I have a predicament. I have two sugar gliders. I got my first sugar glider Finley in the beginning of August from pocket pets. We had a few health problems with her hip but now she is almost completely healed, she still favors it every now and then ( the vet thinks she might have had some nerve damage). A little over a month ago, I got her a friend, lily. Lily is a older (not sure of her age but vets extimates between a year and a half to two years. Lily had most of her tail cut off by a wodent wheel when she was young. We went though the whole 30 day quarantine and they are now getting along greater. However I just feel like I am struggling to care for them. I feel like they are not happy and they don't like me. Although i feel like i have done everything right, I still feel like someone else could give them a better home and make them happy. Neither of them are bonded to me. Finley will let me hold her and Lily will climb on me but not let me hold her. I just want them to be bonded me to already and I am not seeing any more progress. I get so excited to see them and then when I see them they just crab at me. I am looking for advice on how i can get them to not jump of me and bond more but as much as i hate to say it i am also considering finding them another home. I love my babies and I want them to be happy and if that means they need a knew home, then so be it.

I come from a very touchy-feely family but I have this really gruff friend named Jeff. He's not what you'd call approachable, but he gives solid advice and he's a morally upstanding dude. I can talk to Jeff about the tough stuff, and he's like a rock (in a good way.) I've known Jeff for 9 years, and he's only offered me a hug four times in those nine years. One was when he got married, one was when I got married, one was during my dating years when my significant other broke up with me, and one was when my grandfather died. Despite not being a touchy-feely guy, Jeff is my best friend, and those hugs MEANT something.

Being from Pocket Pets and having a tail partially amputated means your gliders have been through a lot, and so they might be used to being tough. If you're spending time with them almost ever night and they still haven't reached the stage of bonding that you expected, they just might not be touchy-feely types. I have a pair of rescues myself, and even after working with them nightly, they STILL don't let me pick them up, and they'd rather run off and explore rather than sit still, and the reason for that is because they DID spend the first part of their lives trapped in a tiny cage being neglected. They're just trying to catch up on what they missed during their adolescent years.

Having them crab at you can be so discouraging, and I'll be honest, it took our gliders about 6 months to accept us and to actually come running to greet us when we walked by the cage at night. It takes a lot of effort and patience, but it's worth it. You have rescued your girls, and though their progress is discouraging now, if you've given them a safe home with high-quality food and toys and a little bit of love when they'll accept it, they're so much better off than they would be with some punk kid responding to a craigslist ad.

I hope this was the encouragement you were looking for, but if you have more questions or concerns, me and the gang will be here. :)

Ya I completely agree… See pocket pets advertises these little cute dudes and the most cuddly pets that will love you and stay with you and never wanna be away from you. Honestly its just not true, they have personalities just like most other mammals. I had one from pocket pets and one from a breeder. The pocket pets glider from the very first day would jump on my shoulder and stay there and never need to go anywhere. The other one Nicko, never wanted to be near me just wanted to explore and do wtv he wanted. Naturally I liked the PP glider Gus better. Gus got a twisted colon and passed (lot of people probably not surprised a PP glider would have a problem). So I was left with Nicko and I was just as frustrated as you. Till this day I can't hold him in my hand, when i let him out he spends most of his time off of me. I came to realize Nicko will be Nicko. You can't choose the personality you get you gotta just love them all the same just like children. If you can hold one of them in your hand that one may be more bonded then you think that is a feat i can't do ;) Cheer up and just love them as best you can =]

Well, let me start by saying you did great in treating your gliders and providing for their needs.

Then I'll go ahead and say that they haven't really spend that much with you (a little over 2 months) the fact that they come check on you when they are playing, and that one of them allows you to hold her, is great improvement (specially for neglected gliders).

A glider while awake, won't stay still, they are very curious critters and will want to go explore everything around them. While they are awake the most cuddly time you'll get is when they come to check on you, they want to make sure you are there because you are their safe place. You can have toys, such as feathers that you can tease them with to play with them; and you can entice them to jump to you with treats (it gets to a point where you don't even need treats to get them to jump to you).

