I'm brand new to this form so bare with me! I'm adopting a pair of sugar gliders the 21st. They are three years old and were used for breeding. The mother (lotus) is having her Joey weaned the 20th. I'm having the father (Zero) neutered May 12th. What I have learned from the breeder that they have had 8 joeys so far. They are fed the HPW diet, and I will continue feeding them that. My question is what is the possibility that they have another Joey between now and the 12th of May? If they do breed it is ok, I just would like some advice on what to do if she does get pregnant. I know that their diet needs to be altered if pregnant, and to not handle the mother. Are they ok to be separated for the day and night when Zero gets neutered?

They'll be fine as long as they don't have joeys out of pouch. IF they have joeys out of pouch both parents are needed to take care of the joeys and then it might be too late and the female could be pregnant again. So I would go ahead and get it done during the day. Most vets will have the boys in and out and ready to go back to their cage mates same day.

That and 8 joeys, phew... seems like the female is ready to retire. That's a lot of babies

Congrats on you future Suggie parenthood and Welcome to GG!

Yes, having Dad neutered as soon as possible is best, there is a chance they could mate again and you may have 1-2 more joeys coming.

Since they will be new to you they will need time to adjust to you, your homes sites, sounds and smells too so you just want them to settle in and get used to everything.

I took home a breeding pair last summer and they had 2 joeys IP that came out 11 days later. I had the Dad neutered on day 13. I put him right back in with his family and he was fine. It's less stressful for them to stay with their cage mates. He will be a bit sleepy and probably not to active that first night after surgery anyways.

I didn't try to handle Momma because she was(still is) pouch protective crabby, so I didn't want to stress her at all and risk losing the joeys.

If they are willing to let you hold/handle and interact with them, you can. Just as long as it doesn't cause them any extra stress...if they are used to that than you can keep doing their routine.

If she is already nursing a joey(since he/she is not weaned yet)...they may be feeding her a different formula, giving her extra or giving her more protein.

Which HPW are you going to be using...there are many versions.

Some will just offer an extra serving of the staple,fruits and veggies so Mom can eat extra if she needs to.

My pair came to me eating the Glider Kids Reduced Honey version diet with extra servings so and I wanted to keep everything as familiar as I could for them.

I gave Momma a bit of yogurt(vanilla or strawberry, the regular kind without any artificial sweeteners), mealies or Gerber chicken baby food as a protein snack everyday before they went to sleep and I went to work for the day.

I still wanted her to eat as much of her nightly food as she needed.

Also if they do have any male joeys, you will want to separate him or have him neutered at 12 weeks old.

Thank you guys! They are fed:
BML

-2 cups very warm water
-1.5 cups honey
-3 hard boiled eggs
-1/4 cup wambaroo high protein powder
-1 tbls bee pollen granules
-3/4 tbls now calcium carbonate
-1 cup of green Naked juice.
-1 tbsp mix veg
1 tbsp mixed fruits

They get meal worms and yogies for snack
And they are hand tamed and bonded to their current owner
Their cage is 3ft tall, 3ft wide, and 2ft deep. They have tons of toys, perches, sleeping pouches, and two bonding pouches. I've read a lot that suggies can be pretty stinky so I've picked up baking soda for under the cage, odoban for the cage cleaning, and green+clean odor spray until Zero is neutered!

quote:

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Originally posted by Sabrina23

Thank you guys! They are fed:
BML

-2 cups very warm water
-1.5 cups honey
-3 hard boiled eggs
-1/4 cup wambaroo high protein powder
-1 tbls bee pollen granules
-3/4 tbls now calcium carbonate
-1 cup of green Naked juice.
-1 tbsp mix veg
1 tbsp mixed fruits

They get meal worms and yogies for snack
And they are hand tamed and bonded to their current owner
Their cage is 3ft tall, 3ft wide, and 2ft deep. They have tons of toys, perches, sleeping pouches, and two bonding pouches. I've read a lot that suggies can be pretty stinky so I've picked up baking soda for under the cage, odoban for the cage cleaning, and green+clean odor spray until Zero is neutered!

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Ok...so they are being fed a version of the "Modified OHPW"...that is what I am currently feeding my gliders.It is a great choice as long as they are eating it well.

With this version you can up the Wombaroo powder to 1/2 cup and the calcium carbonate should be 3/4 teaspoons...not "Tablespoons"

with this modification they are only fed 2 teaspoons per glider per nite(other diets HPW diets without the added calcium and wombaroo are fed 1 Tablespoon per glider per nite.(the BML is the diet with the Herpavite and Rep Cal calcium powder from the pet store).

I like this modified version because they can eat all of their staple diet and have room to eat their fruits and veggies. When I did the 1 tablespoon amount they would hardly eat any f/v.

For cleaning the cage the best thing is just plain 50/50 mix of white vinegar and hot water. It doesn't have to be rinsed well and dried like if you use any chemicals.

Also if you clean the cage and their things "too much"...they will go crazy and mark everything to make it smell like home again.

When I clean cages I wipe down half at at time and the floor grates, wipe out drop pans every other day and pick out all drooped food everyday.

I change out fleece pouches,vines and hammocks once a week just leaving the pouch they are sleeping in.

I would not use anything like bedding or baking soda in a drop pan...they do drop food and will pick stuff up thru the floor bars and eat it.

Or spray anything in their area at all, they shouldn't breathe any type of chemicals.

I know my males urine smelled very strong until I got him neutered even though I kept their cage very clean.

So basically everything cleaned in stages on a rotation.