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T O P I C    R E V I E W
antho91 Posted - Dec 09 2014 : 11:34:58 PM
I have just got my sugar gliders last night and they seem to be very anxious and stress. They kept crabbing at me, and even tried to lunged at me once. I have kept them under the fleece and they have been sleeping the whole morning.

Is there any advice for a sugar glider first timer? What must I take note of? What can I do to help them to de-stress sooner?
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Candy Posted - Dec 10 2014 : 09:58:48 AM
Welcome to the forum and to glider parenthood.

quote:
I have just got my sugar gliders last night and they seem to be very anxious and stress. They kept crabbing at me, and even tried to lunged at me once. I have kept them under the fleece and they have been sleeping the whole morning.


If they were crabbing and lunging at you when you first brought them home - it was because they are frightened of all the new things in their world. If they are young joeys they may also have just been separated from their parents and are feeling frightend by that as well.

I am not sure what you mean by keeping them "under the fleece". Gliders need a fleece sleeping pouch hung in the cage for a cozy and warm place to sleep. Sugar Gliders are nocturnal animals and they sleep from a little before sun rise until late evening.

They may sleeping under the fleece (at the 12:30 am time of your post) while you are holding them because they are not yet comfortable with you and are afraid to come out. It may also be because you are holding them in an area where the lights are on and they prefer to hide in their pouch when the lights are on. Most gliders will not come out to play until the room is dark with only minimal light such as a night light or the light from the screen of a laptop or tablet computer.

Gliders need a few days in a new home to adjust to their new WORLD. Everything around them is new - sights, sounds and scents that they have never experienced before as well as a new cage and new humans around them.

Give them a few days to just chill out in their cage. Talk to them quietly when you are near the cage. Some people even read to their gliders just to have something to say - this helps them become familiar with your voice.

Tuck a few 3-4 inch squares of fleece in your clothing or sleep with them in your pillowcase over night to get your scent on the fleece. Then tuck the fleece 'blankies' into the glider's sleeping pouch to help them get comfortable with your scent.

Bonding takes time. It requires the gliders learning to trust you and your hands. Be patient with them and you will be off to a good start.

As for other advice - make sure you have them on a well balanced diet consisting of a Nectar-like staple to provide protein, vitamins and calcium and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. If your breeder recommended a dry pellet diet, you may want to look at better options. I have links on my web page to help you locate information on several good diets you can choose from. My own GliderKids feeding plan is one of the options.

http://www.gliderkids-diet.com/Staple-Recipes.html




denparkin Posted - Dec 10 2014 : 07:46:48 AM
I am a brand new sugar glider owner as well, and my advice is to go very slow! I didn't touch mine for the first two days so that they could get use to the smell of a new house and the new cage first without the extra stress. I did put in a square of fleece that smelt like me in their pouch though.

For the next week I only took them out of the cage in their pouch during the day when they were less active. I would hold the pouch on my lap when watching TV, and cup my hands around the outside of the pouch. At first I did this only for a very short time and built it up to longer periods. Crabbing got noticeably less.

By week two I started rolling the fleece pouch down a little while in my lap and started dropping mealworms down the side in front of their faces. As I got more comfortable they had to take them from my flat hand (then progressed to holding them between my fingers).

By this point I also started making a tight fist and slowly putting it in their pouch while it was on my lap and leaving it there while they slept (I would watch a movie). They would sniff it and grab at it sometimes. Once I got a little nibble that didn't hurt. As I got ever more confident, I started cupping my hand around them while they were in the pouch. They seemed to like the warmth of my hands.

Next step was to take them into my glider safe bathroom and roll the pouch all the way down so they were pretty much no longer in it. I would feed them meal worms from my hand and they would start to explore by crawling over me. It is important not to chase them around with your hands at this point or they will get frightened! Instead put the pouch in front of them and let them go into it themselves when it is time to put them away.

I am now at the point where I can roll down the pouch and cup them with my hands to pick them up with no crabbing at all. They also come to my hand while in their cage at nighttime to grab yogurt treats. I am patient and don't chase them around the cage.

My two boys Sydney and Melbourne barely crab at all anymore, and when they do it's for a very short time. I think it's because they know they always get a treat from me.

Hope this helps!


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