Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My breeding pair has a little joey that opened his eyes yesterday. Today and yesterday, I have been taking the joey out and putting him in a seperate cage for two to three hours before returning him to his parents. In his gace is a bowl with apple juice and a bowl of fruit. But I see that he doesn't even touch it. How long should I keep taking him out and putting him in his own cage? When should I completely seperate him? Shouldn't he be eating by now?
Thanks for any help.

Why in the world did you take him from his parents?

Number One: If the female becomes pregnant, she kicks the baby out. If the baby has no where to go (stuck in a cage with her), the mother will kill and eat the baby.
Number Two: So one of the parents do not breed with the baby as it gets older.
Number Three: So I can sell the baby.

Baby animals don't stay with their parents their entire lives in the wild, you know...

Oh nononono!!!! And No some more! Oh dear. you are taking it WAY too soon! It just opened its eyes. Its still drinking moms milk! It will take it a few more weeks till it stops drinking from mom and eating completely on its own first off. Secondly. It will not come into breeding age till at the very LEAST 9 MONTHS old. So you dont have to worry about that right now! Thirdly. The mom will NOT eat the baby at this age! If the mom would have ever eaten it it would have been when it was still hairless and tiny, and be from a bad diet or a mistake. At this age NONE of the gliders will harm the baby. Wether they get pregnant again or not. The baby is part of the familly. and they LOVE thier famillies! And lastly you cant leave the little baby in another cage by itself right now anyhow. It is still too young to keep its body heat and will get very cold, get sick, and die! Yes, it has alot of fur and its eyes are open. But it is still not able to do these things. Leave it with mom till you notice it eating on its own in the cage with them, then leave it in there at least a few more weeks to make sure it is COMPLETELY weaned before removing it to sell. Just because you see it eating doesnt mean it is weaned. It means it is learning and is still getting its tummy used to the new foods. It stilll needs moms milk. Its tummy isnt ready to just make that leap. Just like a new born human baby. You dont just pull it off the tit and force it to eat grown up food. You do it very slowly getting babies tummy used to it. Make sense?
Its eyes just opened. Its world just opened up to it. Now it is learning how to use its limbs to get from place to place. Find food. See its familly, see you.
Again, look at it this way. A puppy is born with its eyes closed. And they remain closed for a few weeks. But once they open they are still drinking moms milk. YOu dont just take them from her and make them eat puppy food! That would kill them!
So I hope you are a bit more patient and do a bit more research before you try this again.

I posted that message almost a month ago, and did more research since no one helped me here. And I have left the baby with the parents. But, thanks, I guess.