Hey, guys!! You may remember me. I posted a few days ago in "Help! I'm New!" I have a pair of previously neglected pregnant breeders I am fostering (adopting eventually). Today I saw the babies! There's one boy, one girl. Neither have fur yet. The girl seems to be slightly larger. Today was the first day I've seen them and also the first day the mom let me pick her up! She let me handle her and the babies for a few minutes before they went back into the pouch. Just long enough to determine the sex and get some pictures.

Now, I won't be keeping these babies. They belong to the pet store since I acquired the gliders after they were pregnant. This is the reason I am only fostering for now. Once the babies are mature enough to be seperated I will be buying the parents. Since I won't be keeping them, I need to know how to keep track of their age and when to seperate them. Would today be the official OOP date? Or since they went back in, is the OOP date the day they come out for good? When do I seperate them? Obviously it won't be until after they've weaned but I hear this is around 8-10 weeks OOP? Any other things I should watch for with the babies? This is the dad's first litter so we don't know if he is aggressive towards the babies or not (we do have one male who kills his babies). Is there any way to tell before it's too late? Are there any toys and such that may not be safe for the babies that are fine for the parents? And do I need anything special for them? I'm so excited about these guys! They're perfect! <3

If they do not have fur - you were probably seeing them when Mom took them out of her pouch for grooming - they have not yet detached from the nipple yet and probably will not do so for another week or two.

Do not try to handle the joeys at this stage. If you dislodge them from the nipple they cannot reattach to continue growing and developing until they are mature enough to detach on their own.

The official OOP date will be the day you see the joeys actually separate from Mom. Another way to determine the OOP date if you are not sure is to count back 10 days from the date they open their eyes.

You should keep the joeys with their parents at a minimum 8 to 10 weeks. There is much for them to learn from their parents about being independent gliders. If you can keep them with the parents until they are 12 weeks that would be fine to give them more time to learn.

I didn't detach the boy but the girl was detached, hanging on to the mother's side. The boy was hanging out so I got a glance of his stomach and he has a scrotum. He was still locked on to the nipple.

I'll probably do as you said and count back from the day they open their eyes. I plan on keeping them at least 10 weeks, if not 12.