Buddy and Belle's story started about 2 weeks before they came oop.  I
noticed that the edge of their mother's (Bates) pouch looked slightly swollen
and pink.  Since she obviously had twins in the pouch, I didn't want to
medicate her unless it was absolutely necessary.  The condition of Bates'
pouch remained stable with no additional swelling, and eventually Buddy &
Belle made their appearance.  Bates was taking good care of her joeys, as
usual, though the edge of her pouch remained pink and slightly swollen.  I
continued to moniter the situation and after the babies had been oop about 3
weeks, I noticed the the swelling had increased and the color had turned more
red than pink.  I decided that it was time to medicate Bates, so I started
checking on what type of medication wouldn't harm the joeys.  After a round
of phone calls, I went to check once more on how mama and joeys were doing.
At that time, I noticed that both joeys had bite marks on their noses.  Bates
had decided that it hurt too much to have her pouch stretched for nursing and
rejected both of them.  Now the real work began.

I removed Buddy & Belle from their parents cage into a small aquarium in my
living room.  I put a baby saver heating pad (purchased from Morton Jones
catalog) under part of the nest box to keep the joeys warm without
overheating them.  Then I started hand feeding the joeys every 2 hours around
the clock.  I hadn't heard of Clara's "Wombaroo Formula" yet, and the only
other thing I had been told worked was Nekton Lori which didn't sound right
to me.  So, I used a formula that I had success with before consisting of
food that seemed sensible to me.

Feeding #1 was Gerber Mixed Fruit Juice with Yogurt, mixed in equal parts
with warm water.  I fed them with a syringe by putting one drop at a time on
their lips and letting them lick it off.  I was very careful not to squeeze
the liquid into their mouths, because it is very easy to accidentally get
fluids into the lungs and kill them.  After feeding, I used a q-tip. damp
with warm water, to gently stroke their genitals and get them to defecate and
urinate.  This must be done before or after each feeding until you are sure
the joey's are going on their own.

Feeding #2 was Gerber stage 1 chicken mixed with an equal amount of stage one
sweet potatos and thinned with enough baby fruit juice so that it would go
through the syringe.  During the course of hand feeding, I used various stage
1 meats and vegetables, sweet potatos and carrots were prefered over green
beans and peas.

I continued to alternate the 2 feedings gradually lengthening the time
between night time feedings so that I could actually get 3 1/2 hours of sleep
at a time.  I also kept dry Mazuri Omnivore Feed in the cage at all times as
well as small pieces of fresh fruits.  That way I would more easily see when
Buddy & Belle were starting to be ready to be weaned.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Belle was finally eating solid foods and
rejecting the syringe.  She was ready to go to a loving home with her new
owner (Michelle).

Unfortunately, Buddy wasn't doing as well.  He had apparently not been as
persistent about nursing as Belle, and so he was much smaller than she when I
started hand feeding.  He tried to reject the syringe from the start, so I
was forced to feed him a drop at a time every half hour for about a week.  He
was still very small when Belle was ready to go.  I continued to hand feed
him for about 3 weeks after Belle was weaned.  He eventually started eating
solids and is now a large, sweet glider.  Buddy is still here with me,
because after all the extra time I spent with him, I just couldn't bear to
have him go to a new home.

I do not suggest hand-feeding babies just to make them sweeter.  Mother's
milk is always best for gliders whenever possible.  However, if you need to
hand-feed, it is possible to do it and save your orphaned or rejected babies.

P.S.  Bates had a slight scratch on the edge of her pouch which cleared right
up with neosporin applied 3 times a day for a week.