Hi,
As I posted 3 weeks ago, I rescued a pair of white face gliders from an irresponsible owner, who fed them scrap pork, chicken, beef and pellets. Fast forward 3 weeks, after I feed them Judie's BML with fresh fruits and veggies, they are doing so much better! Their fur, that used to be matted, cracked, frizzy and soaked in piss and poops, are bright, clean and fuzzy. :)

I am taking them tomorrow to the vet to get another general up and maybe neuter the male. I hope things go well so I can put them in the same cage as my previous pair, wish me luck guys! :)

Here are some pictures I would like to share with you guys. [center]


Here is Ike getting comfy in his pouch


Upclose pic of Ike, I swear he is one good looking mother-effer, pardon my french. LoL


Piper let me hold her to sleep


The only thing that is still bothering her are the two bald spots on top of her head.


Here's a pic of them cuties together. Aren't they the cutest thing ever?

I will let you guys know what the vet says tomorrow and what's going to be done to Ike's pom. LoL

They are adorable!! Wonderful job! They deserve a good mommy like you!

love the pictures.

Great job, keep it up !!

Great job! They are adorable.

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Originally posted by Avbjessup

They are adorable!! Wonderful job! They deserve a good mommy like you!

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Thank you! The vet checked them out and he said that they are extremely healthy now. One of Piper's claw will not grow back *sad face* but otherwise, she's healthy and he said her bald spots were caused by stress and it should go away within 3-6 months. The neuter is scheduled next Tuesday and hopeful that will go well. Everything is going good so far, well aside from the introduction, my previous boy, Kirby, does not really like them very much and he had a fight with Piper, full blown out biting turn into a ball fight. :( I hope they will get along so I can put them together in 1 cage, and hopefully Kirby will be nicer after Ike's being neutered. (wishful thinking)

PS : I'm a guy.

I would wait a couple weeks after the neuter to let the hormone levels drop and to reduce the intact male scent. Then try the pouch & toy swapping for several days before you try intros again.

You may need to intro the new glider to one of the others, let them hang out together for a few days then do the pouch & toy swapping again before adding the other glider to the other two who will now share the scent of the original pair.

Just be patient, they will be fine together eventually.

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Originally posted by Candy

I would wait a couple weeks after the neuter to let the hormone levels drop and to reduce the intact male scent. Then try the pouch & toy swapping for several days before you try intros again.

You may need to intro the new glider to one of the others, let them hang out together for a few days then do the pouch & toy swapping again before adding the other glider to the other two who will now share the scent of the original pair.

Just be patient, they will be fine together eventually.

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Can you help me explain it in more depth for me? Do I introduce the new female(piper) to the previous pair (Kirby or Mimi), and then let them stay in a cage? Where should I put Mimi's pair (kirby) while they're going through all this? Does this mean I need a 3rd cage? To put Kirby on his own until Mimi and Ike get along well? Then what I do next? Do I start introducing Kirby to Ike when Mimi in the cage? Or should I introduce Kirby to Ike 1-on-1? Should I leave Piper until in the end for the introduction?

Thanks in advance! :)

If you have already done pouch and toy swapping, you might also trade cages for a night or too before doing the actual introductions.

I would choose the calmest glider of the pair and introduce that glider to the new one first - during the day in a neutral location such as the bathroom (many folks put the gliders in a clean bathtub with the drain closed for intros). Let the two explore each other and if there is no fighting, offer them a clean sleeping pouch and see if both will go in together, during the day they usually just want to go back to sleep.

If they both go in the pouch, and seem to settle down to sleep together, put that pouch in the larger of the 2 cages you have, and move the other glider to the smaller cage.

Let the new twosome stay together for a night or two, then do the pouch swapping again before you introduce the other glider to the new pair. By the time you do the 2nd intro, the 'new' glider will smell much like the other glider he has been with and the other member of the first pair will be more willing to accept him.

When ever you add a glider be sure to keep them where you can hear any arguments at night for the first night or two. Usually if they are willing to share a sleeping pouch for the day they will be fine when they wake up in the evening.

Until you see that the gliders are all willing to share a dish, put one more dish of food than there are gliders in the cage. (just divide up the food for the group) Put them in different locations in the cage, some high or on a shelf others on the floor of the cage or hanging from the side of the cage (hanging bird dishes work well). This is so No single glider can prevent the others from eating by guarding the food dish. Once you see that they all eat together from the same dishes, then you can reduce the number of feeding stations.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert and I have only done 3 introductions. This is how I have been doing it...

I've got a double wide cage that has a divider down the middle that can be removed. It is 65" wide, 34" tall, and 21" deep. With the divider in, each side becomes just about 32" wide, 34" tall, and 21" deep.

When I was doing my last set of introductions to get Ulalena mixed into my trio (Glitch, Obake and Kami) I moved her into one side of the cage, placed the divider down the center, and had the other three on the other side. I sewed a piece of fleece on the middle divider so that they could smell each other but not touch one another.(And this was AFTER the 30-quarantine period, obviously).

Every two days I would switch them on each side. That way all of them were peeing and pooping and playing and eating and scenting EVERYTHING on both sides of the cage. I also didn't wash anything, except their food dishes, so that their combined scent was everywhere. (It did get a little wiffy).

After two weeks of switching sides every two days, I removed the center divider. Ula was still a little nervous, so I put it back and moved just Glitch to her side. After a day of that, I moved Obake and Kami into Ula and Glitch's pouch IN THE AFTERNOON when they were all sleeping. They woke up together and did some grooming and have been fine since.

I did keep a very vigilant eye the first two days after though.

