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About
Joey Rejection & Cannibalization /
Joey
Rejection/Hand feeding /
Joey BML /
Joey Emergency Kit
Unfortunately there are many factors that can contribute to joey
rejection and/or canalization. It is impossible to say exactly why
this happens. Some of the reasons we know of may be preventable,
others are not. Here are a few that we are aware of:
- Poor Diet or Diet Deficiency: Lactating parents
require a very special dietary balance with increased amounts of
both calcium and protein. Protein and calcium are directly related
to the amount of milk the mother can produce. If the mother does not
have enough milk production, she may reject or cannibalize her
joey(s). It is quite painful for a mother to have a suckling joey on
her teat with little milk production, so she may bite at the joey(s), reject
or cannibalize them. To avoid this, we recommend following
proven diet plans which
you can find here. Remember, a sugar glider mother will put
herself before her young. If she is lacking necessary vitamins or
minerals, she will dispose of her babies for her own survival and
health. If your female was recently on an unhealthy diet, wait at
least 6 months after getting her on a proven diet before allowing
her to breeding.
- Inexperienced and/or Young Mothers: Sometimes a
mother may breed too young, and not be prepared for raising joeys.
Young mothers may not have developed the instincts needed to raise
her babies successfully. In addition, her body is still growing, and
may not be able to support proper lactation to raise healthy
babies. A female should be at least 9-12 months before attempting to
breed to avoid this.
- Physical and/or Medical Problem with Joey: Even
if the joey(s) may have appeared normal to you, there may have been
a problem. Sugar Gliders are very intuitive creatures. Joey(s) that
are sickly, genetically deformed, or have other problems may attract
predators to the nest. If there is a problem with their young, they
will dispose of it as necessary.
- Stress: Stress can have many effects on a
mother as well as the pair/colony. Remember, a mother will not risk
her own health for her joey(s). She will reject and/or cannibalize
her young if her stress level is too high. Some stress triggers
include:
1. Relocating or changing their cage while female has joeys
in/out of pouch. Avoid relocating or changing cages (permeate
housing changes) while the female has joeys in/out of pouch. New
sights and smells will make them more nervous until they establish
their new "territory". They may reject or dispose of their young
until they deem their new environment safe.
2. Moving the gliders to a new home while the female has joey
in/out of pouch. Try to avoid relocating your sugar gliders to
a new home if at all possible when a female has joeys
in/out of pouch. The new surroundings, smells, and people may cause
the gliders to become very defensive and nervous. They may dispose
or reject any young until they have established a new territory and
feel safe once more.
3. Adding sugar gliders to an established pair/colony or
changing a females mate. Introducing new sugar gliders to an
established pair/colony is rarely ever recommended, this is
especially true when breeding. New males will most likely kill
another males joeys to produce his own. Newly introduced females may
kill or attempt to steal another females young. Introducing any
sugar glider to an established pair/colony can create a break down
in "pecking order", cause territorial issues, as well as possible
jealousy and dominance problems.
4. Removing the male from the female. Do not remove the
male from the female when she has joeys. Males help to raise their
young. Mothers are very much dependant on them to baby sit, keep the
joey(s)warm, and to help teach the joey(s) what being a glider is
all about.
5. Seeing or Smelling another glider outside of her colony. Sugar
gliders are very territorial. If you have more than one glider
pair/colony in the same room, but in different cages, try using
a full cage cover over their cage. This way they will not see each
other, and it will help keep their colonies scent within their cage.
By doing this the pair will feel more secure in their
territory. Placing the cages as far apart as possible, or placing
each cage of gliders in a different room will help as well.
6. Mother or joeys being handled with joeys ip/oop before being
completely bonded to you. Sugar gliders that are not completely
bonded to their human companions may see you as a threat. If you are
not completely bonded to the parents, and have had
rejection/canalization issues in the past, try waiting to hold the
joey until it is 10-14 days out of pouch. After this time period
chances of rejection and cannibalization go down. Start off handling
the joey in the presence of the parents for short times, and then
increase increments as the parents become accustom to you handling
their joey(s).
