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twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight?

Posted By: Anonymous

twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/03/08 07:55 PM

hi all... our lacy blessed us with twin joeys in january... otis came OOP on friday jan 18th and his sister mylee came OOP two days later on sunday jan 20th. we are happy to say that lacy is a wonderful 1st time momma, and the whole colony is participating in caring for the babies and it's wonderful to see!

here is my concern/queston:

first, my background experience i have to refer to...

from having a cat that had kittens at one time, i had the experience of her having two kittens about 7:30pm and we thought she was done. but the next day at lunchtime when i cam home to check on everyone, she had given birth to two more! so the first two were over 12 hours older than the other two! lol they were all healthy, and mom was fine. but that difference in birthing times REALLY made a difference in their size! the first two seemed to dwarf the other two forever! they were plumper and more active. eventually the second two did catch up and they all ended up the same size.

our current situation...

both joeys had their eyes open by the time mylee was 5 days OOP! otis is two days sooner OOP than mylee... and he sure does look it! he's just this plump little guy, he has the soft grey fur all the way down to the edges of his patagium (sp?) with a dark line along the edge, and he's very active. the little mylee is smaller, not as filled out, her patagium (sp?) is still pink and mostly hairless, but starting to fill in a little bit, and she isn't quite as active as otis.

we were concerned that maybe mylee wasn't getting enough to eat? for a couple days, everytime ann reached in to get the babies neither one would be nursing OR just otis would be nursing. she never found mylee nursing. this concerned us, so we made sure we had all the stuff we needed to have on hand should we end up needing to supplement the babies at all. (thanks cindy for letting me bounce this idea off you on the phone!) we decided to keep an even closer eye on them for a day or so and make sure we weren't jumping on it too soon.

we finally bought a scale. it's a digital oz/gm scale and we're really glad we have it now! we weighed the babies that first night that we had the concerns and this is what we got: otis= 30gm and mylee= 23gm... the second night otis= 32gm and mylee= 25gm... we'll weigh them again tonight and see if the gaining trend continues to be an even one. we are noticing that mylee is a bit more active, and of course we can tell she is gaining a little weight.

i'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, experiences, etc. does this sound normal? anything we should keep an eye on? tips? suggestions?

rho
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/03/08 08:30 PM

I had this same situation sadly both my joey's were rejected. When I spoke to Suz she suggested to feed them but keep them with mom so that they could still nurse. So that would be my first suggestion. She said:

Also, try to take the stronger one out of the pouch for a longer period so that the weaker one has a better chance of getting to the mother's milk for feedings. In other words, take the joeys out separately from each other for their supplement feedings. Take out the stronger joey FIRST so that the weaker joey has a better opportunity to possibly get some of the mother's milk. (I hope that makes sense )

I also would contact Suz if you have any other questions. She is the #1 person to contact about Joey's. I hope all goes well.
Posted By: melek007

Re: twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/03/08 10:23 PM

It's not uncommon for joeys to be two different weights. I haven't had joeys, but I expect they should be nursing more. Keep a close watch because you might need to take over their care.
Posted By: Judie

Re: twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/03/08 11:30 PM

Monitor their weight to be sure the little ones are gaining between 4 to 6 grams per week.

From what you posted as to their weights they appear to be average sized babies.

Perhaps supplement feed two to three times in a 24 hour period for a few weeks. Idea here is to help mom but not interfer so much that she begins to produce less milk.

Seems to me... you are doing a great job at being a 2nd mom. thumb
Posted By: sugarglidersuz

Re: twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/04/08 11:35 AM

Originally Posted By: Judie
Monitor their weight to be sure the little ones are gaining between 4 to 6 grams per week.

From what you posted as to their weights they appear to be average sized babies.

Perhaps supplement feed two to three times in a 24 hour period for a few weeks. Idea here is to help mom but not interfer so much that she begins to produce less milk.

Seems to me... you are doing a great job at being a 2nd mom. thumb
I totally agree laugh
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: twins, different sizes; nursing & gaining weight? - 02/05/08 06:28 AM

thank you so much for the encouragement and advice! makes me feel much better, more confident. here's our update...

fri
otis 30g
mylee 23g

sat
otis 32g
mylee 25g

sun
otis 33g
mylee 26g

mon
otis 36g
mylee 28g


so they are both gaining pretty steady... and i do see mylee being a bit more "bright eyed and bushy tailed" as my dad used to say. lol we haven't supplemented any yet, just keeping a good eye on them and ready to step in if it's needed.

we finally weighed all our other suggeis too... will post that under a different thread... i'm sure the mods will be so proud of me for not cluttering up the wrong section! lol

rho

ps... here's the link to the other post for whoever is interested... (if i did this right!)...

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=469643#Post469643
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