In Reply to: Re: My new baby girl posted by Bourbon on April 04, 2000 at 09:12:18:

well i haven't visited the board much over the last few days because i have had to hand feed two joeys. One of the joeys was scheduled to go home with me next month. The breeder is in the hospital and her roommate does not have the time to keep up with a feeding schedule for them that is why I have taken on caring for both. They are approx 3-4 weeks oop. The breeder didn't have her book with her to tell her exactly how old they are. Here is what i have been doing...and yes, it is exhausting especially since i am pregnant and tired anyway plus have a 2 year old son.
First of all get a hospital aquarium set up for the joey. I use a 10 gal tank with a screen top. I placed a heating pad on low under half of the tank. I lined the bottom of the tank with reptile felt to buffer the heat some. I placed a tupperware bowl top with food (leadbeaters) and one with gliderade in the tank with them also..so i can see if they are eating anything on their own (and they are! :) )
Every two hours I offer them food by hand. They are not at all interested in the milk replacer or anything from a bottle, syringe or eye dropper...so again i am using my fingers and shallow bowls to offer food and water. Before and after each feeding I stimulate them to potty if they do not do so on their own. I use a warm wet q-tip and wipe their bottoms to stimulate them. Since they aren't taking the milk replacer I am offering them a baby food mixture, baby food cereal w/ banana juice and yogurt mixed in instead of water, and leadbeaters. It takes AT LEAST 10 min. for each joey to eat and be full. They get easily distracted. So i start with one, feed it until he/she is distracted beyond eating...and then start with the other...then go back to the first...
I hope this helps some. If you have Caroline macpherson's book there is a section on handfeedin in it...but it didn't help me much in the feeding dept since they wouldn't take the milk replacer...but it will tell you about how to set up the hospital aquarium and such.
I hope you do nothave to handfeed your little girl but if you do i hope this helps.
Bourbon and Maria have helped me tremedously with this! Maria has experience handfeeding joeys before so you may want to check out her "story" under real stories about buddy and belle.
good luck and keep us posted

• real stories link

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