I went to the pet store saturday to get some fish for my tank. I've been slowly adding every 2 weeks to get prevent tank shock. Anyway, my son starts yelling, "Mom! They have 2 sugar gliders, you got to come see them." I already have 2 sugar gliders, Liam and Willow, and have no need or want for any more, but I reluctantly go look. I was horrified to see these poor babies were in a birdcage with a sort of sling like pouch that left them mostly exposed, a bowl of water, and bowl of pellet like food. No toys, no nothing. Broke my heart. I asked to see them and the guy managed to get the sling out of the cage, after lot of crabbing, lunging, and biting on the female's end and kind of hurriedly handed it over. I immediately patted the "pouch" and the little girl calmed down and kind of tucked herself under the male. He popped his head of and was very friendly. No crabbing. Let me pet him and stroke his chin. The color of the fur was terrible. Very yellow/brown. Obviously pellets is all they've gotten for a long time. I handed the pouch back and thanked the guy for letting me see them. I also advised him that their diet was terrible and they needed a lot of work. He just looked at me like I was crazy and put them back in the cage. This is a store that mainly deals with fish. They have a small room with some guinea pigs, gerbils, lizards, and birds, but they're really a "fish" store.

We went home and I immediately felt heart broken for those little babies. I called back up and asked some information about them and really couldn't get much. They thought they were young, but didn't know how young. They people who owned them were moving and couldn't take them. Yeah, right. They traded them in for store credit. Probably for fish! Anyway, after a lot of whining to my husband about them, I went back up to the store, talked them down to $150 for the pair, and told them to keep their bird cage.

Sunday, I got up and headed straight to the vet to get them checked. I was concerned that with an unaltered male and a female together, there would soon be babies. Well, it will be sooner than I thought. I got the male neutered yesterday, but the girl already has 2 joeys in pouch. I'm scared to death. I love suggies, but babies were not something I ever wanted to attempt. I had the male I already have neutered as soon as he was old enough to prevent it. This one was out of my hands.

We've named the two new suggies Katnis and Peeta. Despite having Peeta neutered the very next day after getting him, it looks like we're having babies in about a month and a half. The vet estimated the joeys are about 20 days in pouch. She things she say ear flaps, but no eye slits. She couldn't look too much because she was afraid she'd upset Katnis too much.

Any words of advise? I'm going to get a joey rejection kit ASAP, but beyond that, I'm lost.

I don't have any advice to you because I've never dealt with this, but you are an angel and saved 2 (soon to be 4) helpless animals. I can't imagine it would be easy, but you are a wonderful person and I just needed to tell you that! :)

I'm sure someone here with more experience will have great advice. Keep us posted!

Wow Shannon good luck. Suz Sugargliders sells the rejected joey kits. She also is a very experienced breeder.

Congrats Momma, you will be fine!

I found a glider at the reptile store while shopping for hermit crab stuff. She was one of a set of twins and the twin was sold so this girl was all alone in the cage, Her parents were in a cage next to her(how stressful is that?) and she had a mouse wheel to run on and was sleeping in a bird hidey. She was fed pretty pet pellets(fruity colored pebbles) and super worms. She smelled horrible. I felt terrible leaving her there but didn't have a cage to put her in. Got a bird cage at petsmart for the 30 day quarantine and went back for her the next day.

I also took a breeding pair that supposedly was not breeding and they had the joey twins 11 days after I got them home. I was glad to have experienced babies because I would never be able to breed them and then have to adopt them out though. I kept their twins and they are in a happy little colony of 4. All boys are fixed so no more babies.

These two parents had a few 'litters' before, so I was hoping they would take good care of the joeys even though the stress of a new house, barking dogs and new people could have been bad. They did great and the joeys are super sweet. I was able to hold them when they came OOP when mom and dad came out to eat and run around...I took the sleeping pouch with the babies and was able to handle them.

I fed them an extra serving of OHPW and an extra fruit and veg serving so Mom would have enough food. I gave her meal worms every other day and some yogurt to lick out of a bowl on the days in between(Daddy got some too). I did this in the morning to check on them and that way she had a snack before going to sleep for the day and it didn't ruin her apatite for dinner.

No good advice but all I can say is you are an angel.

It's already horrifying yet not surprising they fed them pellets but a pregnant mother eating PELLETS???

You saved those gliders from going to an inexperienced home. Which to me means you saved their lives, especially the babies' lives

I know you're nervous but it sounds like they're in great hands!

I just hope those two gliders weren't brother and sister.

Ah crap, never considered they were brother and sister. The note on the cage they were in said "breeding pair, must be kept together". I'm assuming they were not but without any lineage, who knows. All I'm praying for is healthy babies. I've contacted a lady in my area who deals with rescues and rejected joeys. She said she would help me if momma and daddy reject the babies. Katniss looks young to me. Her facial features are very tiny. I don't know for sure, but I'd almost bet she's not even a year old herself. Peeta is significantly larger. He may be older than her. Wish I knew more about them, but the pet store offered very little info. Pray pray pray. That's my motto. I've increased their BML a bit. Giving them fresh fruit/veggies every night. Meal worms daily. A little bit of yogurt. Tried giving them scrambled eggs last night but they wouldn't touch them. I was surprised because Liam and Willow love them. I'm going to try some boiled chicken next. I just hope getting Katniss on a good diet now is in time to ensure healthy babies. I'll keep everyone posted. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't go by size alone for ages. My female is older than my male by a few weeks but he is significantly larger than she is. She's almost a year old and hasn't grown much since I brought her home at 11 weeks. She's just a smaller glider.
Good luck with everything.