may my little joey

Question
QUESTION: May is my latest addittion.coco's joey is may and is nearly 3 weeks old.at how many weeks should I separate May from his parents? May is a male by the way.so far my male sugar glider gusgus has shown no signs of violence or dislike towards May on the contrary he has been quite a sport taking care n protecting May. At how many weeks can I feed May?

ANSWER: Most males are good parents, problems arise if your male is not a good father or when the joey(s) start to sexually mature. Most joeys come OOP (out of pouch) around 10 weeks of age, up until this time the males and females look very similar and it is pretty hard for someone to tell them apart unless you have been doing it for a while. Males can sexually mature between 3 months to a year of age and females are generally between 5-9 months.

The joey should be kept with one parents, both if the father is accepting of the joey, which it sounds like he is. Remove all hides/pouches except for one. Now that the joey is OOP he will being sleeping with them, but if there are several pouches or hides, he can fall asleep in one and his parents will leave him and sleep in another.

Sadly I had this happen several times when I first started breeding and I couldnt figure out why all my joeys were getting sick.. well they can not regulate their own temps yet and rely on mom and dad for that and if left alone for a period of time they can get hypothermia. If you notice the joey being left alone for more than 20 minutes then you will want to take action to keep him warm.

You also want to start to handle/bond with your joey now that he is out. Start really slow and increase the time every few days. I generally put a carry pouch in my shirt or in a jacket and will put them in it for 10 minutes at a time and then return them to the cage, then a few hours later I pick them up and will gently and calmly hold them for about 2-5 minutes.

You want to ensure there is little to nothing going on around you when you do this. And always keep them in sight of their parents for the first week or so. It even helps to stick your hand in the cage and let him come up with mom and dad and lick treats from your hand. I use applesauce normally and let the baby see that mom and dad are ok with it and treats come from you so you must not be so bad.

You want to start weaning 5 weeks OOP, there are many different processes to this and you will have to read and see what works best for you and your schedule. At about 10 weeks OOP the joey should be removed from the parents totally. But since you are keeping him, you will need to find him another glider or get the 2 males fixed and keep them in with the female.

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QUESTION: Now that I have separated the joey from the parents.my male glider is in heat.i pity my female glider as she just had a joey n all. now she has to put up with the male.what do I do? I am so worried my female will die or get sick.

ANSWER: You need to get him fixed or separate them and buy her a female companion. Without proper know how you will wind up stressing and making your female week with to much breeding and she could die and you will wind up with unhealthy joeys, runts or she can begin self mutilating herself or her joeys.

You cant keep a intact male and female together and prevent them from breeding, but they also should not be allowed to breed all the time.

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QUESTION: How do I get my joey to drink water? I realise when he pee's he hisses n barks a little.he eats alot though but won't drink.

Answer
He could have a urinary or bladder infection. I would take him to a vet because both could make him very ill or even kill him if it gets bad. You cant make them drink, just provide fresh water and keep bottles in his most common areas and he will find them.

You could force his with a syringe but that will make bonding a lot harder for you and there really is no need for it unless they have a mouth deformity and have a hard time getting fluids in.