So I have a male and female that I am eventually hoping to breed. I was told the female was 10 weeks when I got her, come to find out she was about 3 to 4 weeks out of pouch. My male is now about 15 or 16 weeks and my female is about 6 to 7 and a half weeks. I noticed this morning that his pom is hanging and his "male parts" are out. I know that that is normal and I'm not worried about that. However will he try to impregnate my female without her being in heat? And with her being this young she obviously is not going to go into heat yet. I do not want to separate them as as of right now, they are my only two and do not want them to get depressed now that they are bonded to each other. Any suggestions?

Breeding is new to me and obviously want her to be at least about a year before having her have joeys!

Are you sure she really was 3 to 4 weeks when you got her? They are not weaned at that age and do not eat by themselves (they start to wean during the 5th week and are fully weaned after 6 to 7 weeks)

You male won't try to mate with her if she is not in heat, however, some females start having heat cycles as early as 6 months old...

You must wait until they're a year old to let them breed - though I don't recommend it, as there are already so many gliders out there looking for a loving home. Regardless, they will become fertile soon enough. It is probably a couple months away, but you never know... if they are allowed to breed before 1 year it is likely the joeys will not survive. We had it happen... our female was old enough but our male was 10 months or so. We accidentally let them breed, not realizing how easy it is for that to happen. The dad showed aggression towards the babies, the mother rejected them, and one died of hypothermia because the parents just couldnt take care of them. We saved the other by pure luck. If they are in the cage together, they will mate. It's not very predictable and can happen any time. They do go into heat, but there is no way you could control whether or not she gets pregnant. You have to either get him fixed or keep them separate until they're 1 year - in which case, each would need a same-sex cage mate so they don't get depressed, and then there's the issue of those same-sex pairs becoming bonded, which would make splitting them up later on immoral... it's tricky. Be careful, gliders simply shouldn't have babies before 1 year old. Also, I hope your female isn't actually that young, because they should not be separated from their parents until 8 weeks minimum. If you were sold a 3-4 week old glider, that breeder needs to be shut down because that is extremely dangerous. Good luck.

Not all gliders are the same so this may not work for you, but with mine I can always tell when my female is in heat. I can tell because my male gets super clingy. He follows her around and won't leave her alone. The day after that he tries to mate with her. He's neutered so I'm not worried about babies. I still have to separate them for the night because she gets aggressive when he tries.