Hi everyone!

It's been a long time since I've been here, but I recently added two gliders to my family and was wanting some advice.

I had two females I purchased from a mill breeder over a year ago. One of them was always sort of sickly. I took her to a vet in the past and she never showed any parasites or illnesses of any kind. Yet she was never very active, never a great eater (I feed HPW), and despite being the sweetest girl you could ever meet just didn't ever seem to be well. She recently passed away.

I began looking for an additional glider to add to my family to keep my remaining girl company. A friend of mine at work mentioned her aunt breeds gliders, so I asked her for more information. Turns out her aunt was recently diagnosed with cancer and was looking to rehome her 4 year old female. When I went to pick her up, she had two small bird cages side-by-side in the garage (garage!! we're in TEXAS!). I immediately noticed the cages were too small, were lined with aspen wood chips, were filthy, and she had the gliders sleeping in wooden gerbil huts on the floor of the cages. There were no toys in the cages and only two wooden bars (like bird perches). All the wood in the cages was urine soaked. Their fur is slightly stained, but overall they look healthy. She fed them a variety of fruits, vegetables and chicken.

She had a 9 year old male in the other cage, and mentioned he was the dad of the female, so she had them separated so they wouldn't breed. She asked me if I knew anyone who would be interested in taking him, and I agreed to take them both. When she showed me the gliders, I immediately noticed that the "female" had a very noticeable bald spot in the middle of "her" head, and also on her chest as well. So the 4 year old "female" is not a female after all. She also told me a story about how she came into the garage one day to find her 9 year old nearly decapitated. She said they couldn't figure out what happened and I told her it was the type of cage they were in (lift up door type) acting like a guillotine. The glider miraculously survived without vet care, but has a very large scar across the back of his neck.

I currently have the two new gliders in quarantine from my current glider in a separate room in my house, I am calling the vet this afternoon to set up appointments for checkups and neutering.

Questions:
1)I placed fleece pouches in their cages, however they've been sleeping in those disgusting wooden huts for years. Should I remove the huts and leave them to find the pouch on their own? What's the best way to introduce them to the pouches? It's already stressful for them, I don't want to make it worse.
2)They have been caged next to each other for years, but alone in their own cages. How should I handle introductions? I still have the 3 day quarantine before I can throw my female into the mix, but can I cage the males together yet? Should I do it slowly and on neutral territory first? I'm pretty confident with the process of introducing one to another, but now there's 3 that all have to meet.
3)Since they've been caged together, could I wear two separate bonding pouches at the same time with one male in each one to bond with both at the same time? Would that help them be introduced quicker?
4)Anything else I should think about? I was only planning on picking up one glider, but I couldn't leave the other one in that condition.

Thanks for all your help everyone! Sorry this is so long, just wasn't sure where to start with my new rescues.

quote:

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Originally posted by FurbySunshyne


1)I placed fleece pouches in their cages, however they've been sleeping in those disgusting wooden huts for years. Should I remove the huts and leave them to find the pouch on their own? What's the best way to introduce them to the pouches? It's already stressful for them, I don't want to make it worse.

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I would just throw those away, as you said they are urine soaked, that could only cause health issues. If they are used to sleeping on the bottom of the cage, you can put a pouch or large fleece blankie there with several small pieces of fleece so they can make themselves more comfortable. Always have the option of a hanging pouch, though, even if they preferred the one laying on the bottom. Once you find them always sleeping in a pouch, you can remove the one from the bottom and leave only hanging pouches, give them several choices (2 or 3 pouches hanging at different heights and sides of the cage.

quote:

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Originally posted by FurbySunshyne


2)They have been caged next to each other for years, but alone in their own cages. How should I handle introductions? I still have the 3 day quarantine before I can throw my female into the mix, but can I cage the males together yet? Should I do it slowly and on neutral territory first? I'm pretty confident with the process of introducing one to another, but now there's 3 that all have to meet.

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First have them neutered, if they are both intact, they will more likely to fight for dominance. Then wait a few weeks, so their hormone levels drop some. It would be better if you follow the same introduction methods as you would with any other glider. You can find them here:

www.sugarglider.com/gliderpedia/index.asp?Introductions

Start with pouch, fleece, and toy swapping. Then putting them next to each other, closer and closer. And finally a face to face, just the 2 of them. Since they know each other they will be more likely to bond without issues; still always be prepare to separate them if they ball up and fight.

quote:

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Originally posted by FurbySunshyne


3)Since they've been caged together, could I wear two separate bonding pouches at the same time with one male in each one to bond with both at the same time? Would that help them be introduced quicker?

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You can wear the 2 separate bonding pouches even if they haven't been introduce yet. As long as they don't have direct contact with each other, it should be fine, they may be noisy, but this will help them get used to each other's scent.

quote:

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Originally posted by FurbySunshyne


4)Anything else I should think about? I was only planning on picking up one glider, but I couldn't leave the other one in that condition.

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I think make the best decision for both of them. Even though they were not leaving together, they had always been together, so separating them would have giving them more stress.

As for bonding, as I said, first try to bond these 2 together, since it may proof easier. And then try to add you girl to make a trio. Again, follow the introduction methods, and do 1-on-1 at first; it will be easier to monitor them this way. By 1-on-1 I mean that first pick your more docile male and introduce him to your female, if it goes well, you can move them together. The more dominant male would then be more lonely and more accepting of your female, so it should be it easier to introduce him later; and he shouldn't have much trouble with the male he has already been introduced too.

I would remove the huts and give them fleece pouches. You might start by putting them in the same location where they are used to going to get into the huts. Once they learn to sleep in the pouch then gradually hang it higher in the cage.

Wearing 2 bonding pouches with the guys would be fine and will help you know if they are going to have any issues being together.

I would not try to introduce the two males until after they are neutered, and you might even wait several weeks after the surgery to allow the hormones do drop as well. There is always the possibility that the two males might fight since there is now a female in the same home (Even in quarantine in another room, they KNOW she is there)

Keep in mind after they are all housed together - even neutered males may both try to mate with the female when she is in heat. It takes males neutered after full maturity a while to loose interest in mating.

I would then introduce the two males and give them a week or longer to get used to each other. The next step for me would be to introduce the female to the one of the males and give them some time together before introducing the other male to the new pair. The males will already be familiar to each other, hopefully that will reduce competition between them when you put all 3 together.

Do LOTS of pouch swapping in between each introduction to mix their scents on the pouch, the cages and on all the gliders involved.

They have all been alone a while - so the time needed to do very gradual introductions will not affect them.

Not long ago I got 4 males over the age of 4 from a woman who became pregnant with twins and had to make more room and had less time to give her boys attention.
I have two girls prior to getting these boys. All are rescues.

The two girls came from separate people. When I was finally allowed to introduce the two girls. One crabbed while the other forced her way into the pouch and cuddled together. Never had any problems, at least, until I got the boys.

The boys I tried to introduce slowly. All way well until I introduced the dominant male. He beat up one of my poor girls so I had to separate them and will try again some other time.

You could likely keep their cages close, do bathtub or tent time, and do the bonding pouches near eachother.

Def do pouch swapping, cage swapping, etc so they get used to scent.

For your girl I'd worry because if she is much smaller and if one of the males are more dominant it could be rough for her. Be very careful introducing the boys to her.

Yes, there are always risks with introductions, so you need to do it slowly. I suggested the bathtub because that is what is usually done with more challenging introductions, like the one I believe you will be going through, due to the reasons a mentioned.

Pandepon - how is your girl? Is she doing better?