Sugar Glider Central

Posted: **Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:58 am**

Hello everyone,

i'm a new breeder in the UK and have two females that were given to me because the previous owner already had two very tame males and could not get the females to bond with her as they were already about three years old and had been badley treated by the owner she adopted them off (the original owner was keeping them in a hamster cage and feeding them hamster food!!)

I got the 2 girls September 2007 so have had them a year now and they have gotton to the stage where they will come to me and take food from me and let me pet them but they still crab at me if i try and handle them during the day, but i accept that and give them respect and leave them alone.

I wanted to breed my own suggies so i had a sleepover and borrowed the two males from my friend who i got the girls from and had them at my house for a week. To my suprise and excitment i found that BOTH females where pregnant and the joeys are due to be oop at the end of this month, only thing is i have read up and read up and it always says that the father plays a big part in the development once the joey is oop.. obviously my two girls are single mothers..

will things be ok??

Posted: **Tue Sep 09, 2008 10:06 am**

chances are, the babies will not survive. Im sorry to be blunt, but the father plays too big of a role in raising the joeys. Now there have also been a few exceptional mommy gliders that will raise joeys on their own without the help of a male. Maybe you'll get lucky?
Also, as a note. Stud service is not recommended with breeding gliders because of the vital role that the father plays.

Posted: **Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:53 pm**

oh no

how far in the development will the joeys get?? at what stage should i expect to find them passed away?? oh my word what a morbid question but i need to be prepared so as not to cause distress to my females..

if i'd have only known about this forum before they got pregnant then i would never have done what i did. my own fault for not researching enough

I really hope the joeys survive

thanks for the advice. i was planning on buying a male once these joeys had been given to good homes.. i hope this will still be the case.

ok so will one male between two females be ok as a breeding set???

i don't want a huge colony and dont want to breed LOTS of babies as Suggies are special and i want to make sure they go to good homes and they are not bred like hamsters in the UK as there is not enough knowledge about them here (as i have demonstrated)

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:12 am**

Well, we all learn through mistakes.

As for the morbid questions, it depends on the female and her tempermant.

I did forget to mention in my last post that sometimes females will help each other out with raising joeys, especially if they are siblings, so there is a chance there.

one male will be fine with a breeding set of females, just make sure that he is around the same age as they are. I wouldnt just throw him in there with the girls until you've made sure that they will all get along (though almost ALWAYS any female will get along with any male).

try getting a new cage, placing it at a distance where the girls and him can smell each other, but not close enough that they could hurt each other.

See how they do, and after a while have play time with all 3 of them together. If there are no problems in these play sessions within about a months timespan, I would feel safe to put him in with them.

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:12 am**

well the girls are siblings and are very close so hopefully they will help eachother out and things will be ok. i hope!
both females are already very caring towards the joeys, they often look inside their pouches and i can hear them making little chirping noises as they are licking their babies. they are in a very nice relaxed environment i have no children and they are in a quite glider proof room, so hopefully that will be on my side! i'll keep a close eye on them and hope for the best..
what i was going to do was buy a male joey and keep him seporate and bond with him on his own (i understand that they don't like being alone so i will give him all my attention!

) then when he is a few months older i will slowley introduce him to the females. things should go ok, as when i had the two males over for that week they all got on great more or less straight away.

Posted: **Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:52 pm**

Good! Im glad that your girls are sisters and seem to be good moms.

hopefully everything works out there

As to introducing the male...

your plan seems good, but dont forget the mommies and the joeys. you need to handle the joeys so that they can be hand tame, and I wouldnt introduce the new male until the babies are weaned and out of the cage. since they're not his offspring, he's likely to kill them if you do.

Also, the better bonded you are with your females, the more they will let you handle the joeys, so its important to have a good bond with them as well

Posted: **Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:26 am**

oh yes i wasnt going to buy a new male until the joeys were fully independant and given to new homes.

thanks for all your help and advice! much appreicated :-)

Josie

Posted: **Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:06 am**

not a problem!

best of luck!

-Ryan

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