sugar glider joeys

Question
hi,
a few weeks ago we found out our female glider was pregnant. To say the least we were thrilled! Four days ago the baby come o.o.p. Everything seem to be going o.k. So i go to check on them as i usually do throughout the day and i notice that both the female and male (mainly the female) are eating the baby joey! WHAT caused this! Their has been no change of any sort with my gliders at all, no stress, no change of cage, no nothing! This is their second joey, the last one they neglected and licked a raw spot on the top of its head, so we took it and tried to hand raise it but it did not work out like we had hoped! Can you or anyone help us to understand whats going on here, and what do we need to do in the future, we dont want to have to take our male to the vet to be "fixed" because we would like to have joeys. Any info, please!!

Answer
Dear Brittany:

Sometimes there just isn't any way to know the answers.  I am a firm believer that diet and stress are the two major reasons for this type of situation to occur.  Has your female been getting a proven diet with extra, extra protein?  This is the number 1 cause.  Some people are misinformed as to how much protein is enough.  The female should get twice the protein every day, both while she is pregnant and while nursing.  This can be in the form of mealworms, chicken, and scrambled eggs.  If you are certain it is not diet, you wrote there is "no stress", however, stress can come in forms that perhaps you may not have considered.  Could there be a cat, dog or small child that may be spending some time near the cage?  Is their cage situated in an area that has high traffic, noise, light, vent or window that maybe didn't bother them before, but bothers them with a joey now?  Perhaps this mother is not "okay" with someone "checking in on her throughout the day" when she has a new joey.  When I was a breeder and had a new first time mother, I tried to do my checking on the joey when mom and dad would leave the pouch to eat or play.  

The bottom line is that you have to make a choice about this.  You can correct issues with diet and stress.  However, if you are absolutely certain that neither of these are a factor, then you must find a way to come to terms with what is best for the gliders.  What is best for the gliders and certainly the joeys is for this pair not to have anymore joeys that risk being rejected and/or cannibalized.  So think real hard.  If you can truly say that you can't change a thing about their diet or habitat, then really your only option is to neuter the male.  Since you would rather not "fix" the male, then I hope that you find that there is room for adjustments to be made in either or both diet and habitat.  

Best of luck with this tough decision.  I hope you find that there are some changes that can be made.

Laurie