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Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle

Posted By: Anonymous

Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle - 05/21/04 04:40 PM

Can anyone tell me what the affect an imbalence of nutrition would have on a females desire to mate?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle - 05/21/04 07:05 PM

I'm not sure that it's the "desire to mate" that is affected. Rather, if a female glider is not getting a healthy diet... or is not strong enough for making babies, her body just won't go into heat. But yes... most certainly their diet will affect their breeding cycle.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle - 05/22/04 12:20 PM

Obesce gliders will also have a hard time producing joeys.
Posted By: kb2e

Re: Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle - 05/23/04 06:29 PM

If I remember right from one of the SGGA meetings, gliders in the wild only breed when the food supply is abundant. Gliders having babies all year round like they do in captivity, is not "normal".
Posted By: Lucy

Re: Nutrition and it's effect on the breeding cycle - 05/23/04 06:35 PM

There are people who believe that extra protein is necessary for pregnant/lactating females. One justification for this reasoning is that in the wild, the breeding season coincides with an abundance of insects/small animals. The cause of this has not been determined -- It could be that they breed because more protein is available (which would support this theory), or is it just happenstance that more protein is available at the time of year when they happen to be breeding?

In light of this, I believe many people do increase protein intake for their gliders that are pregnant and lactating. It certainly doesn't hurt to do so.
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