The key to keep in mind is that you want them to be used to everyone unique scent. Whether you do pouch/toy swapping or cage swapping, just let them scent things up and soon they won't be able to tell who the "outsiders" are anymore.

Again, I am not an expert, this is just how I've done my three introductions.

Good Luck

Thank you guys very much for all the support and in depth advices. You guys have been wonderful and I will try the introduction couple weeks after the neuter, re:the hormones level going down. Worst cones worst, I'll just have to buy another cage :(, which I really hope it won't come to that. Wish me luck guys!

PS: When I do the toys swapping, I assume I need to swap the sleeping pouch as well? How about the feeding dish?

Thank you again guys for helping newbie me. :) I guess they're not that easy and sociable as PPP stated. But it's worth the works, they are the most adorable pets ever!

PPS: Should I try to introduce them to my dogs? I own 2 Shih Tzu and a yorkie. The Shih Tzu have very mellow, don't give a crap, lick you to death temperament, while the yorkie has a little hyper in him. PPP claim the get along with dogs and dogs will not see them as preys. Is this true?

Cheers.

yes on swapping the sleeping pouches, and no on the feeding dishes since they get pulled every morning and washed, it won't matter scent wise.

As for introducing them to your dogs, please don't do it...regardless of their temperments is NOT recommended.

Dogs all have natural instincts to hunt and kill prey, it is just nature and it could kick in at anytime and be the death of your suggies.

ppp tells many lies and this is a deadly one. Even if your dog just wanted to play and stepped on your suggie it would break its back and mouthing it would crush it's ribs or even a tooth puncture would get infected.

A few owners on here recently lost their gliders due to their dogs getting a hold of them, it is just too much to risk.

@Minnesotta ok!! No doggies then! Thank you very much! :o)

So, since I'm kind of broke right now for over spending on these babies, I can't really afford a tent. PPP was selling me all kind of crap and Kirby costed me $850, yeah I know, stupid foolish me. But I love Kirby, still a little bitey, but not drawing blood bites, only nibbly gentle rooming bites. :) Then I went out to get Mimi, thenIke and Piper. So I decided to glider proof a spare room in my house. There is no nooks and cranny that they can disappear to, no dangerous electronics or any sharp objects, and I turned that room into, basically, a large tent for bonding time. :) They love it and it didn't cost me anything. So tonight, I was finally able to pick up Ike and Piper, the new pair, without getting bitten at all. I'm so happy! And since the vet clipped their nails, I didn't have any additional claw marks. *yay!* At one point, Piper was on me and she was rubbing the top of her head all over my chest, over and over again. Is that a marking thing? I thought only males that mark?

Just wanted to share my happiness and excitement.

PS is there anyone here who's from Saint Louis, Missouri?

Cheers!

Oh yes females mark...my 2 girls rub along everything like a cat rubs along a couch. They arch backs and drag their bodies along their basket and cage bars and even in the wheels.

They do it even more when their cage gets cleaned/wiped out with vingar and water.

So, I think these guys have subtle HLP. :-( I noticed that none of them would jump, the female walks funny and a little slow on her left hind leg. But oddly, she can hop all over the place and runs very fast. The male also walks funny and will not jump, but the same way with the female, he hops and runs and can climb up and down with no problem. Anyone has any idea whether or not they have HLP?

Also, if they do, is this curable?

Thank you! :)

If it is HLP your vet may prescribe calcium supplements, or give you some advice about other OTC calcium you can add and how much. I think if it is caught early enough it can be treated with proper calcium intake. If they had improper housing before they also may have never had the space to "stretch out" so to speak. My rescue, Ulalena, still has never tried to "glide" even a short distance. She doesn't reach out as far when she forages and she has a strange gait. Part of her issue is that she is missing most of her tail (monkey bit it off in previous owner's home). But I have seen an improvement in the nearly two months that I have had her. The vet said she had low bone density when I took her in back in April. We are waiting another few months (probably August) to get a second set of x-rays to see if her bone density has improved.

Good Luck

The only way to diagnose HLP, caused by low bone density is to have your vet do xrays to look at the bones.

There are other conditions that can cause the same symptoms. Often, gliders that are showing signs of being malnourished, or of having low calcium levels are found to have parasites that are depleting them of nutrients.

Your gliders need to be seen by a vet. Share your observations about their movements with the vet, since gliders are often less active during the day, or may be more active than normal as a response to the vet office experience.

Gliders can recover from nutritionally deficient issues, by feeding them a well balanced diet - but you vet needs to determine specific treatment if parasite or extremely low calcium intake are parts of the problem.

Ok guys,
Emergency question!!
Tonight when I was cleaning their cage and getting ready to feed them, I notice that the female glider that I rescued has a scent gland in the middle of her forehead. I thought only the males have scent gland on their forehead? I checked and I think that she HAS a pouch. What gives?! I was worry because "she" has been really aggressive ever since I neutered Ike, the male cage mate. She has been nipping, humping and excessively chasing around him. And "she" is also the one that is the hardest one to be introduced with my first male glider. Is it maybe she is a he? Can their gender change?

Supposedly, the lady that I got them from, but then again I wouldn't trust anything she said, she just had a twin 3 months prior I got them. Do females with scent gland exist??

I might have to take "her" back to the vet, but I had them both checked out, PE, fecal test and nails clipped, and the vet referred "her" as a she.

Thank you!

Do you happen to have a picture of it? If your glider does have a pouch and no little "poms" than she is a girl. Females can get bald spots from overgrooming. From the pictures, Piper doesn't look like a male (from the pics) since I can't really see a bald spot in the middle of her head. Also, they can't change sexes.