Thinking of Breeding? Read this.

[Marie]

The breeding section as of 4/11/08 isn't overly large, but one thing I noticed is the amount of problems people have had.  On Sugar Glider Forums, we do try and put people off breeding and steer them towards same sex pairs or neutered males, and we do that because myself and my mods are experienced keepers and have all had experience with breeding, and we've had our fair share of problems too!  We know only too well how stressful and heartbreaking it can be!

Before you decide to go ahead and get that breeding pair read through this thread, read the threads I've linked to and THEN make an INFORMED decision.

Jan 2 2008 first post

Please help my glider has attacked its baby and its only 3 weeks and 5 days old what should i do she stopped looking after it and i warmed it up and gave it back to her and she attacked it what do i need to do?
Please

the baby is ok but i cant keep it coz my mum said its to much to do so dos anybody want it it 4 weeks old now?

ok so i have spoken to jane (suggielover) and i am just leaving to go to brigewater to collect the baby as she has to rehome her asap due to school

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

I have just found my Papa Glider, Rocky, permanently asleep in his pouch...  As heart breaking as that is, I've got another worry now, too.  Mama Glider has a joey in the pouch.  I have never had a lone mother before and was wondering if she'll be ok on her own raising the joey.  If it's female, she will be keeping her as a mate, but that's besides the point.  I'm sure it isn't particularly safe to introduce another glider to her now (the joey is quite big... won't be in pouch much longer).  Any advice??  Thank you...

 :'(

I guess I spoke too soon... *sigh* Mama has killed and eaten the baby.  Must have done it during the day, as he was alive and well last night.  Went in to feed her and check on the baby and all that was left was a partial skeleton in the nest...  :'( So, I am not on the look out for a new friend for Mama... *sigh*

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

Thanks everyone

There have been some really funnny noises coming formt he pouch recently also so I don't know if mum is maybe letting the joeys come out in there and the noises could be them calling for her??  She always has her lumps in pouch when she is out and about though?

I really can't wait for these little ones to arrive be ready for a flooding of pics whent hey do

4th July:

Thanks Marie.

Sadly, one f our "innie outies" was rejected last night - mum quite nastily threw it out of the sleeping pouch to the floor of the cage and despite my best  effotrs to sustain a bond with mum and little one, it was not to be.

I don't think the other one os far off being OOP now though for sure as this morning, mum for the FIRSt time ever (as in 1am this morning) came out of the cage, climbed up my arm and sat on my shoulder nibbling my hair while I put her baby back into the sleeping pouch.

Fingers crossed she won't reject the other baby and lets hope all goes okay

Mum is really coming round now handling wise and has become so trusting and calm with me whichI am so grateful for as the father and daughter are both cottoning on to the fact I am not going to hurt themand that they are safe with me so hopefully the baby will follow suit if all works well.

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

Ickle one came out of pouch last night!!!!!

My first ickle one!!!!!!

bless, little thing clinging on for dear life to shylers belly, shyer doing the very strange looking walk, like she in on tip toes, bless her!

i didn't see the joey at all until h/she was fully out of pouch, until last night just an ever increasing lump on her belly, then on tuesday i did notice that her pocuh opening was stretched open, i knew then it wouildn't be long - and pop - now s/he's out!

Yeah!!

Fingers crossed, i dont want to go stressing her at all.

she spent a few moments crawling about on me last night but is well and truly hiding away, not even sleeoing in the normal spot with the gang, buried herself away with her little one and dad being close by.

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited 

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

Part 2

Help

I have found pipecleaner all on his own, he was stone cold, have got him warmed up and he is currently down my top, i tried "giving" him back to mum as well as the boys in the ganag but they seemed really disinterested in him, mum cleaned him a bit but then left him alone again after a few moments, uncle sweets seemed to be cleaning him but then kep pouncing on his tail when pipecleaner was trying to get away from him.  I gace it one last try with mum, she walked over him to go and do something else, all the time poor little pipe cleaner was trying to grab out to her, but she wasn't all that fussed.

Mum doesn't appear hostile at all towards him, just seems to be more interested in other things and despite the fact her little baby is obviously needing her to sort him out she just leaves him sat on my hand.

Should i keep trying to "give" him back?

HELP!!!!!!

