Questions about breeding and bonding

[laurel1]

Hi, I recently purchased a few sugar gliders from someone going out of the breeding business. She told me that she thought one of the females was pregnant. I think she may be too because her belly pretty much drags. haha. But anyway, I keep looking and looking for babies but I dont see any. I know that they can come and go from the pouch, but for how long? I'm dying to see and the females are Way protective. How long should it be before I can see them, or when they start coming out with them? (you know, like how they ride on their backs and stuff)

The other thing is, when I got these they were all in the same cage. She showed me that there was a little one and said he was about 6 months old. The unbelievable thing is that he was still nursing on the pregnant female! They were protecting him like you wouldnt believe and i could hear him nursing at night. So asap I took him out of there. I have been trying for about 3 weeks now to get him to like me. He has his own cage, pouch, etc. I take him all over with me and talk to him all the time. Then I'll go in there to see him (when hes awake) and he freaks out. He has actually drown blood before. How long before he gets better, what else can I do, or is he just too old now?


OK, well that was a long message (sorry). Let me know what ya'll think. Thanks.

[FemaleCheetah]

laurel1 - The babies dont come OOP (out of pouch) for several weeks because they develope in the pouch just like we develope in our moms bellies :) The pouch in a marsupial serves as a womb so do NOT open the pouch because if u do and the baby becomes detached from the nipple which happens then the baby cannot reattach to it because once the baby attaches to a nipple the nipple swells in the babies mouth and for several weeks the baby will stay in the pouch until fully developed and then u will start to see a tail or arm and then the baby will completely come out.

Dont put the male joey back in the cage, he is too old and can impregnant the females which may be his relatives or mom, u can get him neutered and then introduce him back with the group.

It just takes time to bond with them especially if they came from a bad situation which it kinda sounds like urs did (nothing but breeders how sad :( )

here is some information and a chart on when u should expect the joey or joeys to come out of pouch just go by this http://www.petsugargliders.com/sggrowth.php

It also has info on breeding and birth and all of that that u should know!

Here is something on rejected joeys, u need to know this because gliders do reject their joeys and its not uncommon so read up :)
http://www.sugarglider.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=69796&page=1#Post69796


Go to www.glidercentral.net and register, its a website and forum JUST for gliders and they have EVERYTHING u need to know and much much more.

Happy reading :)

[FemaleCheetah]

Also, what diet are u feeding? diet is extremely important in gliders and if not fed properly can lead to so many medical issues and even death.

And do u have pics of ur cage? what are the dimensions?

Do u have pouches, toys, etc in the cages?

Do u have pics of ur gliders and how many gliders did u get exactly? :)

[FemaleCheetah]

wanted to give u this link also on diets, its a diets link to ALL proven glider diets and the most commonly used are the suncoast diet, BML, darcys diet, and pml.

http://www.glidercentral.net/links/pages/Glider_Care___Information/Diet___Nutrition/index.html

[laurel1]

Hey, thanks for all of the great information! I feed them a variety of things. Sugar glider food, kitten food, fruits, melons, veggies, crickets, mealworms-all kinds of stuff. A variety everynight, but all of that at one time of course. And I am still yet to see anything, but I guess I will have to wait it out. I am beginning to wonder if she is pregnant or not, I can even tell, maybe shes just extra fat.

I bought all she had for sale, which was 6. I ended up with 3 males and 3 females, including the young one which is a male. I separated them into males and females, and took the young one out all together. The thing that gets me is that I work with him everyday, and they say you cant bond with an older one, but all of the older ones are more friendly toward me than he is. Anyway, their cages are about 5-6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, with nest boxes and everything.
If ya'll think of anything else I need to know, I appreciate it.
Thanks

[FemaleCheetah]

First you are not feeding a proven diet, diet is EXTREMELY important for sugar gliders so PLEASE and I cannot stress this enough, please switch to a proven diet. The BML diet is excellent and is very simple to make. Here is the link to the BML diet and how to make it http://www.angelfire.com/nb/sugarglider/diet/bml1.html
You can buy the herptivite and rep cal super cheap from www.toandfrogliders.com

I am very serious when I say that diet is very important in gliders, if they dont get the correct calcium/phospherous ratios then u can end up with a very sick suggie. The BML diet is cheap to make and it lasts 1 month for 2 gliders depending on how much u make but the herptivite/rep cal will last u a year or more because u use to little of it. If you make a double or triple batch it will last you awhile with 6 suggies.

Hard pellets/food is very bad for them because they are sap suckers and the hard food can cause cuts in their mouths leading to abcesses and
lumpy jaw" so please do not feed them hard food. The fruits, veggies, and insects are great but the others need to be thrown out and u need to start them on a proven diet.

When a glider is pregnant u cant tell u can only tell when she has the joey(s) IP because she will start to look lumpy in the front. You can gently rub right below her pouch opening on the outside and if u feel any small hard lumps then she has a joey or joeys IP if not then she may not have had the babies yet or she has no babies yet.

Your cage sounds great, do u have any pics of the cage or suggies? I love pics :)

I also suggest that u neuter all the males, are they related to the females? Either neuter them or keep them seperate so they cant reproduce.