Suz' Sugar Gliders

Hand Raising A Joey

Normally, if a joey is going to be rejected, the rejection occurs within the first two weeks out-of-pouch. However, rejection can occur at any time until the joey is completely weaned. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for such an event and to understand the possible causes.

There are many possible reasons as to why you might need to hand-raise or supplement-feed a joey. The mother may reject the joey due to stress, lack of milk or a birth defect that may or may not be apparent. The mother may die but the joey survives. The mother may get a pouch infection that would be harmful to the joey. You may need to supplement-feed the joey if the mother is not producing enough milk for the joey on her own. Some people also hand-raise joeys because they believe the joey will have a stronger bond & be more tame - this is one reason that I do not condone. I believe that the joey should be left with the parents if it is at all possible.  

As with anything else regarding gliders, there are many methods and techniques for hand-raising a joey. Most of the information on this page is based upon my own personal experience. Hopefully by sharing this information, you will be able to save your joeys in the event of rejection. Sometimes, no matter what you do, the joeys will not survive. Please do not blame yourself if this happens. 

Below, you will find instructions for feeding your joey at various ages:

• Newly out-of-pouch (oop) through 2 weeks old
• 2 - 4 weeks old
• 4 - 6 weeks old
• 6 - 8 weeks old

For ease of reference, you can also jump to:

• Feeding Reference Guide.
• Symptoms of Rejection
  
• Formula Recipes
• How to Make an Incubator
  
• What You Will Need
  
• Bloating: Prevention and Treatment.

If, after having read through this page, you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail them to me. I will try to respond as quickly as I can.

Please note, if you have a Rejected Joey Emergency and need immediate assistance, I am available 24/7 for these situations. Please call  my cell phone at 440-520-4799. Sometimes I am out of range. If you leave a message stating that it's an emergency, I will return your call as soon as possible. Please make sure you leave your phone number - state it slowly and clearly along with the day and time of your call.

Symptoms of Rejection

Many people want a set list of Symptoms of Rejection. Unfortunately, although there are some more common signs of rejection, there is not a definitive list that will absolutely spell it out for you. If your instinct is telling you that the joey may be going through rejection and you don't see the symptom on this list - go ahead and follow your instinct and at least start supplement-feeding the joey (as described below). It's better to err on the side of caution than to find the cannibalized remains of a joey...

     Symptoms of Rejection include, but are not limited to:

• • Joey found left alone in nest by both parents for more than 10-15 minutes at a time
  • Joey crying a lot with neither parent responding to the joey's cries
  • Joey trying to crawl out of the nesting area (before 4-5 weeks out of pouch)
  • Joey found alone and cold outside of the nesting area
  • Joey found alone in a different nesting area from where parents are located
  • Joey found on cage bottom
  • Joey found dehydrated*
  • Joey found with bite and/or scratch marks anywhere on body or face

    *To check for dehydration, gently lift the skin on the joey's shoulders up to form a tent. If the skin does not immediately start to gradually go back down again, the joey is dehydrated. Immediate intervention with force-feeding the joey Pedialyte will be needed and you may also need to bring the joey to the vet for sub-cutaneous fluids. 

Hand-Raising vs. Supplement-Feeding:

Which should you do?

You may want to try supplement-feeding the joey if the mother is still taking care of the joey but the joey is crying a lot, trying to crawl out of the nest. Try to simply supplement-feed the joey two to three times a day. Make sure that you feed the joey at about the same time every day with a few hours between feedings.

If the joey has been injured at all, such as bite marks or sores on the face or back, then you need to completely pull the joey and hand-raise it. If you don't, the mother is likely to kill and cannibalize the joey in frustration.

If you have found the joey on the floor of the cage, or totally outside of the nest, or the parents have left the joey in one nest and gone to another, you will probably need to hand-raise the joey for at least a little while. Warm the joey up, feed it, then continue to keep it warm. Repeat feeding it after an hour. At this point, you can try to put the joey back in with the parents, but if the parents continue to abandon the joey, then you will need to hand-raise the joey. When you try putting the joey back in with the parents, it is very important that you stay close by in case they abandon the joey again. You can not risk allowing the joey to get too cold or dehydrated. Most rejected joeys that die do so from dehydration* (see note above).

If you have found the joey alone but the joey is not cold, try placing the joey on the father's back. He should immediately start to carry the joey back to the nesting area. He should start to clean and care for the joey once back in the nest. If he "drops" the joey off and ignores it, the joey has been rejected and needs to be hand-raised for at least a little while. Follow the process listed in the previous paragraph to determine whether the joey has been permanently rejected or if it was just a one-time rejection.