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

Part 3

As you will be aware from my previous posts, Shylers baby Pipe Cleaner came out of pouch just over a week ago, this mornign i found him abandoned, but managed to get him back with Mum, all seemed to have been going ok, i was checking them avery half an hour to ensure the little one wasn't thrown out and he was snuggled up in the centre of them all until just now.

I checked on them and there was his dad and his uncle, eating him, he was helf eaten already so no chance of saving the little fella.

Now i am seriously kicking myself for not simply taking him away from them all this morning and attempting to hand rear instead.

I honestly thought he would be better with his own kind and they did take him back and had been ok with him all morning - now he is dead.

Thats the second suggie i've managed to kill.

I seriously doubt my ability to lookn after anything sometimes.

I am so so sad.

i'm just devestated, i've been trying so hard to keep eveything ok for them so that this would'nt happen.  i honestly thought that he had been accepted back into the group.  I looked to find shyler (his mum) and she was away from the rest of them on her own, it was such a horrific site, from the waste down he was gone with all his bits hanging out, just awful, really awful.  I dont think i really serioously prepared myself for that site at all.

honestly, anyone else considering breeding their suggies, seriously, i DONT recommend doing it.

i want to increase the size of my colony, but i worry about bringing in strangers as i am having trouble with Eos as it is, which is why i wanted to breed Shyler, but now, i don't know, i doubt if i am capable of doing it, i mean, christ, why didn't i just take pipe cleaner away, better to be safe, but i thought he stood a better chance of suvival at that age if he were with his mum and family, god, what an idiot i am, poor ilttle fella.  i'll download the two pics i took of him now (not dead Pics, when he was alive)

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

my female started mating on feb first with my male and on the 17th was cleaning her tummy a lot, about two weeks ago i noticed a lump and it was getting bigger until it reached the size of a large peanut last week, but for the last two days i cant see the lump, its definatly gone but there is no baby anywere. tonight she has spent the last hour cleaning her pouch which has a small pink lump sticking out, she is opening her pouch wide open and licking all around it, she hasnt been acting weird or been off her food or anything like that. could she have lost the baby and eaten it? ive searched everywere and there is no sign. im really confused.

Posted in reply to

I have heard of some suggies who never become mothers because they cull off each baby...  Sometimes it's just the way they are (and shouldn't be bred from) and sometimes they know something about that baby that we don't and later on become wonderful mothers.

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

  hi, my female came out tonight and her two lumps were gone,(this happened a few months ago aswell) ive found one baby on the floor of the cage, its about an inch long with eyes closed and no hair, ive given it back to mum twice and both times she cleans it and then drops it out the pouch onto the floor again, its alive and not crying, i dont know what to do with it, i cant get any milk till the morning for it unless it can have baby milk. help please.

ok, mum went into coconut so i put baby in there too, dad went in and so did one more female, mum cleaned it up then mum and dad came out for dinner and the other female stayed in there and has been cleaning it for about 2 minutes, she looks like shes being a bit rough but its not crying and she is definatly licking it and not biting, no sign of other baby.

hi, no sigh of baby in coconut or main pouch with everyone else today, mum and dad have gone into small pouch now that i havent checked yet, she has a tiny pink thing sticking out of her pouch that im guessing is a teat so im hoping baby has been put somewere and she has been feeding it, this is so horrible, its happened twice with her now so maybe she is just a crap mum, the other female spent ages cleaning it last night while mum was eating, i thought it would be ok, will check everywere else now.

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

I've just been looking up for some advice and found a very simular post by deb and pat. The only difference is that Will has had two joeys before. We have also checked everywhere in the cage and around the room where they play. Last night I noticed one joey had gone and turned the living room upside down looking for the baby. Found no evidence that the joey had ever been there. Then this evening we've noticed the other baby has also gone. Nothing has changed with there diet or lifestyle. I have a feeling that the joeys were slightly older than the ones in previous post. We are now really worried this will continue to happen. We were planning om having the boys done after these joeys but are now wondering if we should have them done now to save any more problems. Will appears fine and is eating and playing normally (infact is giving my boyfriend the run around at this precise moment!) . Am a bit concerned that one of the other gliders could of done it although I have found no information to back that up.
Any advice much appreciated as always
Laura xxx

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

Hi All.
Ive opened a new thread as the other went to pot a bit lol! Ive just managed to get my first proper look at our single Joey. I noticed the night before last that Zelda did not have the joey in her pouch. I felt sorry for my girl as i said the other day she was trying to keep the joey IN the pouch whilst running around the cage. There was still no sign of the joey yesterday.

