Milk for Marsupials

Marsupials & monotremes are unique, in that they are born extremely undeveloped and reside in the mother’s pouch during early development. During pouch life they are almost entirely reliant on mother’s milk for nutrition. They then exit the pouch and feed on a combination of milk and solid foods until weaning. To cater for the changing needs of the young, the composition of marsupial milk changes significantly as the joey grows. Wombaroo formulas reflect these changes by producing staged milk replacers for different ages of kangaroos, possums, wombats, koalas & echidna.

Milks for kangaroos, possums & wombats are based on Age Factor which is the age of the joey divided by the age when it fully emerges from the pouch. Using Age Factor allows us to standardise the nutrient requirements for a range of related species that have different lengths of pouch life and growth rates. Refer to the How to Use Wombaroo guidelines under “More Information” to the right. Milks for Koala and Echidna (being specific for a single species) are simply categorised as either Early or Late Lactation.