Sugar Glider 101
Growth & Developement
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Newborn Joeys- The trip into the pouch:
 16
days after mating sugar gliders birth up to 4 joeys at a time. 1-2 being most
common, 3-4 being rare. When a joey is born, its similar to a rodent baby. Joeys
are born pink, naked(no fur), blind and deaf(The ears are fused to the
head).Little pinhead sized black eyes are visible at this time.
The mother will lick a path leading
to the pouch so the baby can crawl in it. The fur is wet and licked down because
the joey is sticky and will get caught and stuck in the dry fur where it will
get cold, dry, no food and die. The mother will, of course, try to lick it out
if it gets stuck but that makes it worse. (I had this happen to me but
thankfully my glider birthed them in my hands so I could help 'untangle' the
joey and scoot it into pouch. She's a sweet, healthy joey now.) All they are
capable of is crawling(barely tho- thier legs are like little nubs). They're
born live at about the size of a piece of uncooked rice and crawl into pouch;
the whole process takes about 5 minutes for them to be completely in pouch and
attached to the nipple. There they remain for another 2 months before they are
developed enough to come out. Also, momma is gonna need more protein, now is a
good time to start feeding more.
 It's
very rare to see a joey born live and make the journey into the pouch. Few are
lucky enough to catch it, some by just being around at the right time, others
count the days after mating. Most joeys are born in the morning-noon, and I
heard somewhere that gliders do not birth joeys at night. I don't know how true
that is but with all of mine its held true. IF you do happen to see a joey born
or know there is one in pouch and you have little or no experience with gliders,
resist all temptation and DO NOT attempt to open that pouch and peek inside. It
is possible to do this, but very dangerous if done the wrong way. The joey MUST
stay attached to that nipple until it comes off on its own. Joeys jaws aren't
developed enough to hold on by themselves. The nipple swells in the joeys mouth
causing it to stay latched on, if knocked off it WILL die because it can't open
its mouth and get back on
Newborn Joeys- 5-7 days in pouch:
Disappearing Joeys- Don't freak out if you just saw your
joey born but can't see it in the pouch days later. Sometimes first time glider
mothers lose thier joeys, but don't forget momma glider can hide it in the back
of the pouch so it's most likely still there. They haven't done much growing at
this age yet and you may not be able to see if for a couple more weeks. It
really depends on how observative each glider owner is, and how much you notice
about your gliders.
Newborn Joeys- 14 days in pouch:
Not many physical changes are noticeable, the size has just
about doubled since birth now. Feet are starting to form on the little nubby
legs and tail should be slightly more than a stump. Not much else. If the owner
is in tune with thier glider it's posible to feel a tiny lump by now. Gliders
are still capable of hiding the joey in the back side of the pouch and its very
easy to miss still.
Joeys- 21 days in pouch:
Growth has started to get very rapid and the joey is almost big
enough now where the lump is obvious and can't be hidden any longer. The head
has grown larger and the eyes are bigger. Ears are still fused to the head, but
are bigger and the feet should have little nubby looking toes. The tail still
isnt as long as the joey itself yet. Overall size of the joey has increased
quite a bit.
Joeys- 30-35 days in pouch:
By now the joey should be a completely visible lump and can no
longer be hidden. If you don't see a lump then 1 of a few different things may
have happened.
- Cannibalism
- Mothers first litter of joeys.
- The mother was lacking something in the diet.
- Something was wrong with the joey.
- Mother may have been stressed.
- In a trio or more situation females may eat each others joeys.
- Rejected
- Something wrong with the joey.
- Something missing in the diet.
- Too young for the glider to be a mother and she may not have known
what to do.
These are the most common that I know of.
Joeys- 40-50 days in pouch:
The tail should be as long as the joey by now and the toes have
little nails on them. The nose looks too big for the head right now, and
whiskers are growing. The eyes should be pretty large and have a layer of skin
over them. Ears are still fused. The joey will look like a peanut from the
outside of the pouch. The head and back give it that peanut shape. Inside the
pouch, the joey should be large enough now that its insides can be seen fairly
well through the transparent skin. Now is the best time to just sit with the
female on her back and watch the joey move around, provides hours of
entertainment. May even get lucky enough to see a foot or tail tip pop out of
pouch occasionally.
Joeys- 60-63 days in pouch/ Out Of Pouch (OOP):
 The
joey should be coming OOP around this time. The jaw is developed enough where it
can detach and get back on to eat. It
can take up to a week for a joey to come fully out- meaning it's too big to fit
back in the pouch. There will be butts, tails, feet and everything hanging out
of pouch.