- Illness: The female will not risk her own
health to raise her joey(s). She will reject or cannibalize her
young to save or maintain her own health. To help avoid this, take
the pair/colony to the vet prior to breeding to ensure there isn't
an underlaying health issue. Sugar gliders can easily hide illnesses
until it has become extremely advanced.
- Trio or Colony Settings: Females within a
colony setting may fight, steal babies, or attempt to kill each
others offspring. Sometimes colonies/trios will work out well with
twin sisters or females that have been raise together from a very
young age. Please understand that even though the trio/colony works
out a few times, it does not mean you are in the clear. Some trios
have been noted to work out well for years, and then have
severe problems later on.
Why do glider cannibalize their young?
Sugar gliders are exotic animals still maintain many of their "wild"
instincts. To avoid drawing predictors or sickness to the colony,
sugar gliders will cannibalize young. If there are any remains,
usually they will remove it as far away from their nest as possible.
She cannibalized/rejected her babies will she do it next
time?
There is no way to know for sure if she will or not.
The best you can do is rectify any situations that may have caused
her to loose her joeys in the past. If the behavior continue, you
will need to neuter the male to avoid further rejections and heart
ache for you and the sugar gliders. We usually use the 3 strikes
rule. Not all pairs/colonies are meant to be parents.
Joey
Rejection/Hand feeding
It is very hard to understand why a mother will reject a joey,
as there could be many reasons. Sometimes a mother is unable to produce
enough milk to support the joey, a diet deficiency may be the cause, or
the mother may "sense" something is wrong with the baby. A yeast
infection could be another cause, making it painful for the female to
feed her little one. What ever the reason may be, you may be able to
intervene by supplementing, or if necessary, pulling the joey all
together.
Where to start: You will know that the joey has been
rejected if it is found on the cage floor, or alone in the nesting area
for long periods of time. Always try putting the joey back in with
mother. If the mother finds no interest in the baby, then it is your
choice on what to do. The first thing to do when finding a rejected joey
is remain calm, animals sense stress. Next check to see if the joey is
warm, if not wrap it in tissues or warm fleece scrap, and place under
your shirt. Next, look to see if your baby is hydrated by checking the
skin. Should it be slightly shriveled, try feed .20 ml of water or
Pedialyte with a supplemental feeding within a half hour of the feeding.
If the glider is severely dehydrated, you will need to get it to the vet
ASAP.
How to mix the formula: Mix the puppy milk, marsupial
milk, or Wombaroo to the directions on the container. Next get make the
baby BML (mixture listed below). Finally mix one part milk to one part
Baby BML. Warm a small amount of the mixture in the microwave for about
10 seconds. Stir and test with your finger to be sure mix is not too hot
for your baby joey baby. Mixture should be warm to the touch, but not
hot. Fill a 1cc syringe with the warmed mixture. Cover and store the
remaining mixture in the refrigerator for later use. If the joey
develops diarrhea, mix Pedialyte in with the powder every other feeding.
Joey BML Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 boiled egg, shell removed
- 4 oz bottle premixed Gerber Fruit Juice with Yogurt (Banana or
Mixed Fruit)
if you can not find this, then use 2 oz of fruit juice and 2oz of
plain yogurt.
- 1 teaspoon RepCal Herptivite Vitamin Supplement
- 2 teaspoons RepCal Calcium Supplement with Vitamin D3
Phosphorous Free
- 4 oz of Chicken Baby food (NO GARLIC OR ONION)
- 1/2 cup of Honey
- 1/4 cup of apple juice
- 1/2 cup dry Heinz or Gerber dry baby cereal (Mixed, Oatmeal, or
Rice with Fruit Bits)
Put egg, honey and apple juice in electric blender. Blend. Add the
yogurt with juice and RepCal Herptivite Vitamin Supplement. Blend. Add
RepCal Calcium supplement, chicken baby food, and dry baby cereal.
Blend. Pour into ice cube frays and freeze. This recipe will have the
same consistency of ice cream. One cube is about 2 table spoons.