Tonight we sneakily opened the nest side door expecting to see the worst but was pleasantly surprised to see a fully furred little baby...god that was a sight! Very excited but apprehensive to knowing how exotics can behave with their young. the joey was wrapped in t shirt material but felt a bit cold...though Mum had been out a while. We also noticed its eyes are not open??? Is this normal? I dont know...havent a clue about any of this and need to learn fast! I personally think the joey is a bit on the thin side,can just and just see his ribs... but on saying that its fur is still very close to its skin,like velvet...so....

I dont know at this point whether i should be worrying or not? Should his/her eyes be open? Need thoughts on this one guys please. Ive bred rats for years although i keep gliders as pets...this is our first experience with a joey so dont know what im looking for. With rats i look for a fat and well rounded belly...if i dont see that i worry!

I would love to hear from anyone with advice but will try and contact my gliders breeder later today.

Thanks in advance

Karen x

My fears for the little one were confirmed today....found him dead at the bottom of the cage. Mum and dad hadnt harmed him so im not sure whats gone on here and never will now i guess. Im gutted but i know that some babies or adults just dont survive...see it in rats. Ive just had a rat doe have a dfficult birth which resulted in a C-section and spay with only 2 out of 12 surviving...that was hard.

If Zelda loses another baby next year i shall have Yoda castrated. I hate the thought of anything being abandoned or starving...ive had to hand rear countless rat kits so you save,some you lose...hard all the same. On the glider im sorry i never got the chance to see the little guy grow up,that would have been a real achievement...poor little boy.

I know the viv stuff you mean..its ace. I will definately get that next time round unless ive changed the cage.

Thanks for all your help guys,just sorry the outcome wasnt more possitive.

Karenx 

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

howdy, soo we have 2 females gliders...1 with 2 joeys and 1 with just one joey...the lump on the female with one joey's lump looked smaller, but is prob just smaller...well the thing is tonight we had a look inside the pouch where all the gliders sleep and all 3 joeys were out...now 2 were furred and nicely plup...the other had lil to no furr and about 3/4 of the size of the other 2 joeys...now should i be worried that the smaller joey is out of pouch already? could it be that the mum with the smaller joey is just copying the other mum by letting her joey oop? im not at all worried about the mum with the 2 joeys as they are clearly old enough to come out...just wondering opinions about the small joey? i need to know! lol mind at ease and all that...my lactol and joey incubator set up just in case!

Shrew...please hurry

i just found the smallest joey on the bottom of the cage...i showed the mum and she picked it back up, although she cant seem to be able to fit it back into her pouch...heard of this before? finding that lil fella out of the main pouch just on the floor kinda has me freaked out...do i just watch its weight and keep a close eye? i really dont want to have to pull it (really really), but i also dont want this lil guy to die...

any help would be greatly appreciated

he lost the fight...thankyou for your help every one

still 2 healthy joey's

Read the WHOLE THREAD HERE

[Marie]

That's it for now!  I'm sure the thread will only grow though!!  This doesn't include the telephone calls, PM's and emails I've had from people requesting help because a joey has been attacked or kicked out of the nest!

PLEASE consider the above posts, breeding is NOT as easy and chucking male and female in a cage together!  It is not the answer to the oncoming recession - breeding Gliders will NOT make you money!

[Marie]

Oops, I did mean to unlock this once I'd finished so you can add your comments.  But PLEASE keep on topic (by order of da management  ).

[Rhianna]

i think that this is an excellent post to put up marie. shows you for real how bad breeding can go. And i think people need to remember, not all females are good mothers, so it may not be just a one off!

[Amalthea]

And it also shows that it's not only NEW keepers that run into problems

[Rhianna]

yep! Roxs post was awful! that must have been so hard! poor little pipecleaner.

 

[Amalthea]

Mine up there actually nearly had me rehoming Mama and taking a break from keeping gliders...