How Many Babies do Sugar Gliders Have?

Last Updated on March 8, 2023 by Woody Pet

 How Many Babies Sugar Gliders Have? Ever Wondered

Sugar gliders are happier and healthier when in a company, and therefore pet owners are suggested to have them in pairs. A male and female sugar glider makes a perfect couple, for they keep each other engaged and mate to start a family. Nevertheless, before bringing two sugar gliders into your house, you may want to know how many babies do sugar gliders have for obvious reasons.

 

 

At a time, sugar gliders can have one or two babies or joeys as they are commonly known. You, as a responsible owner, may want to know more than the number of babies sugar gliders can have. For instance, the gestation duration, mating, and safety of the newly born sugar gliders should also be your concern.

Having two sugar gliders at home might make you happy. However, if you do not want the house to be overtaken by the joeys, you would need to make a wise decision of keeping male and female sugar gliders together in a cage for a limited time, for they are more likely to mate inside the family.

Will Sugar Gliders Mate With Their Offspring?

The cute-looking pets are adorable friends to have. They make a great companion and are quite playful. After having one sugar glider, you may decide to put two gliders in one cage and allow them to start a family. However, it is wise to drop the idea of putting the entire sugar glider family together in a cage so they can mate with their offspring.

There is nothing wrong to brood over the thought of ‘will sugar gliders mate with their offspring.’ Inbreeding is quite common in sugar gliders and among other pets such as dogs. If you choose to keep one male sugar glider with a couple of female sugar gliders, they would undoubtedly mate and produce lots of joeys.

Sugar gliders can mate with the offspring as well as siblings and add young to the family. Once a female sugar glider gives birth to a baby, the mother with the baby should be put in another cage until the sugar glider care for the joeys in her pouch. 

The joeys stay in the mother’s pouch for 70-74 days. Sexual maturity in sugar gliders arrives at the age of eight to 12 months in females and 12-15 months in males.

Do Sugar Gliders Eat Their Babies?

Looking up for the answer to the question, ‘do sugar gliders eat their babies’ you might be shocked to know that yes, joeys can be eaten up by their parents. Sugar gliders usually eat their babies when caught in a stressful environment. Therefore, it is advisable to take special care of the sugar gliders during the weaning time.

Joeys open their eyes after ten days of leaving the pouch, and they take almost a month to complete weaning. This time could be very stressful for the mother as she prepares herself for the next baby. She may want the joeys to leave her alone, but the babies may be dependent on her. Frustration can loom over the mother sugar glider, and she may eat her offspring. This is one sad fact and unusual behavior of the sugar gliders that one needs to keep in mind while allowing the exotic pet to mate and enter the gestation period.

How Long Are Sugar Gliders Pregnant?

The usual gestation period of sugar gliders is 15-17 days. Pet owners should exactly know how long are sugar gliders pregnant to calculate the date when the joeys would enter the world. The joeys move to the pouch of their mother soon after birth, where they stay for almost three months. Pet owners will have to take extra care of the mother and baby to ensure their safe and healthy stay.

 Caring for Baby Sugar Gliders

Newly born sugar gliders may need extra care, especially if they are underdeveloped and are at a high risk of dehydration. Dehydration is one of the most common health issues among the joeys. The baby sugar gliders need water as much as food. When being hand-fed, introduce water with the help of a dropper. Sugar gliders are highly maintained pets. How much you will have to care for them largely depend on how many babies sugar gliders have. If there are more than two sugar gliders, you may have to be on your toes as the little ones, and the mother may need more nutrition and proteins for good health.

Can I Watch Sugar Glider Giving Birth?

Of course, you can watch a sugar glider giving birth. But, ensure you do not make her feel uncomfortable in any way. There is no more joy than having offspring. During the process of giving birth, the mother sugar glider may roll in to lick the babies and help them move to the pouch where they will stay until they are ready for the outer world.

To help the mother sugar glider give birth, you can put a soft pouch or fleece inside her cage that she can use to get inside for a comfortable environment during the delivery process. She may need some personal time, so make sure you don’t touch her quite often. She would make different body postures to let the babies come out from her body and immigrate to the pouch.

How Many Babies do Sugar Gliders Have Conclusion:

Sugar gliders are tiny exotic pets. They are small in size, just like squirrels, and can glide in the air. The cuteness that they bring to the owner’s home is unmatched. Once you have a sugar glider, you may wish to have an entire family of it.

Here you need to be extra careful as inner breeding is quite common among them, which means they can mate with their offspring as well as siblings. How many babies sugar gliders have primarily depended on the number of female and male sugar gliders sharing the cage. Two female and one male sugar glider could roughly mean a total of 10-12 joeys in a year.

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