by
Angel W.
Member since:
January 14, 2008
Photo by Angel W.
January 17, 2008 02:21 PM EST
(Updated: February 28, 2009 02:03 PM EST)
My Daisy showing me her first baby as it comes out of her pouch for the first time. A tail is such a convenient handle... lol
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Comments: 80
What kind of animal is Daisy?
You say pouch, must be a marsupial of some kind.
This is such a neat picture as you can actually see the baby! I'm wondering also what type of animal Daisy is?
How did you know it was about to give birth?
Angel
Have never heard of Sugar Gliders before, neat! Thanks so much for the information about these little creatures. How many babies do they usually have at one time and do you breed these adorable little marsupials?
They look so sweet! She must really trust you
They are extremely sweet little critters... if you get them that have been handled since they were this age or a little older and you get them at 8 weeks of age when they first leave their parents and are weaned. At that age they will bond to you as a family member and just want to spend their time snuggled up to you. Most owners carry them in a little pouch around their neck and most women with suggies just let them snuggle down for the day in the front of their bra. If you are ever in a restaurant and see a group of ladies sitting around a table dropping tidbits down the front of their shirts, do not be surprised if a sweet little face peeks out to grab a favored food or just to look around and be part of the group. They are very social animals and they like to have someone to cuddle and snuggle. My suggies do trust me and regard me as one of them... just an extremely large suggie....
Trying to handle a suggie who is not tame or who does not wish to be handled is somewhat like grabbing hold of a very small, but determined wolverine. I have handled wild caught adult suggies and it is not a pleasant experience. Although they are not endangered, wild caught suggies are no longer exported from Australia and most of the suggies in this country are now captive bred. They have one or two babies at a time. Rarely a suggie will have three, but most are not able to survive with three in the wild and they usually need a little help in captivity. They have 4 teats in the pouch, and sometimes have as many as four joeys of different ages in pouch and in various stages of OOP, out of pouch, at a time. They will have two or three sets of joeys a year.
Pictures like this are extremely rare... actually one of kind.... My son and I have been extremely lucky to capture some of these precious moments with Daisy and her babies. We have never allowed them to be published before. We have been approached by publishers who want to use them as illustrations in books, etc. I would not allow them to be published unless I had approval rights to the text. There is a great deal of misinformation about sugar gliders out there.
Most suggies are very secretive and protective of their babies and trust no human with them until they are older and more independent. And yes, she was looking for someone to whom she could hand the little ones off . The daddy suggie usually provides baby sitting services, as the young babies cannot regulate their own body temperatures and must be snuggled at all times to keep them warm. Daddy does snuggle duty while Momma plays and eats each day. When they get a couple of weeks old they ride everywhere on the backs of Momma and Daddy.... it is so cute.
Well, maybe I should just polish this up into an article... lol
The Suggie Lady...... Angel
They make the wildest sounds don't they?
And yes, they make a wide variety of little chirps, and chortles and they have a tiny little bark and most of all they like to snuggle and of course to eat..... and to me their fur feels softer than that of a chinchilla, although some people think chin fur is softer....
I have another pix of Daisy I will try to get up tonight... I have this ancient creaking laptop with only 192k of memory that just does not let me do much with pix... but if I can make it work, I have a pix ready to upload that is of Daisy looking into her pouch right after the babies were born and crawled in. She has such a look of love on her little face. It is my favorite pix......
Angel
i don't know how i feel about it playing show and tell with it's baby though.
The Suggie Lady... Angel
This picture was taken 8 weeks after the picture of her looking down into her pouch. It is the same little joey in both pictures.... in the first he was only the size of a grain of rice and 8 weeks later you see how large he has grown....
Angel
The Suggie Lady.... as I am known around the neighborhood... lol
An unbonded suggie does not make a good pet.... In the wild, they are ferocious fighters. And they are fast..... amazingly fast. I have handled wild suggies and they can hurt you.
Mine are very tame and sweet. I got them at the right age and they come from good stock with sweet temperaments. You have to hold them at least 30 minutes a day for the first few weeks when you get them so they can bond to you. And I took a piece of fleece and wore it next to my skin and then put it into their cage with them at first so they would smell me on their bedding... They are very sensitive to the smell of their own family for identification....
Be careful of suggies being advertised for sale on the internet......
Angel
What a great photo!!
Most of the time the creatures we saved were raised to a successful life in the wild, with some transition time. Most of them had wild instincts that eventually kicked in. However, not all of them did. I have always looked on the responsibility of caring for an animal to be one not taken lightly and your posts and comments are very encouraging. Clearly, you are a loving caretaker of your sugar glider. What a joy to see this photo, had never seen anything like it!
Great article and I love the photo.
Maybe you should be the one to write the book on these critters. Though as an informative piece of work so as not to cause people to go out and try to buy one or to and not care for them properly.
Thank you for posting.
Blessings
Great photo. I loved meeting Miss. Daisy.
RJ :o)
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I've thought of getting a sugar glider before, but have stuck to the pets that I am comfortable with right now- my dogs and pet rats. I love raffins (rats) and I understand your passion for your suggies as that is how I feel about my raffins.