When Ginger gets pregnant!

From what i know, sugar gliders get pregnant for only approximately 16 days. After that, the tiny baby who we call 'joey', crawls to the mother's pouch. I dunno whether they crawl ke ape. Not sure. Anyway, after that the joey will grow in the mother's pouch while drinking the milk. Lebih kurang macam tu la. They will stay in the pouch for 2 months. 

After Glittle bonded with Ginger, became husband and wife, I never expected Ginger to get pregnant. I mean, teringin tu mesti la tapi takdela tertunggu-tunggu. Until, the 1st of February 2011...

I saw a big lump on Ginger's tummy. I was SOOO EXCITED so I asked some experienced preggie sugar glider owners. And yep! They said Ginger was pregnant! Or in sugar glider terms, we call them "in-pouch" because she is not actually pregnant anymore coz the joeys are already in her pouch. So, after really checking her pouch, I found lumps on both sides of her tummy, right and left. Alhamdulillah, there are two joeys inside there!

First time I noticed

After a few weeks

peek-a-boo!

During Ginger's in-pouch period, for the whole two months, I took care of her really carefully. What I did was:

1) No nail-clipping. Saya memang tak berani nak hantar Ginger pergi potong kuku because I am afraid that while we clip her nails, mana lah tahu ter-squeeze her joeys dalam perut ke kan. 

2) Take her wheel out from her cage. I didn't want Ginger to move much during this period sebab takut je apa apa jadi dengan joey die. Maybe I am being too paranoid, but hey, better ambil langkah selamat kan?

3) For the second month of her in-pouch, I started to put some cloth on the floor of the cage. Just incase the joey nak lahir dah ke. I mean, dia dah lahir, so tunggu die nak keluar dari perut. Takot kalau joey jatuh dekat celah jaringg di bawah cage ke kan. But kene selalu tukar cloth sebab cepat kotor.

4) Feed her double HPW. Ginger needs all the energy and the khasiat from the HPW for feeding the joeys. While the joeys are in her pouch, they mouth are attached to Ginger's milk so they just drink and drink and drink it.

5) Put extra fruits. I put extra fruits during this period to make sure that whenever Ginger gets hungry, there will always be food there. Tak nak lah bagi ibu mengandung lapar kan.

6) Let the husband be with the wife. Some people say that we should separate both of them during this period, but I don't think so. Glittle helped to groom Ginger. He didn't give Ginger trouble at all

Cage during pregnancy

So that's all yang saya lakukan in order for Ginger to have a good pregnancy. 

Alhamdulillah after exactly two months, the joeys are born! 

-ang! ang!-