A little background: I have 2 brother gliders I got from a woman who was moving. Suge is pretty skittish and still isn't a fan of anyone really. Biggie seems to like me and will wait by the cage door when I walk by and climb on me when I open the cage to feed them. I've had them probably 6 months now.

When I first got them I attempted to spend time with them out of cage. But after a couple of escapes while trying to do out of cage time and them just hiding in the rooms I glider proofed I sort of gave up on most days. I realize that's my own fault and got a tent last week so we could hang out at night, in the dim light next to their cage before I go to bed.

The first night it was just me and Biggie because I didn't want to force Suge into a pouch when he wasn't really having it. It went fine, we hung out for maybe an hour or so.

Tonight, though was a disaster. I had both boys in with me. Suge hid 95% of the time which was fine, but Biggie was climbing all over me as usual. A few minutes into tent time, though, Biggie pushed his head into my sleeve and bit my wrist. Then over the next 15 minutes or so he proceeded to climb on me and bit me at least 10 more times. Now, these might have been just him tasting me because I was not moving or touching him so I couldn't have been making him mad. He was literally just climbing all over me and would randomly chomp down. It just got me so shaken up and upset that I eventually had to call my husband into the room to distract them while I crawled out of the tent in tears. Honestly, the bites didn't hurt, I was just so on edge from all the biting, anxiety that he might do it again, etc. that I got emotional which is crazy, I know. I'm sure my husband thought I was nuts as I was practically sobbing in the tent asking him to help me get out.

Now I'm terrified to do tent time again. I feel so dumb for feeling so traumatized. My plan is to wear thick sweat pants and sweatshirt if I can get myself back in there with them. I obviously don't want to rehome them and I'm hoping I can get over this anxiety over getting bitten, but if I can't suck it up it's not fair to them to be in a home where they don't have a loving, trusting relationship with their owner.

I'm hoping some of you can give me advice or a pep talk of some kind. I've been lurking here for a while and I'm so glad to have found a place with such helpful, caring people.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!

Ugh, sorry guys. I just realized I clicked on the wrong forum and posted it here, but it's been over 20 min so I can't delete. Can a mod move it to correct forum? sorry!

First, welcome to glider parent hood. Now take a deep breath, we are here to help you get your confidence back.

First thought - do you ANY products that are fruit scented? Many shampoos, soaps and even dish soaps contain all sorts of fruit scents. These leave a scent on your skin as well that your glider might find appealing - he may just be tasting to find the source of the yummy smell. If this is the case, switch to unscented products. Don't wear any perfume or use scented lotions either.

Next, observe your little nibbler very carefully, you will see some cues, such as him opening his mouth, that will warn you that that a bite is coming. Make a sharp PSSSTT sound or even just say NO when you see the bite coming. This will usually stop your glider from his intention to bite and he will begin to learn that this is not an acceptable behavior.

For your shy glider in the tent, make sure the toys you bring in the tent do not have good hiding spaces until he gets a bit braver and starts exploring on you. If you carry them into the tent in their pouch, as many of us do, you might have to sit on the pouch to keep it out of reach for hiding. You can bring it back out when it is time to return to the cage and offer a treat for going into the pouch for the trip back.

Give your self and your gliders some time to get to know each other better. Bonding is the building of trust between you and your gliders and it happens on the gliders' time schedule not the human's.

First, welcome to glider parent hood. Now take a deep breath, we are here to help you get your confidence back.

First thought - do you ANY products that are fruit scented? Many shampoos, soaps and even dish soaps contain all sorts of fruit scents. These leave a scent on your skin as well that your glider might find appealing - he may just be tasting to find the source of the yummy smell. If this is the case, switch to unscented products. Don't wear any perfume or use scented lotions either.

Next, observe your little nibbler very carefully, you will see some cues, such as him opening his mouth, that will warn you that that a bite is coming. Make a sharp PSSSTT sound or even just say NO when you see the bite coming. This will usually stop your glider from his intention to bite and he will begin to learn that this is not an acceptable behavior.