How to Warm Up a Cold Joey

Keep in mind that a joey that is too cold will not have the energy to drink.  In order to warm the joey up, place a fleece blanket in the microwave for a few seconds until it is warm (but not hot) to the touch. Wrap the joey in the fleece blanket and hold it close to your heart - tucking the wrapped joey inside your shirt if at all possible. Check the joey after about five minutes to see if it is warm yet. You may need to reheat the fleece blanket periodically. Once the joey is warm, you can try to feed it. You will know the joey is warm enough when it feels warm to the touch. If you are hand-raising the joey, you will need to keep it in an incubator when you are unable to hold it so that it can maintain its body heat.

Hand-Feeding Your Joey

Newly Out-of-Pouch (o.o.p.)  until Two Weeks o.o.p.

At this tender young age, your joey's appetite will be seemingly constant but not very large. Make sure the joey is warm before you start to try feeding it, or it won't eat. The joey will need to be fed every hour around the clock until it is about 2 weeks o.o.p. It will probably cry when it is hungry. The cry sounds like "Nyitch, nyitch, nyitch" normally being a three-syllable vocalization. This is not to be confused with crabbing. Joeys very rarely crab.

For feeding, you can use a French catheter #5, cut to 3" length, attached to a 1.0 cc syringe -or-  a 2 oz. PetAg baby bottle, with the tip of the nipple trimmed off slightly -or- a 0.5 cc syringe. Make sure the formula is lukewarm. When you place a drop of the formula on the inside of your wrist, you should feel no temperature at all.

It is very important to gradually wean the joey over to whichever replacement formula you decide to use for your joey in order to prevent bloating. To do this, simply follow the plan outlined here:

     Day 1: 25% replacement formula, 75% Pedialyte

     Day 2: 50% replacement formula, 50% Pedialyte

     Day 3: 75% replacement formula, 25% Pedialyte

     Day 4: 100% replacement formula

Loosely wrap the joey in a small fleece blanket or facial tissue leaving just the head and arms exposed. Then, gently holding the joey in one hand, squeeze just a small drop of formula onto the joey's lips. Do not place the nipple into the joey's mouth. Your joey should lap the formula off of its lips, continue to gently place one drop at a time onto its lips until the joey is full. Note that your joey may not know how to lap up the formula at first. If you place a drop on the joey's lips and it does not lick it off right away, then gently rub the end of the joey's nose with your fingertip until it licks the drop of formula off of its lips. You may need to repeat this a few times until it learns to do it on its own. Also note that the joey may only eat a few drops for the first couple of feedings. If that is the case, then try to feed it every 20-30 minutes at first until it does drink until full.  

Using a #5 French Catheter to Hand Feed a Joey

If the joey is even slightly dehydrated, you should start with 100% Pedialyte for the first 24 hours of feedings. This will help the joey to become rehydrated. I always prefer to use apple-flavored Pedialyte because it seems that joeys drink it more readily than any of the other flavors. If you are unable to find the apple-flavored Pedialyte at your store, then use unflavored instead.

You can tell if the joey is full by looking at its tummy. Holding the joey up, you should be able to see a white area on its lower left abdomen. When the area is about the size of a dime, your joey will be full. It should take about .3 to .5 cc's (or ml) at this age to fill your joey up.

After feeding your joey, you will need to stimulate it to defecate & urinate. This is done by moistening a Q-tip and gently rubbing it over the joey's cloaca. You will also need to gently wipe the joey's face with a Cottonelle wipe to clean any excess formula from its mouth, chin and nose. You may need to clean the joey's hands and chest, as well. Note that a joey's urine is usually clear, so you will not "see" it on the Q-tip. The feces is normally a brownish-orange color and will be fairly soft until the joey is about five weeks old. Keep in mind that if the joey was dehydrated when you first found it, it may not defecate for the first 24 hours - that is normal and should not be of concern; however, if the joey does not defecate for more than 24 hours, there may be an abdominal blockage and immediate veterinary care is necessary.

Bloating: Prevention and Treatment

Many thanks to GC's Crescent for this information gleaned from the vets at Cornell University while hand-raising her rejected joey, Sky

To prevent bloating: When joeys (or any baby animal) are interrupted from their mother’s milk, introducing them to replacement formulas can present problems, especially if there is a complete and sudden change. Also, if one replacement formula is switched for another, that can present problems. These problems can be bloating, diarrhea or other intestinal distress.

Supplemental feedings: When the babies are fed supplemental feedings, there is less likely to be a problem with introducing another formula. Or, if the babies are fed supplementally over a few days and gradually switched to an alternate food source, there is less likely to be a problem.Complete change: If the joey is completely changing from mother’s milk to replacement formula, ideally, the change should be made over 4 days.

Dealing with bloating: Your joey can die from bloating and digestive distress. Bloating is serious. Bloating can be treated with "Little Tummies" – simethicone for infants. Mix 1 drop (.05 cc) per 1.0 cc feeding. Continue until bloating significantly reduces.

