just got 2 gliders yesterday and female is huge - need some help please

[cleous]

hi,
i've just joined and hoped i'd be just happy telling you all about my new gliders and not in the breeding section
but anyway we have re-homed 2 gliders a pair of about 2yrs old the people we brought them off had only had them about 6 mths and they have had no babies with them but have had joeys in the past they said, didn't handle them much at op house and it was in daytime and didn't want to scare them not knowing me , but as soon as we got them home and they came out late last night its obv female has a baby she has a huge lump on pouch and you could clearly see something moving around in there and see into pouch thru a big hole on side looks like only one i think .

Well q's are we had to clean the suggies out last night as they were so smelly and cage dirty , i know your not supposed to clean it all out in one go so just cleaned bars, shelves, bowls and bottom of cage , will this be ok with the baby and not stress mom out carn't see how we could off left them though as said everything was so slimy and dirty with old food

They do seem to be on ok ish diet, iams, have all glider vits, calc, insectorvoire and other bits off glider website they don't have any of the gum stuff though and he said they mostly had yoghurt of a night with a little fruit no live food

The cage really does need to be changed as its like one of those big rat/ferret ones with shelves in and only 3ft high but i would think not to do this when they have young is this right?


any other info you think i should need am off to get all ingredients of reciepe threads to make up for them , and how long do you think till joey comes out of pouch


sorry its so long for a first post


suzanne

[Marie]

Hi Suzanne, welcome to the glider forums.  

First off, if the cage was slimy and disgusting then you did right!  Rotten food harbours bacteria and will grow mould and smell especially in the warm weather, it will also attract flies which will lay eggs ... yuk!!!

Get them on to a decent diet, don't worry about the acacia gum, it's a great addition to the diet and does have benefits, but don't worry too much at this stage.  

If I were you, I'd leave them alone for a while, moving to a new place is stressful all the new smells and noises etc, don't stress her out more by trying to handle them.  Just be passive and speak to them, offer them treats through the bars etc, don't try and handle them yet.  A new cage would be a good idea but leave them to settle first.  You can minimise stress when you swap cages by putting their cage pouch in so it smells familiar to them.  They would probably appreciate the extra space.  

It's hard to say when joey will come out of pouch (OOP) as we cannot see how big she is, but if the pouch is stretching and you can actually see the joey, and the joey sticks out a limb or tail then it is likely to come out within the next couple of weeks.

Hope that helped a little as I've got to go back to work now (damn it!).

[Amalthea]

I'm glad these gliders have ended up with you and you're willing to do a bit of research and ask questions.    Yogurt shouldn't be the main part of the diet (mine only get it every now and then), so just switch them over to a good diet for the time being....  Take everything slowly with them and hopefully it'll all work out for the little joey