Breeding your Pet Southern Flying Squirrels
Brought to you by: The Pets at Pet Care Tips


There has only been limited scientific research into the
mating and breeding habits and requirements for Southern
Flying Squirrels, but there are also available some
observations and experiences of pet owners who have
successfully bred their own pets, so this article is based
on the reports of pet breeders and biologists alike.

Southern Flying Squirrels reach breeding maturity at one to
two years old and will mate readily at that age. In the wild
breeding females often aggressively protect small to large
territories of an acre or more (depending on the density of
the squirrel population and the number of suitable nesting
holes in the area) around their established nests.

Male Southern Flying Squirrels, on the other hand, are less
aggressive and often two or three will share the same nest
in the summer. (In the winter up to twenty flying squirrels
of both genders may share the same nest cavity, presumably for
warmth.)

When a female comes into heat male squirrels will seek out
the female even from great distances, but once breeding is
accomplished the males go on about their business and don't
help with raising the young. If you are breeding flying
squirrels in captivity you should provide a nest box for
both the male and female squirrels while they are together.
While they are breeding they will stay together in one nest,
but within a few days of when the female is ready to birth
her pups she will move to the vacant nest.

The gestation period is about forty days, and in the wild
new litters are normally found twice a year, in spring and
late summer or early autumn. In captivity they have been
seen to breed three times per year if allowed to do so. (It
is not necessarily good for the health of the female to
breed her that many times per year, however.)

An average litter is two to four pups, but some have been as
large as eight pups. Be sure to provide a large cage for
your breeding female flying squirrel so that there will be
no stress from overcrowding, especially if she has a larger
litter, because such stress can lead to cannibalism or
illness.

The baby flying squirrels will weigh .1 to .2 ounces (three
to five grams) at birth and will be blind except
for tiny whiskers. When they are about four weeks old their
eyes will open and by the time they are one to one and one
half months old they will have all their fur and be nearly
as large as their parents. In captivity they can live for as
long as fifteen years, although in the wild they seldom make
it past five years old.

In the wild the young squirrels stay with their mother until
she has her next litter, but if your baby squirrels are
intended to be pets, they should be hand fed Esbilac until
they can eat solid food, carried in bonding pouches close to
the skin on someone's body and petted often in order to
cause them to bond to humans.



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