Sugar Glider Adventures

I want to introduce you to my little colony of sugar gliders that will be the topic of many of my blog posts.

When my boyfriend and I were first researching sugar gliders, we decided we wanted to purchase two female joeys. It took us a while to find a breeder within driving distance and even longer waiting for the available joeys to come out of pouch. Sugar gliders are marsupials, so after birth they carry their joeys in a pouch on their stomach - like kangaroos and koala bears. After much waiting and anticipation, the joey that came out of pouch was female, but she was also the only joey in the pouch (they can have up to 4 joeys in pouch at one time, though 1-2 is most common). Since sugar gliders should be kept in pairs or colonies whenever possible, and the breeder didn't have any other joeys available, she presented us with the option of purchasing both mom and joey. Generally adult male and female sugar gliders will mate for life and should not be seperated, but in this situation, the female we purchased was not bonded to the breeding male, so we felt more comfortable making the decision to purchase both mom and daughter together. Several weeks later, we made a 6 hour round trip to purchase our first pair of sugar gliders, Kiwi and Boo.

Kiwi is a 5 year old female glider who is definitely the "mommy's girl" in the bunch. Kiwi's joey, Boo, is now full grown, and if you were to ask my partner, he'd tell you she's a "daddy's girl."

A month into our sugar glider experience, we discovered two round lumps on Kiwi's stomach area. A trip to the vet revealed that Kiwi was carrying at least two joeys in her pouch, and based on the size of the "lumps" we could expect joeys in about a month. After talking with the breeder, we discovered that Kiwi had been housed with the breeding male until the day we purchased her, but the breeder didn't think they'd mate since Kiwi was still nursing Boo. Oops... wrong! We later learned from other sugar glider owners that the breeder we purchased Kiwi and Boo from is the sugar glider's version of a "mill breeder" which is as much of an issue in the sugar glider community as it is in dogs. Knowing what we do now, we should have never purchased sugar gliders from that breeder, but that being said, we wouldn't trade our girls for the world.

Still being new to owning sugar gliders, we needed to do more research on how to care for a glider carrying joeys, and also how to play the part of the male sugar glider. Like I mentioned earlier, sugar gliders mate for life and the male plays a huge role in the care and raising of the joeys. Since the male that mated with Kiwi was no longer in the picture, we had our work cut out for us. Thanks to the help of a wonderful sugar glider forum, the vet, and local sugar glider owners, we learned everything we needed to know to prepare for the upcoming "out of pouch" arrival.

Kiwi's joeys came out of pouch on January 20th, 2010. We haven't named them yet, but there are two of them - a little boy and a little girl. They are absolutely precious and we have really enjoyed being a part of raising them with Kiwi. Their eyes are open now and they are starting to make noises (sugar gliders are very vocal!), and they are also developing a fluffy coat of fur that is simply the softest thing I've ever felt. Though they are "out of pouch", they still stick their heads back into Kiwi's pouch to nurse, and will continue to do so for a couple more weeks until they are old enough to wean. Keep checking back for more updates and pictures as they mature!

And now the best part... pictures! Sorry for the quality on some of them - cell phone cameras and fast moving critters don't always mix.

Kiwi (bottom) and Boo (top) sharing an apple, and if you look closely on Kiwi's side you'll see a joey nursing:

Boo:

Boo sleeping in Adam's pocket:

Boo waking up from a pocket nap:

Boo:

Kiwi nursing and grooming her joeys:

Joeys riding on Kiwi's back:

Joeys next to a coke cap:

Baby boy:

Baby girl:

Little boy and little girl:

Thanks for reading! Check back for more posts and pics soon.

Brittany