For your shy glider in the tent, make sure the toys you bring in the tent do not have good hiding spaces until he gets a bit braver and starts exploring on you. If you carry them into the tent in their pouch, as many of us do, you might have to sit on the pouch to keep it out of reach for hiding. You can bring it back out when it is time to return to the cage and offer a treat for going into the pouch for the trip back.

Give your self and your gliders some time to get to know each other better. Bonding is the building of trust between you and your gliders and it happens on the gliders' time schedule not the human's.

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Next, observe your little nibbler very carefully, you will see some cues, such as him opening his mouth, that will warn you that that a bite is coming. Make a sharp PSSSTT sound or even just say NO when you see the bite coming. This will usually stop your glider from his intention to bite and he will begin to learn that this is not an acceptable behavior.

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I'm glad you got a tent to play in - it may not seem like it right now, but that's the best way by far to bond with gliders. Glider-proofed rooms are tons of fun with gliders who are fully bonded, but the close quarters of a tent are much better early in the bonding process.

The fact that the bites don't hurt tell me that it's not an emotional reaction on the glider's part - meaning the behavior can be un-learned. I've had to deal with gliders who gave exploratory nips and even love bites, and Lemmy still gets over-zealous from time to time and nips while grooming me. The worst was when Tabitha (who was 100% bonded to me) would invite herself into my bra for a nap... and when she woke up, she'd say "hi, mom, I love you!" with a painful nip to my girl parts (sometimes in the middle of a retail store, no less).

Candy's tip to anticipate the bites is a good one, but don't fret if you're not able to pull it off. I never had much luck anticipating the bites, as I was usually either half watching TV or something or not able to see the offending glider at the moment; however, I found that if I was consistent about making a sharp "PSSSTT!" noise when the bite happened, it made a significant difference - that's the glider way of saying "knock it off!!". If the "PSSSTT!" alone doesn't work, try redirecting the glider's attention as or immediately after you make the sound (ie move them off of you, distract them with a toy, etc.).

Sorry this scared you with the biting. Suncoast has an " original bonding potion" that you put on first before handling the gliders, which then in return they do not want to bite you. All you have to do is rub some on your hands, other places as well if you wish, this potion calms them. It worked for us and only had to use it for about a couple weeks every time we handled the gliders. We no longer use it, and have plenty left.

I definitely wasn't in anything fruit scented, lotion, soap, etc. I'll definitely try to just stay still next time and just PSST at him. He definitely wasn't scared or trying to be mean because we were pretty fast friends unlike his brother. I definitely think he's just tasting me or getting a little overly frisky.


Thanks for all the tips guys, I'm going to muster up the courage via wearing extra layers tonight until I can stop being so paranoid about it. I really want to bond with these two and I totally get that it takes time, I just wish there wasn't any teeth to skin contact involved!

Unless he bites you through clothes, I wouldn't stack the layers since that could muffle your scent (and scent is SO important for bonding)... plus, I don't know about you but if I wore sweats in my tent (even with it having mesh sides), I'd be dying from the heat! Instead, you might try wearing lightweight/thin fabrics that still have long sleeves/full-length pant legs. Granted, clothes made with such fabrics usually have loose openings around the ankles/wrists... but a scrunchie or even a ribbon or something could be used to prevent gliders from crawling into the clothing. I actually got a plaid shirt at walmart a couple weeks ago that's very thin cotton; it looked like it had shortish (ie elbow length) sleeves, but they were actually rolled up/held in place with snaps and it's actually a long sleeve shirt. It's so lightweight that I can wear it with the sleeves rolled down in Houston summer heat, and I get hot incredibly easily.

I know how frustrating it can be to deal with a glider who bites constantly, yet without obvious cause and with no intention to hurt you - I went through it for months with my Tabby-girly. Smart as she was, she just did not want to get it into her stubborn little head that her nips caused me pain... it almost seemed like a compulsion at times. In the beginning, it honestly got to me nearly as much as it seems to be getting to you... but I gradually built up a tolerance for it until I finally learned to embrace it as a bizarre (and, at times, frustrating) personality quirk. Mind you, I never did stop correcting her for every bite (and they did become a bit less frequent over time) - I just accepted that no matter how much I corrected, I was never going to stop her biting completely.

