glider males

Question
QUESTION: I already have 2 gliders, one male (not neutered) and one female. The female has two joeys in her pouch(yay!). My friend had 2 male (neutered) gliders but one died from a respiratory problem. My friend is looking for a place the survivor and asked if I'd like to take him. of course, I'd love to but I am concerned about having 1 neutered and one not neutered male together. Is that a bad idea?

ANSWER: Callie,

How long has the male been neutered?  Is his bald spot gone?  If so, he most likely doesn't have the male tendency to be territorial, and will get along fine with your little family.  If he still has the bald spot, he might show aggression toward your gliders.  

How far along is the female with her joeys?  Do you have any idea how long it will be before they come out of the pouch?  You will want to be sure they all get along BEFORE the joeys appear.  

I suggest you try the two males together first.  If they accept each other without problems, you could try introducing the female.  Don't leave them unsupervised until you are absolutely sure that they are getting along.  It is a good sign if you see them grooming each other, eating together, and sleeping all curled up with each other.

If you think joeys will be emerging soon, I wouldn't introduce the neutered male until the joeys are big enough to fend for themselves. This would be several weeks after coming out of the pouch.  Even then, be cautious to be sure the male will not harm them.

There are a lot of "if"s in my response.  I could be more specific if I knew more about your situation.  

I hope this helps.  Please keep in touch.

Betty

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'm not sure how long but I can ask for sure. I haven't seen him yet, sadly.

I also am not sure about the joeys either... I inherited these gliders about a year ago, they tamed and "bonded" with me really quickly. Anyway, she crawls up the cage to say hi to me. One time she did this and I noticed two bumps in her pouch area... then the pouch wiggled and I went "omg! I think she had babies!" this was last night, and I immediately went online, researched for HOURS for everything I could find on joeys and how to care for them. lol That is how I discovered this site. (If you have any pointers for "nesting areas" I'd appreciate that greatly, I havent been able to find much on that)

How would I go about introducing the males to each other?


Thank you for your help!


ANSWER: Callie,

If you can see the joeys wiggle in the pouch, they will be out of the pouch pretty soon.  I would plan to keep the neutered male in a separate cage for a while.  Go ahead and try introducing the new male to the papa.  Go to my website to see how:

nc.sugar.gliders.googlepages.com.  

Have the papa visit the male, but he should still live with mama.  He is needed to help care for the joeys.  Once the two boys are getting along well, I would then allow the neutered male to have supervised visits with the mama and papa.  If he shows any aggression toward mama or the joeys, take him away.  I wouldn't leave all three alone together just yet.

All of this depends on your individual gliders.  Please keep in touch and I can give you advice as needed.

I am so glad that you are doing research on caring for Sugar Gliders.  Fortunately, you don't need to do anything special for the babies, the parents will do all the work.  All you need to do is ensure that they are well fed.  Increase the protein a bit while the mama is nursing.  Are you feeding them BML, fruits, and veggies?  A few mealies or crickets would be good, too.  I add a little powdered baby formula to the BML when they have joeys.

As for nesting areas, they will settle in whatever pouch you have for them in the cage.  What do they sleep in now?

Good luck, keep in touch.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the advice on the boys :)

diet:
When I got them I bought a sectioned dish that hangs on the walls of the cage.(I move it around the cage) On one side (50%) I fill with sunseed glider pellets with protein, topped with 4 or 5 mealworms. on the other side, I put chopped veggies (I buy organic and prepare it myself) usually carrots and spinach. on top of that, I put chopped apples and bananas filling the last 10% of the dish but only if i'm not going to be home. Since I'm noctournal too, we're awake at the same times so the fruit, I save until after they eat some of the veggies and i feed them fruit by hand. Very rarely I'll share a piece of tuna, but only if it's the tuna that comes stored in water. (as opposed to vegetable oil) Doodle (the male)LOVES it. (is that bad?)
for water I have a glass water 'gravity' container that has a tiny cup that fills continually(too small for them to pee in) both dishes get cleaned daily.

sleeping:

There are several hideys around the cage (paper tubes, tents, and a plastic rocket that came with them) but they sleep in a fleece pouch that I clip around the cage. (I also have a fleece zipper pouch for when they hang out with me.)



Is there a special glider baby formula I can order? Or do you mean human baby formula? What's the best kind to use? The pet stores here only have the pellets for gliders and nothing else lol. Small town. I went in for the pellets and the guy looked at me like I was crazy and had to ask what a glider is. Yeah...

Can you think of anything else they should have or that I should be doing? I want them to have the best I can possibly do for them :) I love them and would hate to be doing something wrong for them.


Thank you so much for your advice.

Answer
Okay, the pouch situation sounds fine. Mama will let the joeys come out in the fleece pouch.  They won't fall out of it.  Do they sleep in the tents?  You might want to take the tents out.  If the joeys are left there, they may fall out.  

You will be amazed when you first see tiny hands, feet, or tails popping out from the pouch.  It is sooo cute!  It's okay to touch the babies right away, but don't take them away from mama.  When they are old enough to be left alone, then you can hold them for a while.

Please substitute BML for the pellets.  The vitamins and calcium are essential, along with the other ingredients.  Actually, save the pellets to use if you ever need to be gone for a couple of days.  Hard pellets are not good for their teeth and gums, plus, I am not sure of the nutritional content.  My recipe for BML is also on the website.  You will see that it is extremely nutritious.  My sons are quite right when they tell me that the gliders eat better than they did when they were kids!  The formula I was talking about is just human baby formula.  Or, you can get baby cereal with formula added right in.  I don't know if the formula is needed, but it can't hurt. Just sprinkle a bit of it on the food, or mix some in with the BML (maybe a teaspoon).  When you run out of the dry pellets, please order Zookeepers Secret (Zupreme) from sugar-gliders.com.  This food is soft, like Tender Vittles.

Tuna isn't really good for gliders.  Check the can.  I think it has salt and other stuff.  Maybe if you soaked it in water to get the salt out....  A tiny taste or two won't kill them; I am not a fanatic about these things.  They love Thanksgiving dinner!  Turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  

I hope this helps.  Keep in touch.

Betty