In Reply to: Handling & feeding baby gliders posted by richie on February 06, 19100 at 01:23:52:

Removing joeys before the parents wean them is risking their life!!! Not to mention the parents stressing over the loss of their joey.(see fact 6 about stress)
Fact 1. It is a load of false information that pulling and handfeeding makes them super sweet! Time and love plus handling from day 1 does that. That has been proven and I have 5 joeys so far that are living proof..

Fact 2. It has been proven true many times that they will be just as sweet if not sweeter and definitely more healthy if weaned by the parents. Why more healthy? See fact 3.

Fact 3. Mothers milk has colostrum in it which helps joeys build defenses to illnesses and helps them grow(more nutrition than pulling and handfeeding will ever have). This goes for humans as well.

Fact 4. Humans CAN NOT "teach" joeys which foods are good to eat and not, it takes a mother to do so. The baby can only go by instinct and Im willing to bet that your 2 year old's finicky eating habits are caused by handfeeding.

Fact 5. I have been through the "weaning joeys away from mother" by force- not by choice. I had wished it never happened but I have seen what handfeeding is like. I almost LOST my joey because I, being human, couldnt teach this joey what to eat..I could only offer it(yes Im talking about force feeding) in hopes he would eat it.

Fact 6. Gliders have been known to die from stress, stress in these animals is something you want to avoid at all times.

Fact 7.Baby birds are far different from baby gliders(marsupials).

Question 1. Why would you stress the parents by taking their baby away?
Question 2. Are you sure you want to risk the little ones present and future life by trying to make it a "better pet", which isnt even true?(I say future life because in the long run they wont have all the nutrients they could've had from mom)

Handling(socializing) and love from day 1 OOP is what makes the sweetest pet, nothing to do with pulling and handfeeding. That only causes problems later in life if you can successfully get it past weaning. I suggest maybe trying to bribe the parents with a treat(healthy treat) and see if while they are distracted you can get the baby and hold it- love it- socialize it. I do agree with you on caged gliders being there all the time it isnt in their best interests, but if you try handling them more(taking the bites too- its part of owning gliders) they will be much nicer. Here's Bourbons page for some tips on that if you havent already seen it and tried it. Bourbons bonding page. As far as the parents killing or rejecting them from being touched, that goes for hamsters and other animals. I haven't seen a case yet about this in gliders, but they will kill or reject if there is something wrong with it, from stress or from bad diet. When you do get this baby away from the parents stay right there next to them and hold it for a short while at a time..make sure the parents see/smell you and it. Work up your times each time you do this and the parents wont mind so much when they get used to it.
Here are 2 pages written by me about my handfeeding experience and the page I wrote on breeding gliders and joey info.

I hope you decide to make the right choice in what you are going to do and your gliders live long healthy lives. Good luck to you.

• My page

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