I have heard that gliders can have 4 joeys at a time! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Has anyone experienced this and how did it turn out? Do they lose some when this happens? And how do they all fit? Just curious. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thanx.gif" alt="" />

I don't think that has ever happened althought it is indeed possible since there are 4 nipples in the pouch. I have heard of quite a few triplet instances though. I know that Dancing had triplets survive, as did Sheila I think? I know there are more. Sometimes the mom doesn't have enough milk so they have to be supplemented though. Four would be way too many for mom to carry and feed I think. Imagine 4 little ones stuffed in her pouch!

Gliders have 4 nipples so we think it is possible for them to have 4 joeys. In the three years I have been breeding and a part of the whole glider community I have never heard of any one having 4 joeys at once. There have been a few people with 3 joeys. Usually the mom doesn't produce enough milk for all 3 of them so one will end up dieing (not all the time, just some times) It is very stressfull also to have 3 joeys.
I notice a differeance when my mommas have one joey and then the next time they have 2 joeys, they just seem more stressed and more is taken out of them.

Interesting you happen to ask about this today. I just read a little exerpt from a book about this very topic yesterday... The number of nipples a glider has actually has to do with something called embionic dispause...

Some marsupials have the ability to have 3 different sets of young from 1 mating. With gliders, the first set of joeys will drop into pouch 14-16 days after mating. 2 sets of joeys can acutually go into pouch with in a few days of each other. The later set usually stays in a state of suspension. They latch on to a nipple, but they don't develope... Once the first set of joeys reaches a certain stage of growth, the second set will start to develop. All the while, the female is storing more ferilized eggs in her uterus. Once the second set of joeys developes enough, the female can give birth to her third set of joeys that have been in her uterus this whole time... There for, at various points in time, mom can and will nurse up to 4 joeys, but rarely are ever more than 2 the same age.

Another interesting tid bit... Female gliders have the ability to produce a different type of milk from each nipple depending on what stage of development her joeys are at.

That is sooo cool, I'd never heard of that before!

wow well i kinda understood that , whats the books name sounds like a good book.

Lyena
I heard that kangaroos could do something similar like and I've been wondering if gliders did also. Thanks for posting that you answered my question!

that is really neat