In Reply to: Re: Please do not put her to sleep! posted by Julie on June 19, 2000 at 23:43:00:

Ok you say your other breeding pair has never done this...well thats good. There must be something wrong with this mother. She may need more protien than the other mother...Briskys does not provide enough protien for a normal glider much less for a pregnant glider. You are not adding any protien to her diet..just calcium. Well the calcium will help in her producing milk...but it doesn't help her at all in surviving. When the glider eats that protien goes straight to the nursing babies. So she must have enough protien in her diet to support herself and those joeys. So if she feels like she may die from lack of protien she will eat the babies. Its soemthing very natural that all animals in the wild will do. For instance in the wild...if the mom dies those babies can not survive...so she feels that its better to eat the joeys and have her survive than her die and they all die. This is simply an animal instinct. So I would deffinitly try the bourbons modified leadbeaters with added protien.

Another thing could be this...not all animals are created for breeding....she could have an illness you are not aware of. She may not be able to breed normal babies. A mom will also eat any babies if she feels they can not make it in the wild. If a glider mom thinks the babies are sick or too weak they will eat them...so that they will not be killed in the wild. I know you are upset about her killing the babies but it is perfectly natural for them to do for these two reasons.

I think you would actually be better of nutering the male so that she can't get pregnant anymore. This would probably be best for her.....breeding over time can harm the animals...and it seems that as stressed as she is this is only stressing her more. If you realy want to continue breeding them then please use the leadbeaters with added protien. The sad thing is though that it sometimes takes a glider time to build up the new diet int heir system..so if shes alreadywe xpecting you may not see results until the enxt pregnancy. If she is doing this ebcause she is unable to produce healthy babies then you will probably never see a change. I will be willing to help you to find her a new home if you no longer have the patience and time for her. I do not beleive in putting any animal to sleep that is not sick or hurt. I live far away...but if we can soemhow get a glider train going where people drive a little bit to get her here..I would be willing to drive several hours for her.

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