How to feed: Attach your size 5 cather or feeding tube to
the syringe. Cut the cather at about two to four inches in length. Be
sure that your hands and the baby is warm. You can warm the baby up by
wrapping it in tissues or warm fleece scrap, and placing in your bra or
under your shirt. Be sure the baby is warm before feeding. If the baby
is not warm, it will have problems digesting food. Once the baby is
warm, use your tissues or warm fleece scrap to hold the baby in a slight
forward position for feeding. This will help in preventing the mixture
from going up the joey's nose. Feed the joey one small drop by placing
the feeding tube on the babies mouth, being careful not to squirt any
mixture into the joey's nostrils or directly down the throat. Some joeys
may be stubborn at first. If this happens try adding a little pressure
in between the side of the mouth until the baby opens it's mouth. Make
sure the cather is over the tongue so you do not cause the joey to
aspirate. Remember to feed slowly. A new joey will eat between .40mg to
.60mg of the mixture. In the first day of feeding, it may take 30-45
minutes for each feeding. After several feeding, your joey will get the
idea, and feeding will get down to about 15-20 minutes. Overfeeding a
joey can be very harmful, and may ultimately kill your joey. If your
joeys stomach appears to be bloated, or to be round, then you will need
to skip a feeding. You can check to see if the joey is full by holding
the joey up to a bright light. In the center of the abdomen and usually
slightly off to the left you should be able to see a white patch under
the translucent skin if the stomach is filled with milk. If you can not
find a white patch, the the stomach is empty.
When to feed:
Supplement feeding: When supplement feeding, you will feed
the joey every 3 to 4 hours. Allowing mom to keep the joey warm, taking
care of bathroom breaks, and of the "in between" feedings. When
supplement feeding, make sure you see that Mom or Dad are doing their
job to clean the baby up (making sure it goes to the bathroom). If they
are not, you can do it by gently stroking the area between the base of
the tail and the cloaca with a warm wet Q-Tip. Sometimes supplementing
is all that is only needed for a couple of weeks until the mother's milk
supply catches up with the babies. It is best to supplement feed rather
than pull a joey all together, as it is less stressful on the caregiver,
and the joey will have the best chance in surviving and growing into a
healthy adult. When supplementing the baby always look for more signs of
rejection by the mother. If the baby appears to be dehydrated or cold
between feeding, look into pulling the baby or feeding more often.
Pulling: When pulling a joey you will need to
feed it on demand or every two hours around the clock. Joeys tend to
tire quickly when feeding. Place the baby in the warm aquarium until it
begins to cry again, then you can resume feeding. You will also have to
stimulate the joey to go to the bathroom at least 2 times a day. You can
do this by gently stroking the area between the base of the tail and the
cloaca with a warm wet Q-Tip. In order to keep your pulled joey warm, it
is best to set up a small aquarium or critter keeper, with a vented top.
Attach a heat pad to the underside of the tank. Set the heat pad to the
lowest setting, and adjust the heat pad as needed. Fill the tank with
about 3 to 4 inches of aspen bedding. Check the temperature of the set
up often to ensure the joey is not too cold, or that the set up doesn't
get too hot. This process must continue for a least three weeks. At
about three weeks you should be able to feed your little joey every four
hours. As your joey grows, offer fruits and veggies slowly. Once the
joey is 5 weeks out of pouch encourage your joey to go to the feeding
dishes, as feeding should only take place during the day. At 6 weeks out
of pouch, your joey will be able to eat and go to the bathroom on it's
own.
Joey Rejection Kit
When dealing with exotic animals, it is always best
to be prepared for any emergency that may come up and need treated right
away. However, always follow-up with a good and knowledgeable vet. Here
is a list of items to start your "joey rejection kit". All items should
be placed in a sealed and marked container. Please place your "joey
rejection kit" in an easy to reach and find area.
E-mail
me if you have anything you would like to see added to our list
- Puppy Milk Replacer (powdered form or premixed formula) or
Wombaroo Supplement. Do not use kitten milk replacer as the fat
content is very high and causes diarrhea.
- 1 French Cather size #5 cut to 2" in length, this can be
purchased from a local vet, or a local hospital.
- 6-10 1 ml(1cc) Sterile Syringes, with out needle
- Pedialyte
- Q-tips
- Critter keeper or empty 10 gallon aquarium w/vented top.
- Small heating pad
- Small bag of Aspen litter
- Box of Tissues
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