After a few days to a week the joey will be out of pouch and
clinging to its momma. It just sticks its head into the pouch to nurse instead
of the whole body being in there. When it comes OOP it should have a very fine
layer of fur on it, the underside is all pink still, no fur.
 Ears
are just starting to 'pop' out and with mine I've noticed that around 3-5 days
after being fully OOP they start hearing. I don't know if that's just mine tho.
The eyes are still closed but have enough skin over them now so it doesn't look
like a big black dot anymore. Since the female has two uteri and three vagina's
it is possible for her to have two different aged joeys in pouch. It's possible
for joeys to come OOP 2 days apart to 2 weeks apart.
 Don't
panic and think one is 'ahead' of the other. This is completely normal. Joeys
start making little 'fussing' noises about now, if the mother leaves the joey in
the nest and the father happens to be out too, when that joey cries they will
come running to it's aide. They make excellent parents. It's possible right now
to be able to tell what sex the joey is. Handling is encouraged at this time,
but start out slowly. Start at 2-3 minutes and work up to 5 a day, then 10 and
so on.
Joeys- 7-15 days OOP:
Eyes should be opening and they should be able to hear by now.
The fur is thicker on the shoulders and neck, but still very thin underneath.
The teeth aren't very developed yet but
there are tiny ones starting on the top jaw. The bottom 2 teeth aren't very long
and it looks like a small lump on the gum. The joey should be pretty vocal by
now and riding on either of its parents backs when they go somewhere. The joey
will not leave the nest alone and go exploring just yet. Joeys may 'jump' in
your hands when held, I am not sure why but mine did that just when they were
starting to sleep. This will go away around 30-45 days OOP. At this age the
joeys like to be kept warm since they dont have much fur on them yet, they like
sleeping in hands and being kept warm. Also, now is a good time to move the
nest/pouch to the bottom of the cage in case a joey happens to wander out by
accident.
Joeys- 25-30 days OOP:
The eyes should be completely open and the joey more
adventurous. The ears are up and listening to everything. Fur should completely
cover the underside. Scrotum/inside of pouch wont have much fur yet, but very
shortly will be fully furred. Some joeys may even start practicing small jumps
or hops, most will not tho. Teeth are big enough where biting will hurt and the
joeys will start to chew fingers/nails now.
Joeys- 45 days OOP:
Most joeys, by now, are looking to explore and are showing their
personalities. They should be running around the cage with the parents and
riding on backs less, now is a good time to try playing games with them that you
might play with the parents. Not too rough, be gentle. Joeys should be starting
to pick up food, mostly fruit, off the parent's dishes and taste it. They most
likely wont try tasting the meat or eggs till later. Just the juices and fruit,
maybe some veggies is all the joey will eat. At this age they do like baby
cereal, don't overfeed, just a little for a nice treat to help get them started
on solids. It helps to mix the cereal with some juice.
Joeys- 55-60 days OOP:
At around this time the joey will be completely weaned and able
to live on its own. It should have a fully fluffed out
tail by now and eating most solid foods that are fed
to the parents. It will want to come out and run and play with the parents at
night and the parents (most of them anyway) will wrestle and play rough with the
joeys. I don't mean rough like biting them, but rolling around and hollering at
each other. Before separating from the parents be SURE the joey is eating on its
own and make sure it 'pees' and 'poos' by itself. If it doesn't, then it isn't
ready to be on its own yet. If not ready yet, it may be another week before the
joey is ready to live on its own.
Notes:
- IN POUCH DATE- If I have the time under the date they crawled in
pouch, then the joey was born in my hands. Also, I know what day they were
born from either seeing it or checking pouch everyday after my gliders had
mated(16 days after mating the joey is born and crawls into pouch for 2
months).
- OOP DATE- I go by OOP date as the first day they are fully OOP
for the whole day. They do go back in pouch and out for about another 7
days, so it's possible for a joey to be OOP after 70 days. It varies from
glider to glider. Since the female has two uteri and three vagina's it is
possible for her to have two different aged joeys in pouch- one glider had
twins come OOP two weeks apart.
- EYES OPEN- I go by the eyes opening the first day I see 1 eye
open. Sometimes it will take 2 days for both eyes to be open, sometimes both
open in 1 day.
- TWINS- Twins don't always open their eyes or come OOP on the same
day, its usually 2 days apart for me.
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