Hey guys, my sugar gliders recently had babies. They are about 2 weeks out of pouch and I've been told repeatedly that handling the babies within the first couple OOP weeks will lead to the parents cannobalizing or at least rejecting the babies. Thoughts?

As long as you are somewhat bonded to your breeding pair you should be able to handle then for a short bit.

When they are just one or two weeks old you should only handle them long enough to weigh them.

Just make sure that your hands to not smell of other sugar gliders.

I handle all of my babies from day 1 when they are oop, but I don't handle them for long periods of time when they are freshly oop though. Just long enough to get pics and check them over to make sure they are ok. As they get a bit older I start handling them for longer periods of time.

From my experience it's mostly the transfer of scent of other gliders on the baby that could lead to canniblization or rejection although sometimes they do without outside interference.

I joey sit when they want to play usually I let my momma gliders let me know how long I can hold the baby. the first time when I go to hold new babies I pick up the mommy also and the mommy will sit on my shoulder and watch proudly while I have a look. I have one that is more stingy than the other.

Not to scare you Suggiesamantha but parents can reject because of strange human smell or handling. It happened to me when we went to help a breeder in Orlando. The breeder showed me how she fed and put baby back on dad. So I did the same thing and instead of the dad pulling baby to his chest and cleaning it he twisted his body and threw(fell) off. Tried three times(even with parent scent blanket) to put baby on him and he would not take to it. Sadly baby passed away.


I handled mom(parents) with baby until about four weeks old, sometimes earlier then held babies by themselves.

You may try taking nest out and put your hand in with the whole family.
Art

I start handling my babies from the first day they are out of pouch. Actually, I will even check sexes before they are detached. If you have a good bond with your mom and dad and they trust you, you should have no issues. Always offer a treat, positive reinforcement always works well.