Twins on the way?

[beardedcham]

Some of you may know the trio that were for sale on the board a few weeks ago?  I have them here now with me and they are all totally adorable

The lady they came from said they suspected the adult feamle to be carrying joeys.  When she arrived, I didn't notice anything to confirm that suspicion so left them be.

Welllll, last night I was doing thier feeds and offering some mealies and stuff when the female came up on the bars of the cage - he tummy is HUGEEEE with a peanut shape on eaithr side of her pouch and I saw them MOVE!!!!!

What I really want to know I guess is apart form offering her extra protein, what else should I be doing?  When they visibly wrigle in pouch like that, is that indicative of how long till they come OOP??

Any advice would be fab, thanks in advance xxx

[Marie]

Woohoo - congratulations

Just increase protein levels to aid with the long lactation, they should wriggle it means they're alive (lol).  You'll know when they're due to come out because especially if it's twins, mums pouch will be unbelivably stretched and you'll see the odd limb or tail sticking out. 

[beardedcham]

Thanks Marie - as it is my first experience with suggies and babies, I am nervous and soooooooo excited all at the same time :D

I shall be giving mum some more proteins in her diet - is it a good idea to slightly up her calcium intake also or just the proteins??

Her pouch looks rather large that I have seen - I would guess maybe lumps of about 1.5-2" in length and VERY wiggly lol 

Also, the opening of her pouch seemed to be not togehter if that makes sense.  Kind of like wheny our zip splits open on your bag cos you have too much stuff in it!!! 

Oooh I hope everything goes okay - she has had joeys before so what are the chances of her rejecting these little ones - I know it must have been understandably stressful for her being moved whilst carrying and getting used to a new cgae, new noises and things

[Marie]

I know what you mean about the pouch ... you just wait!!  Yes, I should increase her calcium levels slightly (sorry, I've had a nightmare of a day!!!) just because baby suckling will also be requiring calcium, and if there isn't enough in the diet then they will drain mum's reserves (bones!).  But also because these have come from an 'unknown' person (so to speak) and you don't know what she's been feeding and when asked she replied fruit and stuff  , I'd increase the calcium slightly anyway JUST FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS though!

If she's an experienced mum then hoepfully everything should be fine, but unfortunately there's no way of knowing what will happen, the first you know whether she's going to reject or not is when she's rejected.  But don't worry, we're here to help! 

[sugarchin]

  You LUCKY LUCKY person
Good luck with your gliders....I can't wait to hear more about them and see pics of the joeys when they emerge

[beardedcham]

Pics of mum's pouch :D  Rough idea of how far along she is (cos I ain't got a lcue!!)

[Fixx]

Yep, she's got twins alright, judging by the size it won't be long before she starts leaving them in the nest.

[beardedcham]

Ooooh thanks Fixx

Would it be an idea to maybe put a nesting box in there along witht he pouch?  I have heard to only have 1 pouch in case mum and dad "forget" that the babies are in 1 pouch adn go sleep in another??

I thought maybe a nesting box would be good as it gives them all a little more space??

Even more excited now heheheh

[sugarchin]

Those pics are fantastic....first ones I've ever seen of Joeys in the pouch
Would love to see a LARGE close up pic though
(no chance of babies here.....mine are 3 Fs and 2 neutured Ms

[Marie]

Yay, pictures!!    No need to take out a pouch - mum and dad won't 'forget' them, if they're hungry they'll cry, I always leave my pouches in (I never lower them as some do), you can put a nest box in if you wish but they'll sleep and leave joey's wherever they thing they're safe.

[beardedcham]

Well still no sign of the little ones emerging

Mum's pouch is absolutely huge now - maybe twice the size she was there!!

I did, however, see last night a part of a baby trying to poke out and mum was going bonkers sticking her nose by the pouch trying to stop me from seeing so hopefully, it won't be long now before I can post nice pics of little ones up 

[TMarie]

Those pics were huge enough.. if she's twice she has to be close.  Congratulations and I cannot wait to see pictures. Will help me with baby anxiety until my new joeys come OOP!!

[jungleflockmom]

Congratulations on your first joeys, and twins at that! They'll be oop soon!

[beardedcham]

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

[Marie]

Funny noises as in a sh sh sh (in quick succession) kind of noise, - I'm no good at describing sounds!  If so that's the baby suckling, well it's the mum winging at the baby suckling!  I'd call them innie outies at that point, soon they will be too big to fit in the pouch and they'll then be oficially OOP.

The twins I had OOP recently weren't able to spend too much time as innie outies, the poor mum would come out of the nest with one dangling off her nipple and one on her back!  Sometimes she'd dump one in a nest (not the usual sleeping one) and stuff the other in her pouch!  Bless