I must say, I am SO proud of my girl Zuki. She had twins come OOP in January and has begun weaning them. One of my friends just had babies come OOP a couple days ago. Sadly tonight one of them was cannibalized and the other was rejected. Since Zuki is weaning her other babies we decided to give it a shot knowing that it would be much better for little Nova to be raised by another glider. Well, so far Zuki has taken to him and is cleaning and nursing him. I will give updates as time goes on but for now I'm off to bed after being up for almost 24 hours.
Has there been any other cases of a glider being a surrogate mother for another's baby?
Tiffany
Glider mom to: Nami, Zizi, Xavier, Askr, Gio, & Alice
Also mom to: 1 Dog-Evie 2 Cats-Apollo and Morpheous 2 Beautiful Skin Kids For all my lost angels, Mom loves you
Re: Surrogate Mother Glider
[Re: Zuki_Mom]
#752897 03/22/0906:23 AM03/22/0906:23 AM
Yes there has! My Pepper successfully raised a rejected joey from Kylei and Xilo.
Pepper and Basil had two joeys of their own that were approx 3-4 weeks oop at the time and I really held my breath when I handed over the little joey to Pepper. She scooped him right up and made sure he was taken care of. After that, they raised him right along with their joeys!
I wouldn't suggest trying it unless the situation is desperate. Even though Pepper and Basil took this little one as one of their own, it could have easily gone bad. I have to say, I am so happy that they "adopted" him, but I was also ready to hand-raise this little one if he had needed it.
I wish you the best of luck, it sounds as if they have already accepted him!
Meghan
~__/> {{ }}
Suggies: Basil, Mausi, Bagheera/Baloo, & the Trio Dogs : Pretzel/Snickers Horse: Nugget RIP: Gato, Pepito, Pepper, and Mowgli
My Bittah was a surrogate mother for my Allira after she was rejected by Mareki. Little Bittah had two joeys of her own that were due out of pouch in two weeks at the time of rejection. I was astonished to watch her grab little Allira and literally shove her into her pouch with the other two joeys Bittah is a small glider, only 92 grams, and watching her waddle with 3 joeys in her pouch was amazing! Here's a picture of Allira nursing from outside Bittah's pouch once the joeys in pouch got too big for there to be room for her anymore
Just curious about this.....would the mother have to have other joeys at the same time? If she didn't, would she be able to produce milk for the rejected joey? Is milk always available or does it only come when there is a pregnancy like in humans? I have some awesome mom's and it would be good to know in case of a drastic situation.
Lynn, you're a nurse. You should know the answer to that one. LOL The surogate mommy would either have to have joeys IP or still nursing, or she wouldn't be producing milk. Some humand can induce milk production without giving birth, but it almost always involves use of hormones. Gliders can't take hormones, so they would have to already be producing milk for this situation to be successful.
Just remember that often gliders reject their babies because they know something is wrong and the baby will die anyone. Surrogate Mom may end up rejecting the baby also. I am hoping that is not the case with your little one. Please update us - this is very interesting.
A word of extreme caution to anyone even considering this route: MOST female gliders will NOT accept a joey that is not their own. It is VERY risky to attempt this. You have to KNOW the personalities of BOTH the potential surrogate mother AND father. You have to attempt the introduction in such a way that YOU get nailed if there is any aggression towards the joey at all. This is definitely NOT the norm. When it does happen, it's truly a miracle
Zuki is doing wonderfully, since she was in the process of weaning her other babies I don't think she will be able to raise him entirely on her own, but she is still doing her best to take care of him. I am supplementing him as well.
Zuki is a very special girl, she got pregnant with her first joey when she was only six months old and her mate was three months. So when he came OOP she was completely raising him on her own because her mate was still just a baby himself. She is a Fantastic mother.
Tiffany
Glider mom to: Nami, Zizi, Xavier, Askr, Gio, & Alice
Also mom to: 1 Dog-Evie 2 Cats-Apollo and Morpheous 2 Beautiful Skin Kids For all my lost angels, Mom loves you
It isn't anything I would attempt unless it was an extreme emergency! and then I'd be right there monitoring. Everything would have to fit together perfectly and that doesn't happen very often. I would be very concerned that if the joey was rejected by one mom & dad the same would happen with another, unless, as Suz stated it had some Divine intervention!
Day 2 and so far so good. Zuki is nursing, cleaning, and keeping the joey warm. I am watching for any signs of rejection from her. Nova is hydrated and I can see that he has milk in his stomach. I am still supplementing him as well. His eyes should be opening later this week.
Tiffany
Glider mom to: Nami, Zizi, Xavier, Askr, Gio, & Alice
Also mom to: 1 Dog-Evie 2 Cats-Apollo and Morpheous 2 Beautiful Skin Kids For all my lost angels, Mom loves you
Re: Surrogate Mother Glider
[Re: Zuki_Mom]
#753327 03/23/0908:26 AM03/23/0908:26 AM
Help! Nova has a wound on his face, how do I treat it? Zuki isn't acting like she has rejected him and was letting him nurse the last time I looked. She REALLY wanted out of the bonding pouch this morning though and was biting at the screen and zipper, could she have accidentally caught him? He tries to do everything she is doing. I don't know if its safe for me to put him back in with her, she is in a bonding pouch on my lap. They have been going to work with me so that I could keep an eye on them.
The wound isn't bad and has already scabbed over.
Tiffany
Glider mom to: Nami, Zizi, Xavier, Askr, Gio, & Alice
Also mom to: 1 Dog-Evie 2 Cats-Apollo and Morpheous 2 Beautiful Skin Kids For all my lost angels, Mom loves you
My sweet Dee took in two joeys (at different times). One was to late, but she stuffed that baby into her pouch and cleaned him as her own. But he died a few hours latter, not because of Dee, but because I was to late in finding him
Then another time I let her raise another joey (boy). This time I found him in time and Dee raised him as one of her own. Dee sadly passed on a year ago of old age.
Like Suz says, it doesn't happen with all moms. I don't think I would trust any of my other moms to do what Dee did. Dee just had a special personality about her. She loved everything!
I have one of Dees daugters, but she is with a male who is neutered. I have often times thought that maybe it would be smart of me to get her to breed because she has the same personality as her mom, but I don't want to take her away from her mate. But then I might be able to save a few more joeys (I really don't have rejected joeys often.. maybe 1 or 2 a year).