I have a ~5 week old joey who still is not meeting any of the typical marks that joeys should be meeting at this point. The parents have done a good job taking care of him (or it at least seems this way), including his aunt. However, he does not ride around with mom or dad, if I give him to mom, she will take him back to the pouch. They do periodically check on him while he is in the pouch and he does not cry for them too often. This morning I found him in the bottom of the cage by himself. He was not moving well at all, very weak, dehydrated, and has lost some weight. I have been hand feeding him throughout the day and he is looking much better than when I found him this morning. I tried giving him back to mom tonight and all three "parents" joined in to clean him up, but they left him on the bottom of the cage while they play and periodically check up. Is there anything else I should be doing for him? I am not sure why he is not developing like he should be, any ideas about that?

Sorry that no one has answered you yet, this forum tends to slow down on Sundays. I hope things work out for the youngin'.

Thank you so much! That is kind of what I was thinking but I have never had to deal with this so I was not sure. He does not walk well by any means, he will go in a circle from not using a front leg or one of his back legs is off the ground with his back arched. Do they typically walk pretty weird and not efficiently at all whole they are learning or should I be more concerned something is potentially wrong?

Last night, after the parents groomed him, he sat in the corner of the cage for awhile by himself before making it to the pouch. I did not see him out of the pouch again after that.

I would say that a trip to the vet is needed. I would also take mom and dad.

That is immediately what I thought when I first saw it. However, since he was weak and dehydrated, I was hoping that it was just due to the weakness. I was already planning on taking him in. Thank you everyone!

Update: He is now walking like a normal sugar glider! I have not been able to get him into a vet yet but he is doing much better with being fed on top of what he is getting from mom.