Dealing with little weight gain on Baby BML: Many people have had good success with Baby BML. However, some joeys will not properly gain weight on baby BML, even though they are eating the proper amount. It is impossible to say all the reasons a joey will not gain weight. We do know that sometimes a joey may not gain weight because its system is not mature enough to completely digest the baby BML.

How can you tell if your joey is having this problem? If you are using Baby BML and your joey is not gaining weight, your vet can check a stool sample to see if there is undigested food in the stool. Undigested food indicates that food is passing through the joey’s system and not being properly digested or converted to energy for growth. If this is the case, you should switch to Joey Formula which is easier to digest. The switch should be made gradually over 4 days using the process outlined above. An immediate switch from one formula to another can cause bloating and other digestive problems.

Dealing with chronic diarrhea & loss of weight and increasing weakness: If you have a joey that does not gain weight or begins to lose weight over several days and then develops diarrhea, your joey is at significant risk. He may be at the end of his energy reserves. If he does not have a quick source of energy, he can die quickly. This treatment can help: Add .05 cc canola oil for a 1.0 cc feeding. Do this until weight gain begins to be established.

Hand-Feeding Your Joey

Two to Four Weeks o.o.p.

Once the joey is between two and four weeks out-of-pouch, the technique for hand-feeding it is almost identical to that for feeding a newly o.o.p. joey, except that the joey should now eat between 0.5 to 1.0 cc's per feeding and should only need to be fed every two hours or so around the clock. Also, at this age, your joey may start to urinate while drinking; therefore, place a folded facial tissue against the joey's cloaca while feeding it to absorb any urine.

Bottle Feeding a Joey

Hand-Feeding Your Joey

Four to Six Weeks o.o.p.

By this time, your joey should be eating 1.0 to 2.0 cc's (or ml's) of formula at a time and should only need to be fed every 3 to 4 hours around the clock. Your joey should be urinating on its own by now. You can introduce your joey to drinking from a shallow dish at this point. Put  one or two tsp. of formula into a shallow dish. Place the dish on top of some paper towelling to absorb any spills and urine. If your joey does not immediately start to lap up the formula, try gently dipping the tip of its mouth down into the formula. It should lick the formula off its lips and then figure out how to drink from the dish on its own. This method of feeding can be very messy. Your joey will step in and walk through the dish. It will also shake its head periodically, flinging formula everywhere. This is normal. Be ready with some Cottonelle wipes to clean your joey up after it is done eating.

Suz' Cricky & Scruffy Eating Their Formula

Hand-Feeding Your Joey

6 to 8 Weeks o.o.p.

When your joey is six to eight weeks out-of-pouch, it will now be in the final stage before being weaned. It should be defecating on its own by now and should have almost all of its fur. Its tail should be starting to become fluffy and look more like an adult sugar glider's tail.

Suz' Allira Explores Her Cage

At this time, you can take the joey out of the incubator and put it into a small cage. If there is a removable wire grid in the bottom of the cage, remove it. Line the bottom of the cage with multiple layers of fleece and put your joey's stuffed animal inside the cage for it to cuddle and play with. You may want to place a human heating pad (set on low) under the cage. First wrap the heating pad in multiple layers of towelling (3 or 4 layers) to prevent the cage from getting too hot. Then set the cage on top of the heating pad/towels. Your joey will wander around the cage during the night.

Suz' Allira Eats Her Formula

Your joey is now ready to be introduced to other foods. Purchase a variety of fruit and vegetable baby foods. (Make sure there is not any garlic or onion powder in them before you buy them.) Mix equal parts formula or baby BML with baby food. Offer two different flavors plus plain formula or baby BML each night. Your joey will be able to pick and choose which foods it wants each night. Refrigerate any unused portions of baby food for use a few nights later. You will probably throw out more than half of each jar of baby food since it should not be kept for longer than a week in the refrigerator. For this reason, only buy the smallest jar possible. You should place the food into the cage each evening so that your joey can eat at will throughout the night. Take out the leftovers each morning. Your joey should no longer need to be fed during the daytime. Slowly start introducing solid foods to your joey a bit at a time. 

What Do You Need?

Whether hand-raising or supplement-feeding a joey, there are many items you will need. It is best to purchase these items before a situation arises and keep them together in a handy location so you are not scrambling for them in a panic. Due to popular demand, I now offer a complete Rejected Joey Kit that has everything you will need to get started. If you'd prefer, you can purchase the items individually on your own as listed below.

For feeding, you will need one of the following:

• French catheter #5 plus a 1.0 cc syringe, both of which you should be able to purchase from your veterinarian -or- you can order from me
• 2 oz. PetAg® baby bottle for kittens/puppies, which you should be able to purchase from a pet store
• 0.5 cc syringe, which you should be able to purchase from your veterinarian.

