Gender Differentiation
Male gliders have two penises. New glider owners often
mistake them for worms. You will most likely only see his penises when he
is sexually active, but they can come out at any time. Male gliders also
have a fully furred scrotal sack that hangs from their lower abdomen.
When a male glider is relaxed, his scrotal sack will hang from a strand of skin
that is about ¼ of and inch long. When gliding, jumping, or running, the
male will pull his sack close to his body. A male glider’s testes have
usually completed the descent into the scrotal sack by the time he is eighty
days old (a little over a week old).
Female gliders have two uteruses and two vaginas. As I
will say a bit later, female gliders don’t have a permanent birth canal. A
temporary canal forms shortly before the birth of the joeys, and it closes
rapidly after the joeys are born. A female glider has a pouch on her lower
abdomen. Inside the pouch it is warm and humid. The female has four
nipples inside her pouch. The fur in and around her pouch will become
stained if she has had joeys. The female to the left has been nursing two large
joeys, so two of her teats have become enlarged. Notice the rust colored
staining around and in her pouch area.
Sexual Maturity
Gliders can become sexually mature as early as four months
old. Because the age of maturity varies for each glider, be prepared for early
maturity. There is no physical change in a female glider that would indicate
that she has become sexually mature, so if you don’t want her to breed, you
need to separate her from an intact male before she reaches four months of age.
Even though a female can physically breed at a very young age, it is
recommended that you don’t breed females under ten months old. Female gliders
will dramatically slow down their reproduction at about four years of age, but
they might be able to produce joeys till they are as old as ten.Males have
two scent glands that will slowly lose their hair as they mature. These glands
are located on the forehead in the middle of their diamond stripe, and in the
middle of their chest. If you neuter a male glider, his two bald spots
will slowly fill in. Male gliders can reproduce throughout their entire lives
once they have reached maturity.
Mating and Pregnancy
Gliders are seasonal breeders in the wild. Gliders generally
live in colonies of five to fifteen animals, and the dominate male will breed
with all of the females. In captivity, however, gliders will breed
throughout the year. Female gliders go into heat every twenty-nine days.
Ovulation usually occurs two days after the female goes into heat (estrous). If
a female is housed with an intact male, he will become very interested in her
when she goes into heat. The male will lick her cloaca and try to mount her
back. The female might make a hissing noise to indicate that she is ready to
mate. Sperm is transported very quickly, and within and hour the sperm is
in the uteri, cervices, or cervical canals. If the female becomes pregnant,
she will give birth sixteen days later.
Thx =)
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