Hi. My glider Suki gave birth to twins. Her joeys jus got out of pouch about 10 days. About 4 days after OOP, Suki rejected one of her joey... She allows the female to feed but bite n pull away the male whenever he tries to feed. I realised on the 1st day when i got back from work and found him at the bottom of the cage. It has been going on for days. I had to force hold her to let him feed but when she smells him, she will pull him off. He seem dehydrated and smaller compared to the female. I have been feeding him but dont think its enough. What should i do? How do i get her to accept him??

You can't. Here is link to info that may help rejected joey quick reference


Please read at least first two posts.

Yeah ive read everything... i brought hin to the vet to get checked. Cant get a rejection kit here in malaysia but i bought wombaroo milk replacer for him. What i dont understand is why is he rejected.... they seem to be taking care of the female. His face is scarred now. So sad. Caught suki biting n pulling him off her when he feeds. He is a real fighter i pray he survives and gainnsome weight.

Sometimes the glider parents sense that something is not right with their joey and that its survival is not likely. You can try to feed him and keep him warm. You also need to stimulate him to pee and poop after each feeding. Just know that all your effort may not result in his survival if there is something not quite right with him internally which cause the parents to reject him.

I hope he does well but don't blame yourself if he just does not thrive.

Yeah mayb.... i try to feed him as often as i can.... he doesnt drink frm the syring. The only way the work is licking it from my palm. He always suck on my palm/finger but im unsure if its a habit or a sign that he is hungry. He thinks that my hand is a pouch. He does it even after feeding and when his stomach is full. Should i continue feeding till he stops eating?? I let suki lick him to stimulate the pee or poo. Using cotton bud doesnt work. As for now he seem ok. However not gaining weight yet....

Boys face today... his right eye open alittle... left swollen.

Taken last week. 1st day of rejection

I sure hope he gets better. My heart hurts for him. Poor baby!

If mom is biting him, I would pull him out and set up an incubator for him. Mom could kill him and she will if given the chance. If you want to try save him you're going to have to take over feeding him completely. Palm feeding is OK, just keep him warm. He won't eat if he's not warm enough. Look on suz rejected joeys site for how much/how often to feed him. If you have a small scale you should keep track of his weight to make sure he is gaining properly. If you can't get him to potty with a cotton bud, try using a tissue dampened with cool water, and keep gently wiping the baby's cloaca until he potties. Sometimes it might take a couple minutes. I wouldn't trust mom with him, based on his poor little wounded face.

Keep an eye on mom and up her meal portions to make sure she is producing enough milk for the other baby. Keep an eye on her and the other Joey in case the stress makes her reject the other as well. I hope everything works out, poor little one.

Thanks for advise ill update his progress. Doing everything i can now.

Finally i manage to update on Ben Junior's condition. He had diarrhoea and bloating the after 2 days of hand feeding. Bad dehydration too. I gave him electrolytes jab of 5ml every day and did the 24 hours pedialyte feeding. Thankfully the diarrhoea stopped. He seem to be improving and his fur getting softer..... i dare say he is doing well so far. Eating well, pooping well and sleeping with me all the time. He loves suckling on my finger and palm also a sign that he is hungry.
However what concerns me now is his face...both sides were bitten before i completely remove him from mum. I won't say she doesn't love him. I think she doesn't allow him to feed because his teeth are sharp and hurts her. Well so his face, both sides above the mouth near the eyes were injuren and the skin dried up pretty bad. His left eye now completely unable to open because of the dried skin. I can't find a vet that treats SG now. Still searching.
Are there any chance that the dry skin will fall off? Or do i need to bring him ta a vet immediately?? Anyone have this experience?? Please advise....

He should be seen by a vet as soon as possible. He may need antibiotics to treat or prevent infections of the wounds on his face especially since it is so close to his eye. The eye could become infected as well without treatment.

