Sugar and Spice's joey is now oop (and is sooo cute). But anytime the daddy (spice) gets in the pouch, he starts making that fighting noise. When he goes to sleep it's ok and Sugar can come out. I tried to look in the pouch to see what was wrong and he lunged at me, being very protective of mom and baby. But the fighting noise is really concerning me, I never read anything about that. Can anyone give some insight? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Hmmm. How old is the joey? Some dads do become very protective once the joeys come oop. Is he still making the noise?

[:"green"]I take it that you mean crabbing?... Some father's do become very protective of their joeys once oop, it's possible that he's just protecting them.

The joey is only a couple days oop, and he didn't start making the noise until after the joey came out. When I put my hand in the cage, He lunges out of the pouch and crabs. The noise he makes while inside the pouch is different - just like the noise our girls made when we tried to put them with the leucistic. He does it when he first wakes up and when he's falling asleep from what I can tell. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nixweiss.gif" alt="" />

An Update
I went to check on the gliders and saw both Sugar and Spice playing in the cage, with no baby. I immediately took out the pouch to see if the baby was in it. The joey has fur, is fairly large, but his eyes aren't open yet; and he immediately started crying for mom. At this point both Sugar and Spice came to the front of the cage looking for their joey. I checked him over, made sure he wasn't dehydrated or malnourished, then put the pouch in the door. Sugar got back in, put the joey on her back, and is now running around.

My inclination is that Spice is not a good father, though I believe they have bred before. He won't let Sugar have her play time and he doesn't seem to be helping, which is why I think Sugar left the joey in the pouch.

Is there anything I can do to alleviate Sugar's stress?

If you find the joey alone then hold him and keep him warm. They get cold fast during the first couple weeks oop. Dad should be staying ip. It was good that he came running when the joey started crying though, and it is good (annoying though) that he is protective of the joey. Is the sound you are hearing chittering from the mom? Some say it is singing, but I have heard singing before, soft and sweet, chittering doesn't sound like singing and the mom doesn't look content when she is making this sound... It is a strange, I don't know how to discribe chittering. hissing, shakey, crabbish! lol if that helps any? Also was the pouch shaking while the sound was being made?

PS congrats on the new joey <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yelclap.gif" alt="" /> and new baby boy coming on monday <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yelclap.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/multi.gif" alt="" />

Mom and Dad were both in the pouch about 10 minutes ago, and I just looked again and they were both out of the pouch and baby was, well, it sounded sort of like crabbing. I stuck my hand in the cage b/c I knew they would want to go back in the pouch if I did that, and I'm leaving the light on to deter them from coming back out. I don't really know what else to do. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worried2.gif" alt="" />

Minnie, my gliders will leave the joeys alone in their pouch for a certain length of time too but one of them always returns. I leave a ton of snuggle blankets in there for them and I think that mom and dad know they are warm enough, the weather is getting warmer here too so just keep an eye on them and make sure they do return to the pouch. My gliders had their first set of joeys in the wintertime and they still would leave the joeys alone for a short while but would return to the pouch much quicker than they do now. So sometimes I think they both need a break and come out to play/eat and go back when they know they need to.

My joeys crab sometimes too and I think it`s because they`re discovering their voices, it`s so cute <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/heartpump.gif" alt="" />

Like someone stated above, check the joeys and make sure they`re warm, you can even put them under your shirt and cup them in your hands to keep them warm. Goodluck!