In Reply to: One week's progress posted by Wesley on April 24, 2000 at 06:03:53:

How old is your baby? If she is real young(under seven weeks) you may want to try the pollowing:
1 Tbsp powdered milk for puppies
2 Tbsp water
small amount of plain yogurt
small amount of kerns nector juice (or other fruit juice)
stir with a spoon
use an eye dropper and feed to the baby
you can warm the mixture first (not too warm)

I called my breeder and she fed two of her joeys this when the mom rejected them. They are now 10 weeks old and eating regular leadbeaters.

If your glider is older than 7 weeks, the leadbeaters should be fine.

Also, when you try to feed other foods (melon, etc) are you also putting the grapes in the cage? Perhaps s/he is filling up on grapes and not needing to try any other foods.

I put leadbeaters in Maddies cage as well as a small amount of cooked ground turkey and Maddie would not go near the turkey. Then the next night I only put the turkey and some fruit in her cage and she chowed on the turkey. Now she loves it. She will always go for leadbeaters first if it is available. Maybe the same is true with the grapes in your situation.

I hope that I was able to help a little. I am glad that you wrote with your questions, it can only help the baby.
Good luck

: I've had Maggie for a week now. She is showing significant
: improvement with the concerns I intially had when I brought her
: home. She has stopped making the barking noises, as if she
: has accepted the fact she won't find her mom or siblings again.
: She enthusiastically eats grapes, drinks apple juice, eats these
: little pellets the nice lady we bought her from gave us.
: I have just a few questions for you more experienced glider
: owners out there.. does any of this sound familiar to you?

: Maggie will sometimes sit perfectly still in her cage with her eyes
: wide open. She will not respond to calls, but she will move again when
: she is petted or a grape is thrust in front of her nose. She does this
: often, and long enough for me to wonder if there is something wrong with her.

: Maggie will crab loudly, seemingly in her sleep, when she's in my pocket.
: I have been reading with her in my breast pocket and she will scare
: the bejesus out of me with that loud noise. When I open up the pocket,
: however, she will still be cuddled in a ball with her eyes shut.
: Is she having a ni.aspare? Is she cold? I do nothing to disturb her.

: Maggie will not eat anything I've given her except grapes, water, apple
: juice and the little biscuits she came with. I've tried yogurt
: (with and without honey), apples, pear, cantaloupe, watermelon, baby
: food (chicken w/apples), raisins, tomato, and a few other things.
: She's only one week weaned now. Is she finicky? Is she just struggling
: to adapt to a new diet?

: She sleeps all the time. She seems to get excited just when we're trying
: to put her in the cage for the night. We are awake nighs, so we generally
: put her to bed around 8 a.m. Is it because she's young? Is she not active
: enough?

: Lastly, she will not come when called and often will not climb onto my hand
: when I offer it to her so she can sniff it. I was told to handle her constantly,
: since she is so young. I keep her with me at least 8 hours per day, in my pocket,
: in my hand, in my lap, etc.. sometimes she will climb on me. Up my sleeve, down
: my neck and into my shirt, especially in my hair. I set her on a napkin so she
: doesn't make a mess on me when I take her out of her cage, but I'm still worried
: to let her run free on me. BUT, will she bond to me if I pick her up when she
: doesn't want to come on her own? Do I leave her alone, by herself, until she
: decides to come to me, or do I pick her up every afternoon?

: Oh yes.. one last question.. I've tried to place her high up in her cage, on her
: ladder or the branches in her cage. She is good at going straight up and will
: climb upside down on the bars of her cage, but then she can't get down! She will
: climb in circles until she gets tired of hanging, then she hangs by one foot and
: wiggles her front paws frantically. This scares me, so I help her down. Should
: I let her take care of herself to learn these things? I want her to learn her cage
: but maybe she isn't coordinated enough. Is she just a little dim?

: I wonder.

: Any replies, however small, would be appreciated.
: Thanks.

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