I did bring him to a vet... but the vet did not suggest anything besides feeding him. i cant find any specialist on gliders here where i work... :(

I'd bring him back to the vet since the scabbing is getting worse. Sugar glider mouths are teeming with bacteria. If he gets an infection he could lose an eye. If your current vet doesn't know gliders, try finding another one that does. It's worth a drive. Otherwise, your vet can do a phone consult with a more knowledgable vet (there's a list of vets who can consult somewhere around here). But I wouldn't put it off -- this baby has survived despite the odds stacked against him, it would be a real tragedy to have him suffer (or worse) from an infection that wasn't treated in time. Without moms milk, his immune system won't be as strong as it is.

If you have access to Veticyn spray you could try spraying the dried scab with that, its safe to use near/on the eye to keep the area moist while you source a more educated vet. Do NOT pick at it or try to remove the scab yourself. Good luck, I hope this baby can be seen soon.

The exact same thing happened to us. She was rejecting only the baby boy and not the baby girl. One day, my boyfriend came home from work to find the little girl cold on the bottom of the cage. After she died, the mom seemed to like the little boy more. He lived, but we had to supplement feed him and we trapped them into a pouch together to ensure that mom would not leave him like he did the girl. We clipped it shut. We are lucky she didn't kill/eat him because that was stressful for her. But he made it. He had a bad infection on his face from it and is permanently scarred; it took medicine and cream to fix it. You can apply a tiny amount of neosporin on the cuts and see if it helps. If they are bad cuts, he will need a tiny dose of antibiotics mixed with sugary syrup. Your vet will have to call a specialist elsewhere for dilution and dosing if he doesnt know how.

It's really all luck. It's devastating to lose a joey but with gliders everything is hit or miss and nothing is a guarantee. You should try increasing the mom's protein intake; how much milk she makes is based on how much protein she eats, and if she cannot feed both babies she will just pick one. I hope for the best but be prepared for the worst; rejection is difficult. Good luck.

astock im so sorry to hear about your loss... thanks for the advise. ill try em. lucky for me my baby girl bloomed so beautifully. since she is getting the milk for 2, her fur is so soft and silky. she is quiet pampered and spoiled. always piggy back on mum or dad. as for my pitiful boy, his dried skin came off and starting to heal. he is also putting on weight. i can put him with his mum now. she cleans him. only not letting him feed.

Hi !

Can you speak Mandarin ?

If you do, my vet (in Taiwan) does skype consultation for people S.E. Asia countries where you can't really find vet that knows sugar gliders. However he doesn't speak any english, only Mandarin, Taiwanese and some basic Hakka.

It's not as good as having a vet meet the glider, but sometime it's the only option.

Nope i cant but thanks alot for your help. My boy is well already now. Hebis smaller in size compared to his twin sister but they r all healthy and one good happy family. :)

I don't know where else or how to post on here as yet, I just joined this comm, our glider (pokey) had 1 baby she was doing really good with her and so was the dad (rocky) and we moved to a new apt, the baby is almost 4 weeks old now and she feeds the baby (willow) during the day but as far as feeding during the night she wont. we have found willow hanging on the cage and very cold. we get her out n warm her up and then shes active. I'm not sure what to do or if the mom is rejecting the baby or not cause like I said during the day she is with her baby but at night shes not and neither is the dad anymore.i am really worried about willow and someone told me about this site and that I could probably get answers to my questions, pls I hope u can help me....... they wont even let willow ride on their backs anymore :( pls help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You may find this web page helpful

http://www.suzsugargliders.com/educationalarticles.htm

More joeys are rejected at a younger age than 4 weeks OOP. If the joey has not been injured, it may be that mom is just not producing enough milk.

What diet do you have your gliders on? You may need to make some changes in what you are feeding so that Mom can produce enough milk.

In the meantime - read the information on the link above on rejected joeys to learn what and how to supplement the joey some at night.

The joey is probably old enough to drink some formula from a small container - many people use the cap from a milk container or similar size 'dish' for joeys. By 6 weeks OOP most joeys are following parents to the food dish and beginning to eat the staple and some of the fruits and vegetables you offer the parents.

Another possibility is that the joey has health issues and the parents know what we cannot see. A vet check for both mom and the joey would be a good idea.

the gliders are on food that a vet suggested and the man we bought gliders from, he raises and sells gliders all the time n I really trust him, he's always been truthful to me ty for answering my question so fast n I will def have both of them checked out again tyvm,,,,,