by Liza Cameron Wasser

Created on: March 03, 2009

The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a marsupial possum found in eastern and northern Australia, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Tasmania. Possums should not be confused with opossums, which are a North American marsupial.

Marsupials are interesting mammals in that they give live birth to young before they are fully developed. The placental gestational period is extremely short. After the babies are born they finish their development in the mother's pouch before emerging into the world.

Sugar gliders mate all year round and can produce two or three litters a year. The female's estrous cycle is 29 days. The litter size of sugar gliders is between one to four babies, called joeys, with two being the most common number of joeys. Litters of three or four joeys are very rare. Female sugar gliders have two separate vaginas and two cervixes. They also have a divided uterus. This means that a mother can have two babies in different stages of development. Sugar gliders reach sexual maturity between 8 and 14 months of age.

The placental gestation of sugar gliders is 16 days. The joeys move into their mother's pouch and remain there for two more months. When they first enter the pouch they are blind, deaf and hairless. Their ears are fused to their heads. The mother has four nipples in her pouch for feeding and when the joey enters the pouch it attaches itself to a nipple, where it continues its development. It is important that the joey not become detached from the nipple during this time. When the joey first attaches, the nipple swells and holds the joey in place. If the joey is dislodged, it will be unable to re-attach itself and will die. At this point in time, the joey weighs about .2 grams and is 5 mm long, about the size of a grain of rice.

Joeys remain in the pouch for around eight to nine weeks. Sugar gliders emerge from the pouch with fuzz-like fur, although their bellies will still be pink and hairless. Their ears will begin to pop out from their heads where they had previously been fused. In the last two months they have increased their weight from .2 grams to between 12 and 18 grams, an increase of 60 to 90 times what they weighed as they entered the pouch.

Their eyes open about 7 to 10 days later and they should be able to hear by then.

After emerging from the pouch, they cling to and ride on the back of their mother or father. They return to the pouch to nurse and are fully weaned at about five months old.

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