I am fairly new to owning gliders. I have 4 rescues that I have & recently had joeys come OOP. I have been reading a ton even before I rescued them. I lost 1 of my joeys this morning. The other seems to cry a lot & mamma comes to the rescue & daddy keeps climbing on top of mamma & she can't tend to her joey. I have removed my other 2 females from the cage with mom, dad & babies. I know dad is supposed to help care for the joey but I feel he's keeping mom from properly caring for him. What should I do? Do I need to separate him from mom & baby?

Welcome to GC! Although I wish you were here without problems.

Here is an article on help for rejected joeys: HELP

Although by what you're saying, I'm not sure the mom is technically rejecting them.

Read thru that article and check to make sure the joey is hydrated. You'll also need to get a scale so that you can weigh the joey and make sure that he/she is gaining weight.

Hopefully someone with more experience in this area will come and offer more advice.

First of all, is this their first set of joeys?
How old are the parents?
You say you lost one of the joeys this morning, is that from cannibalization or you just found it?

You also stated you removed 2 other females from the cage? Is there a reason you felt you needed to do that? Is it possible one of the other females is the actual mother and the female that is in there does not have any milk?

How long have you had them? What do you currently feed? Are they bonded to you? It sounds like they may be stressed out the way you are describing it.

I removed the other 2 females from the cage before the joeys came out of pouch. I currently have all 4 of them on an HPW diet. I have had them almost 4 months. I removed the other 2 females because I was talking to someone from a sugar glider group on facebook & she told me she would recommend me doing that so the other 2 females didn't try to steal the joeys when the came oop. They are rescues so Im not sure if they have had any other joeys or not. The girl I got them from said they haven't. As far as I know mom is a little over a year old and dad is about 3 years old. The baby that passed this morning was found on the outside of the pouch, no kind of wounds on it. Dad would constantly lay on top of mom & keeps trying to mate with her and not let her near her joey. Neither parent is paying any attention to the joey today. I just took dad out about an hour ago and mom is now with the joey but she is just laying next to him and doesn't seem to phase her when the joey cries or anything.

thank you

It sounds like dad is trying to mate with mom. Typically you do not want to separate the parents as both play an intricall part in raising the babies.

Although it's too late now, I disagree with the advice you got on facebook...unless this is not a colony of gliders that were raised together.

If mom is not paying any attention to the baby then she is likly rejecting it as well. It is totally up to you whether or not you try to pull and hand raise the joey. Many times the parents know something that we cannot see, therefore nature takes its course. Only you can decide to hand raise or not.

Being rescue gliders, I highly recommend getting the male neutered as soon as possible. It's alreado likely that mom has been re-bred and the other 2 females could have joeys in pouch as well.

I am at least going to leave dad out for a little while for some time out and see if mom will feed the baby. She is curled up around the baby now. I knew that dad played a big role in helping raise him but I have been watching them since I found the joey this morning and he will not let her near the joey to care for him. I'm not sure if the joey will survive or not but as of right now I think I may let nature take its course and see. While waiting I am going to get me a scale to weigh the baby and a joey rejection kit just incase the other 2 females have joeys in pouch. They do not seem to be getting any bigger like the one did with the joeys. I am for sure making an appointment to neuter my male. They aren't real bonded with me yet but are getting there. Thanks for all the info.

Definitely take advantage of those numbers above. They have SO much experience with situations like this and will be able to guide you thru it.

you can check the joeys stomach to see if there is milk in there. if it is crying alot, it is hungry.

i am not one to let anything starve, joeys have been saved quite often by handfeeding when mama doesnt.

you can get some supplies at the pet store, puppys milk and
get some pedialite (sp). a clean make up brush dipped in the liquid can be used if you dont have any syringes around.

i personally stock up on biolac 100 when joeys are coming oop just in case. diane robertson sells the kits with everything needed except the bottled water.

this formula does not cause bloat and can be fed every 2 hrs. to the joey.

if you are letting nature take its course the joey has probally passed but you can use this for future reference.

The joey has not passed yet. The mother has fed him some but now seems to be pushing the baby away more and sleeping outside the pouch and leaving baby alone inside the pouch. I want to hand feed the baby. I would love for him to survive. I am going to call the numbers given to me in this network and do the best I can to save him. Thank all of you so much for your help and advice. I will keep informed on how he is doing. Thanks again.

Please keep us posted.

I have named my joey Lucky. He is doing very well. I contacted one of the girls from a phone number above & she has been wonderful. She's been walking me through on the phone how to feed him & care for him every step of the way. I am now the full time mom for Lucky. His mom & dad will not even let me put him back in the cage with them. It has been a struggle to keep this little guy going but with the help from Connie I believe he is going to be ok. I thank all of you for your help & concern. I will keep updating on his progress. Thank you again

This is such heart warming news......

So glad to hear he's doing ok