Yes, he will still mate when she goes into heat. Neutered is like a man getting a vesectomy. No babies but still mating.

Neutering decreases the aggressiveness of the male and of course stops them from being able to produce joey's. That's why she still needs to be big enough to defend herself if he gets to rough with her. He could still hurt her accidently if she is to small or he is to aggressive. Chances are he won't be as long as he has been neutered months before you introduce them.

I do have to say, just observing in my own home...the males that were neutered before they were "exposed" to females in heat or before they (the males) were sexually mature have not tried to mate with the other females. Out of my 3 boys, Daddy is the only one that ever tries to mate while neutered and his is also the only one that has ever fathered joeys. I have never once witnessed Maddox or Zoom try to mate. Zoom is well over 2 years old. Maddox is almost a year and a half.

The reason to keep the joey with the parents until she's twelve weeks old is that they will teach her about being a glider. She'll learn important communication and social skills. Also, she'll be more self-confident and not so frightened when she comes to live with you. Ten weeks is certainly better than eight.

I wouldn't try introducing them until she's bigger, probably around the end of summer as Goldwinger said. She simply has to have some size and weight in order to defend herself. It may not be necessary for her to do so, but if it is and she's not big enough the result could be tragic.

Also, if you have supervised visits between them during the time that she's growing and they do get along well, it's not good to separate them and then allow them to see each other once in a while. That could easily stress out both gliders and lead to even more problems.

Anyway, you have plenty of time to make her cage and get ready for her. Good luck, please keep us updated and when the time is right, remember ... we're gonna want pics!

I went by to see her today. Here is a picture. 4 weeks old. (not my hands in the pic)

What a beautiful girl you have. She sure is a cutie!

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Originally posted by umfan92

I read the gliderpedia section about introducing gliders so I know the steps I would follow, but what if I have a fairly long quarantine like you guys have said, and introduce occasionally where I can supervise them, even if they're not living in the same cage? Or should I just wait until I'm actually going to move them into the same cage?

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You MUST follow the quarantine, for at least 30 days and have a fecal smear and float done before they are even put in the same room.

You must keep them completely seperate to prevent the possible spread of deadly parasites between them.

After your vet checks and 30 days, do pouch swaps, then cage swaps and THEN try an intro on neutral ground.

I've been watching this thread and I'm glad to see you decided to get him a friend, it's very important.

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Essika Posted
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quote:
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Originally posted by umfan92

I read the gliderpedia section about introducing gliders so I know the steps I would follow, but what if I have a fairly long quarantine like you guys have said, and introduce occasionally where I can supervise them, even if they're not living in the same cage? Or should I just wait until I'm actually going to move them into the same cage?

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You MUST follow the quarantine, for at least 30 days and have a fecal smear and float done before they are even put in the same room.

You must keep them completely seperate to prevent the possible spread of deadly parasites between them.

After your vet checks and 30 days, do pouch swaps, then cage swaps and THEN try an intro on neutral ground.

I've been watching this thread and I'm glad to see you decided to get him a friend, it's very important.

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And remember she needs to be close to, if not exactly his size before introductions AND he should be neutered.

Quarantine means nothing if you allow them to have contact. Quarantine is to prevent any possible illnesses that may not be seen at the first vet visit from transferring from glider to glider.

Well I won't do what I said about the introducing them even if they're not in the same cage, but just to clarify, what I meant was to do the normal 30 quarantine and check ups just like I'm supposed to. Then after this has been done, occasionally introduce them to see how they react since she won't be his size I wouldn't want to put them together. I didn't mean to occasionally introduce them right away. Thanks for all the advice! I will do my best. Oh and I AM getting the boy neutered soon.