Tazz and Mango, our 2 sugies, just had 2 joeys just over 1 week ago. We had long given up hope and considered them to be retired breeders and then BOOM we have 2 little boys.

Both Mango and Tazz are super close (bonded) to us and I don't get any crabbing/biting/etc. My question is, while Mango is out having mommy time and eatting, can I hold Eeyore and Roo for a prolonged time? She's usually out and about for 45 mins sometimes up to 2 hours before she goes back to them. As long as I give them body heat like Tazz would, they should be ok right? I hold them in my hands with one of the parents blankies and they don't even cry for their parents...

Congratulations! My Ripley is 2 weeks oop. I started picking her up from day 1 feeding mom worms and crickets 2-3 times a day with no worries. Now I take the family into the tent and while mom and pop run amok I snuggle with the baby. Momma never worries..she is more interested in the mealies. I never used a blanket. Just kept her closed in my hand, or close to chest in bra..never to early for bra training..your own body heat is good as well. I am holding her for about 20 min at a time now.

Most people don't hold them long at all until about 3 or 4 weeks OOP.

Most will hold them long enough to inspect them and weigh them.

You can slowly work up to longer times as they get older.

Somewhere on glider central I found a link to a breeder's site that gave clear guidelines as to how long to hold the joey starting from 1 week oop. That is what I was going by. Look for it.

Found it..subforum breeding basics..joey development. ..how long to hold joeys for..
Excellent post.

Whoops that's subforum breeding 101 .
The author is Glider Nursery