any of you imagine it at all? And while I would be mortified at what I caused to other gliders, there would be NO consoling me at all over the harm caused to my dear sweet Arwen.
All we can do is the best we can and make judgment calls and be responsible for ourselves and our own gliders. I have been feeding these cookies to my gliders for 2 years now, and there have been no harmful affects from them that we can see. My gliders are healthy and active. Keep in mind too that these are meant as a TREAT and not a food source.
Feed them if you like, don’t if it worries you. Was I worried about using glider vitamins I bought off the internet? Am I nervous feeding brisky crickets? Or a brisky diet? I used HPW plus for the first time yesterday, was I just a tad nervous? YES YES YES to all those. But we need to be reasonable in our fears too. Others use the HPW with great results. I have customers who buy my cookies often and I feed them every other day (my hubby EVERY day) and nothing bad is showing up.
Microwave popcorn is very bad for you, yet most of us will eat it and say, “oh well” and feed it to your KIDS, but worry about a miniscule amount of spice in a cookie for a glider.
On that note, before any of you start experimenting with recipes, are you ready to face the consequences if the results are bad? What if we find out years down the road that the diets we are feeding, BML, HPW, Pricilla’s are all causing harmful things to our gliders? What then? Who is at fault? WE ARE, for keeping them captive in the first place. They belong in the trees, not in our cages. We can hold NO ONE responsible if our gliders suffer ill effects from a food, other than ourselves.
