Are the sugar glider babies nursing or just looking?

I have 2 pair of sugar gliders, and last night someone accidentally put one pair in the other pair's cage...both pair have babies in their pouches, so a fight started immediately! I freaked out, but managed to seperate them.. Everyone had been fine, but during the fight, one of the males pulled one the babies out of its pouch and off the tit. I think it has been oop before now, but I just haven't seen it. This mom has two in her pouch and the other one is still in the pouch and has not come out, but they look like they are in the same stages of development. How do I know whether the one that got pulled off has gotten reattached and is doing ok? Both babies seem to go in and out freely now,but I'm not sure if they are actually eating, or they are just looking and cant get back on...

What does the baby look like? Is it hairless still, does it have slick fur, or is it fluffed up already? When my babies came oop, they had a full body of fur, but it was still slick against the skin. Here's a pic of my 2 day oop joeys: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/jh...

If they are still pink or don't have any fur at all, they probably hadn't come oop yet. A joey's jaws aren't strong enough to reattach to the nipple, so if it wasn't ready to be oop yet it wouldn't be able to nurse any longer. Since you say they are coming and going freely, they should be eating and fine.

Are you able to handle your babies? One way to tell if they are eating is to check their bellies for a small white spot showing that they have a full belly, or do the "tent test" - pinch the scruff of the neck and let go - if the skin stays tented for more than a second or two, they're probably dehydrated and need liquids asap. If it goes back to normal right away, they'll be fine.

I had to hand raise one of my babies after it was rejected by the mom, so I had a TON of research dug up on baby joeys. The BEST resource by far is Suz's web site. This is a link to her hand-raising a joey section - http://www.suzsugargliders.com/handraisi... - it's useful in this situation because it goes into more detail about how to determine if your baby is getting fed or not.

HTH!

They'd get weak pretty quick, so you'd know if they weren't eating.

Damn. I was hoping gliders would prove to be shy breeders,
so people wouldn't randomly breed them.

Same old problem, different animal. Terrific. :(

i have 7 gliders. just let it back into the pouch and let nature take its course. they will take care of themselves as well as each other.email me,its nice to chat with other gliderOwners.damid2007@yahoo