What helped the most, it seemed, was when I started "punishing" her for biting me in addition to using the "PSST!" noise - the noise alone would make her stop briefly, but then she'd turn around and go back to nipping; the "punishments" actually seemed to make her somewhat less inclined to bite in the first place.

The way I punished her only works with a glider that's bonded enough to you that they really *want* to be on you/in your clothes - I tailored it specifically to her, as she was a die-hard bra baby. Strike (aka bite) 1 - I'd "PSST!" and reach into my shirt to pet her/move her away from the place she bit. Strike 2 - another "PSST!", plus I'd pull her out of my shirt and place her on the far side of the tent (or if we weren't in the tent, on my pants pocket or something, or perhaps just hold her in my hand for a minute (she actually didn't mind being held during her "sleepy" hours and during her awake hours, I didn't carry her in my clothes anyway; you definitely shouldn't try to hold a glider that's fighting against it) - the point was to make her have to put some effort into getting back to the place she wanted to be.

If she came right back and bit me a third time, strike 3 was to "PSST!" again (with each strike, the "PSST!" got sharper and more stern, btw) and, as I was making the noise, promptly remove her from my clothing and put her in a bonding pouch for 5-10 minutes as a "time out" - in other words, making it impossible for her to get what she wanted, which was to be snuggling with me. When she returned from the time out, we'd start over with the strikes if she resumed biting/nipping at me.

Thanks for responding, Imbrium!

The reason I was going to double layer was because he WAS biting at me through my clothes. First he did my wrist, but then he kept biting my thighs through my pants, etc. I'm thinking of double layering just for my own peace of mind (so I'm not quite so on edge) until I get more used to it or can get him to stop. For now I'm just doing my best to wear both boys in their bonding pouch all day since I work from home.

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Originally posted by missaileen

I'm thinking of double layering just for my own peace of mind (so I'm not quite so on edge) until I get more used to it or can get him to stop.

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If that's what it takes for you to feel comfortable getting into the tent with them, then go ahead and give it a try - getting in some play time with your gliders and being relaxed enough that your anxiousness doesn't have a negative effect on them is more important than making sure they can smell you well.

To help with the issue of multiple layers muffling your scent, I would try wearing whatever is going to be the top layer of your tent "outfit" (ie what the gliders will have the most contact with) as your only layer of clothing during the day... then when you dress for tent time, put on the other layer(s) first and put what you've been wearing all day on last. That will cause your scent to be reasonably strong for your gliders while still allowing you to wear multiple layers as insulation against biting.

Also, I don't know why I didn't think to ask before, but what's their nightly schedule like when you do tent time? Do you bring them in there first thing when they wake up? If so, you might try waiting a bit longer and/or bringing their dinner plate into the tent with you (and maybe a water bottle or dish) - it's possible that he's biting to try to tell you something, like "feed me!" or "I'm thirsty!" because he didn't get a chance to satisfy his needs before heading into the tent. This strikes me as plausible given the fact that you didn't have any issues during your first tent session. Heck, even if you don't take them in there pretty soon after they wake up, bringing their dinner along is never a bad idea (I always bring my gliders' food into the tent).

I'd forgotten until just now, but there was one time when Tabby was particularly adamant about biting me (pretty hard and almost aggressively) through the built-in bonding pouch of my T-shirt shortly after we got to the grocery store one afternoon. No matter what I did, she refused to stop. I got so frustrated with her odd behavior that I placed my cart out of the path and went outside so that I could open the pouch and have a little face-to-face with her without arousing attention and possibly getting kicked out of the store. I asked her what the heck was up, pet her a bit, etc... then pulled out the mini/travel water bottle and snack box I had in my purse. I offered her a couple yogies and a drink, attempting to bribe her into behaving - to my surprise, despite having been in her cage all day until a mere 10-15 minutes earlier, she was apparently *really* thirsty. After she drank a ton of water and ate the yogies, I closed the pouch and went back inside... where she promptly went back to sleep and didn't bite me again for the rest of the trip.