For making an incubator, you will need:

• 10 gallon glass aquarium with cage cover
• Small (8"x8") Heat Wave® Reptile Heat Pad by ExoTerra®

-or-

• one of the following plastic containers:
  • 2 gallon Rubbermaid® storage container with lid -or-
  • 6"x8" Critter Keeper plastic tank
• human heating pad (without auto shut-off),which can be found at KMart
• 2 large, thick bath towels

-plus-

• one of the following thermometers:
  • Fluker’s® aquarium thermometer, available at most pet stores -or-
  • Acu-Rite® wireless thermometer, available at Wal-Mart or KMart in the hardware section
• Misting spray bottle with water
• Hand towel
• 2 washcloths
• Small baby-safe stuffed animal (with no loose threads)
• 6 small fleece blankets (approx. 6" square)*
• 2 large fleece blankets (approx. 12" x 12")*

  *Fleece blankets can be easily made. Simply purchase two yards of fleece then cut it into the appropriately sized blankets. Fleece does not fray, so no hemming is necessary.

Other items you will need include:

• Supplies for making Baby BML or Joey Formula (recipes follow)
• Pedialyte® or Liquilyte® (available at most grocery stores near the baby foods)
• Q-tips®
• Facial Tissues
• one of the following types of hypoallergenic wet wipes:
  • Cottonelle Fresh® Folded Wipes
  • Pure 'N Gentle® Wet Wipes

Recipes for Hand-Feeding

There are two choices for hand-feeding your joey. If you already feed your gliders BML (Bourbon's Modified Leadbeater's Mix), then you will probably want to feed your joey Baby BML. If you already use Gliderade as part of your gliders' diet, you will probably want to feed your joey my Joey Formula. Both are used with a high success rate. The choice is really yours to make. Both recipes make up a larger quantity than you will need right away. Refrigerate for 2 - 3 days or freeze the unused portion.

Joey Formula

Mix the following ingredients together until very smooth:

2 Tbsp. Pedialyte -or- Gerber's Liquilyte (apple or unflavored)

1/2 tsp. Gliderade powder

1/2 tsp. Brisky’s Booster Milk (-or- Wambaroo® Possum Milk Replacer -or- Esbilac puppy formula) powder

1 tsp.* dry baby cereal

       *This amount is for a “newborn” joey.

         For a Premature joey, eliminate the cereal entirely.

         For a 2 - 4 weeks o.o.p. joey, increase the baby cereal to 1 1/2 tsp.

         For a 4 - 6 weeks o.o.p. joey, increase the baby cereal to 2 tsp.

         For a 6 - 8 weeks o.o.p. joey, increase the baby cereal to 1 Tbsp.

How to Make the Incubator

There are two types of incubators that you can easily make for your joey, a simple tank-style incubator or a simple bucket-style incubator. Whichever style you choose, you should assemble it in advance of needing it so that you can start to use it immediately when necessary. Either style works quite well. It is simply a matter of personal preference as to which style you choose.

1)  For the tank-style incubator, attach the small Heat Wave Reptile Heat Pad (follow instructions included in its package) to the bottom, underside (outside) of the aquarium at one end. This will keep the incubator between 85 & 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the bucket-style incubator, drill about 2 dozen holes into the lid of the Rubbermaid storage container -or- use a 6"x8" Critter Keeper with lid. Then, lay the two large, thick bath towels flat together, place the human heating pad in the center of them, then fold both ends of the towel in over top of the heating pad so that there are two layers of towel underneath the heating pad and four layers on top of it. Place the Rubbermaid container on top of the layered toweling.

2) Place the thermometer on the inside, bottom of the aquarium at the end with the heat pad or at the inside, bottom center of the bucket-stype incubator. This will enable you to monitor the temperature of the bottom of the incubator to ensure that it does not get over 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

3)  Using the misting spray bottle, spray one washcloth with water, then lay it on the bottom of the tank at the end where the heating pad is located. This will keep the incubator humid so your joey does not get dry, flaky skin. The washcloth will need to be freshly sprayed with water every 6-8 hours.

4)  Lay two or three large fleece blankets along the bottom of the tank over the top of the damp washcloth. This will insulate your joey from getting burned by the heater.

5)  Place the small stuffed animal in one corner of the incubator for snuggly warmth and companionship for your joey.

6)  Place a small fleece blanket into each of remaining three corners of incubator.

When the incubator is needed:

1) Plug in the heating pad. For the bucket-style incubator, set the heating pad on "low" (note that if the heating pad has an "automatic shut-off" feature, you will need to turn it back on every 2 hours while the joey is inside the incubator).

2)  Place the joey inside the incubator, wrapped in a small fleece blanket or in a joey pouch, towards the center of the tank.

3)  Cover the tank with the lid.

4)  You may need to lay a handtowel over the top of the lid to prevent drafts from getting into the incubator.