It's midnight and I should be in bed but this article needs some help.

I understand a new person is writing this but I have several questions and things to point out. If someone will take on the responsibility to edit the gliderpedia they should be able to take some criticism so don't be offended.

First, is the joey in question rejected or is the mother unable to produce milk? Or did the mother die? This is actually a pretty crucial point in determining how to care for it. If the mother is Unable to feed it the joey can still live with mom to stay warm but will just need to be hand raised. If mom rejected the joey it should be removed. If it died there should be necropsy done on mom to see WHY she died if it wasn't for an obvious reason and the joey should probably be seen by a vet more frequently than an average glider.

Then there are some other wording problems, we'll start with "So you noticed your joey isn't attached to the mother's nipple" Well, if a joey becomes detached and is not old enough to clamp back on trying to hand feed it will most likely result in breaking it's jaws. My joeys are detached from mom all the time but they aren't rejected, they don't CONSTANTLY suckle their mom after they are out of pouch.

Then there is the statement "Weaned too early", an animal that is weaned is done so slowly, if it's weaned it reflects that it will eat solid food, when I think "weaned too early" I think "Started eating solid food pretty young." I mean every animal eats at different times, Serenity was 10 weeks old before I saw her eat any solid food. So if the mother stops feeding it young it's REJECTED not weaned.

Then it talks about heating a towel or fleece scrap, how are we supposed to heat this? Do I put it in the stove, microwave, hot water? Put a hot water bottle in it? How do I know if it's overheated? I take really hot showers that some people couldn't stand, we need a estimated temperature.

So hand feeding a joey is just a two step process? How often do I feed it, what do I put it in when I feed it? There are way too many questions unanswered here.

Ok, so I just guestimated 80 degrees (feel free to change this, that does sound warm) and I added a link to Suz's website for how often and how much to feed the joey.

Also I realize joeys can be hand raised before they're supposed to be out of pouch but i still don't think "isn't attached to the mom's nipple" is an appropriate phrase, maybe change it to "Maybe your joey came out of pouch too early, indications of that are _________"

PErsonally I don't think anyone can say it as well as the sugarglidersuz's website has it, she has spent a large amount of time making sure her site is the best out there for rejected joeys and it really shows.

It's almost 2 am and I have to wake up at 6 so I am going to bed and not messing with this anymore tonight.

P.S. Eric is there a way to change the title. I think this should be changed to caring for a rejected joey or something like that, then we can make a seperate article (maybe get some collabraration with sugarglidersuz about how to care for a glider who's mom still cares for it, just can't produce milk. Or a surrogate mom, or even like a joey who still has dad and can live in the pouch with him for warmth and just needs to be hand fed.)

I think this is a good example of how to raise animals is largely opinion and anecdote. I wrote this last year and no one has furthered the discussion any. In a nutshell, the idea was to focus on sugar gliders as they live in the wild (like being a tool for kids doing a science report) and let other sites deal with the animal husbandry aspects. Of course, animal husbandry articles have been added, and I think that pretty much says that people want those types of articles in the gliderpedia.

One important thing to remember is that nothing in the Gliderpedia is written in stone. Things can be edited, quite easily I think.

Currently their is no way to change the name of page, but it can easily be achieved by creating a new page, and then using the #REDIRECT NewPage command to redirect to the new page. See Help On Processing Instructions

As a possible solution, how about instead of a "how to" article, have an article that simply states various conditions that may necessitate hand rearing, and then link to other, off site, How To sources?

Personally, I think the Hand Feeding Joeys article is a great start. There wasn't anything their to begin with. This is a collaborative effort, articles shouldn't be considered perfect. Article development is an iterative process, a little bit at a time. Otherwise, trying to write everything at once is just too overwhelming and nothing would ever get done. I applaud Lindsay's efforts.

I am not perfect, so I'd love anyone helping with their feedback! And as Eric pointed out it is an opinion issue, but if you find something that can help, by all means add it.