Should I Separate

i have a question for anyone with more lengthy experience with suggies and joeys and such...

we have 6 suggies in our large cage, they have been functioning as a colony. mommie, poppie, beanie (their first joey, now almost 5 mos OOP) and lacy who has her twin joeys that just came OOP last fri and sun. since mommie just lost her joey and canabalized it... should i be removing her from the little colony until lacy's joeys are older? i mean, i hate to seperate them, because they are used to being together... but i would hate for mommie to do something to the joeys out of greif or something? i could put mommie and beanie into another cage and leave lacy, and poppie and the joeys in the big cage. any opinions on this??? mommie and poppie have been together the longest, but with joeys i'm assuming lacy would be needing poppie to stay with her??? any input would be helpful. thank you.

rho

I can not offer any input on your question...but I am so sorry you lost your joey. We lost our only joey (Holly) at only 2 days OOP...it was the hardest thing. I am sure seeing what you saw is horrible...and I am so sorry you had to see that. My thoughts are with you and your fur butts.

thank you gwen... i appreciate it. and i am sorry you lost your littel holly.

rho

I've had a glider (Minka) who's blessed me with a dozen (or more) joeys these past 3 years...she's caniballized only ONE. It was heart-wrenching for me to catch her doing this, so I understand your grief on that. But I've come to realize that there was definitely something "wrong" with this particular joey b/c she let its little sibling continue to thrive & nurse & grow up to be a very sweet glider. Obviously Mommie was in the same position as Minka: there had to be something "wrong". It's not at all unusual for parents to "destroy the carcass" in situations like these (as unacceptable as we humans see it): This is animal instinct at its highest point, a decaying carcass can attract enemies of suggies so the parents "take care of it".

Your Mommie glider will be grieving badly enough (I'm getting the impression she was pregnant with just the one joey?); my opinion is that you should leave everyone in place...yes, you WILL want to keep an eye on the situation for potential trouble; you will also want to inspect the 2 new joeys from head to tail to make sure there's no evidence of injury anywhere RIGHT NOW. It might upset Lacy worse to move 1 or 2 gliders OUT than to keep things status quo.

That's my opinion. I'm sure others will come along and furnish theirs as well.

I'm very sorry that you had to witness this...even once is too many times. My heart goes out to you

I am not an expert, but I would not take her out, as that would upset everyone. I don't believe she will touch the other joeys, esp. since this is how they have been for a while. I am sure others will chime in with more experience, but if it were me, I would leave her in there.

I am so very sorry on the loss of the joey. Mother Nature can be tough sometimes. Godspeed and God bless.

minkasmom... thank you for your thoughts... i appreciate...


yes, mommie only had the one joey... we inspected the twins right away, and they were fine.... and i checked on them again just before i posted the message. i wasn't sure about moving anybody, because of the stress it can cause, that's why i thought to ask for opinions on it. goodness knows we don't want to stress any of them out any more than already has happened. ann said that maybe mommie had a jeoy too soon after beanie being weaned. afterall, we really were not trying to have her get pregnant again, it just happened. i don't know. i realize that overthining it will not make it make any easier. i know and can appreciate that for whatever reason, mommie did what she is compelled to do by nature. it's just the way things happen and it is all for a reason. i would love to pick her up and cuddle her and let her know that i'm here for her. not sure that would translate to glider-ese... lol... but i'm not able to right now anyway. she is out and about in the cage, climbing around and being pretty active. so i figure i won't bother her by trying to catch her when she isn't interested in being held. i'll give her some space. we'll continue to check on and watch the twins for any signs of trouble.

rho

thank you pappy... i definately don't want to stress anyone out. and i know that it would be stressful for everyone to upset the whole makeup of their little family. they have all been so wondeful. it isn't just lacy and poppie taking care of the twins... mommie and beanie have been taking care of them too! it's an incredible thing to see. i would hate to seperate any of them, but if i had to for a while, i would. you just never know what ramifications that would have.

rho

When I got Piper and Pru, Piper had two ip. The girl that had them had a threesome, but would pull the male every time either of them had joeys ip, as he would kill them otherwise. So Piper and Pru (who has cataracts really bad) were each others surragate partner for raising joeys. I was very scared she would lose them when I got her, with the move to a new house and all, but thankfully, she didn't and raised Paige and Cole without a hitch (my first joeys ever!) Sometimes you just have to let be what will be and pray awfully hard! I hope Lacy's babies will thrive. I do think changing the makeup of the group will cause undo stress and as you said, something probably happened to the joey and mommie was only doing what is natural for them (as hard as it may be for us.) Good luck with these joeys and remember, when they are out....we want pics! Good luck. And you're welcome.

Oh No!! I'm so very very sorry Rhonda & Ann!! I remember telling my experience when you were here, and I wouldn't want any one to see that, it's just so incredibly devastating!

Well first of all, DON'T blame your selves for anything! I want to agree that there was probably something wrong with the joey, and as gruesome as nature can be that's their instinct to thrive and protect the colony.

I would not seperate them either, but I would be watching like a HAWK.. It would be stressful to seperate them now, but if your noticing any odd or aggresive behavior then sometimes it's best to go that route.

So here is some more hugs

Your doing your best with these guys and that's all you can do! And Ann takes some specatular pictures..you MUST post some of Lacy's babies!

thanks so much cindy! i really appreciate it. it is a very difficult thing to deal with, but like you said, it is nature and something you just have to deal with.

most of the morning, and then off and on during the day, mommie was out of the pouch/cube and all over the mansion... it was almost like she was hyper... i imagine it is very difficult for them to deal with, they must grieve and get upset... the others stayed away from her for a while... but then, later in the day... it seemed like whenever mommie was out and about, someone else was with her... either lacy, or beanie or poppie... and at one point i saw poppie grooming mommie and they were making these little sounds... could he be consoling her? or am i reading too much human emotion into it? lol when i first found mommie with the joey it was because beanie was barking frantically! not her usual barking, it sounded panicked almost. and then as soon as i got over to the cage and got to where i could see mommie and i talked to beanie and told her it was ok, she stopped barking. it was almost like she was calling me to let me know something was wrong and she wanted me to know. *shrugging* i don't know. the whole dynamics of the little colony just amazes me.

so far, the twins are doing great. everybody is still taking turns taking care of them. there always seems to be two gliders in the cube with them at all times. kind of cool. they are just the most precious little loves! ann is going to take some pics, she just hasn't had time. she's been putting in 10-12 hour days for two weeks now and she just doesn't have the time or energy when she comes home. but as soon as we have some pics i'll make sure to post them.

rho

i am sorry to hear about your little one rho.