The best time for cuddling is during the day while they sleep, you can have them on you in a bonding pouch. If they crab a you, and you have a boding pouch that allows you to take the straps off, you can leave them in the cage with the bonding pouch (making sure that it is open) and to take them out, just take all gliders and pouch, put the straps on and voila, you have gliders to go

For crabbing it helps if you talk to them when approaching their cage, it lets them know that it is you and not some stranger, a predator, or whatnot. You can also have treat that you hand them when you take them out of the cage, this lets them know that it is good and they will actually look forward for you to come and hand them treats when you take them out.

Gliders are very scent oriented, so if you haven't tried, you can wear pieces of fleece on you for the day, to get them to soak on your scent and place inside their pouch; or you can leave an used shirt on top of their cage (making sure the seems are not visible, so they don't get snagged on it).

Bonding with gliders, takes a while, specially gliders that come from neglectful situations. As I've said, to me it sounds that you and your girls are doing great. Just be patient. I understand how exciting it is to see this amazing little creatures, but you have to try to think from their perspective. They are at the mercy of a creature that is 700+ times bigger than them, it is possible that they were mistreated by other humans, so they are naturally going to be afraid of you, you have to let them know that you won't harm them by not forcing them to do something they don't want; follow their pace, not yours. Once they come to trust you, the relationship you form with these critters is amazing, you'll come to know their personalities and they will to some point adjust to you. For example, my gliders know my schedule, so they usually come of their pouch and wait for me to get home, and if they hear me coming, and I haven't taken them out, they start barking for attention, it is adorable.

Wish you the best of lucks.

Thank you for all of the response. I knew it was going to take a while but i thought they would showing more progress by now but patients has never been my best quality. I have a couple other questions that might seem silly. My gliders have been in the same cage a little over a week, the cage that they are in was new to both of them and everything is practically brand new. Could the new cage be stressing them out and thats why they haven't been making progress?

That's not silly.

As you may know, changes in their environment can stress them out, so your question is completely valid. It could play a role in bonding, but being how they were recently introduce, having a clean cages, with clean toys and pouches that does not have the scent of either glider in them helps preventing from either one becoming more territorial. Usually, they just get right to marking (yes, even females mark), so they get over it quickly. Still, it's been over a week, so that shouldn't be affecting the bonding process now.

We could give better directions as to what you should try if you explain what you've been doing for bonding so far.

As far as bonding I have been hand feeding them treats. I also try to do "tent time" in an extra closet a couple times a week but the last couple times we have done it lily has climbed to the top shelf where we store blankets and extra pillows and i start to freak out because I'm scared she is going to jump down and get hurt (she been known to jump head first into walls) or I am not going to be able to get her down. I also talk to them and try to play with them in there cage as much as i can. I would love any more tips that you think i will work. I plan on adding fleece with my smell on it soon. And as far as the bonding pouches Finley doesn't mind it but Lily absolutely HATES it.

As far as bonding I have been hand feeding them treats. I also try to do "tent time" in an extra closet a couple times a week but the last couple times we have done it lily has climbed to the top shelf where we store blankets and extra pillows and i start to freak out because I'm scared she is going to jump down and get hurt (she been known to jump head first into walls) or I am not going to be able to get her down. I also talk to them and try to play with them in there cage as much as i can. I would love any more tips that you think i will work. I plan on adding fleece with my smell on it soon. And as far as the bonding pouches Finley doesn't mind it but Lily absolutely HATES it.

As far as bonding I have been hand feeding them treats. I also try to do "tent time" in an extra closet a couple times a week but the last couple times we have done it lily has climbed to the top shelf where we store blankets and extra pillows and i start to freak out because I'm scared she is going to jump down and get hurt (she been known to jump head first into walls) or I am not going to be able to get her down. I also talk to them and try to play with them in there cage as much as i can. I would love any more tips that you think i will work. I plan on adding fleece with my smell on it soon. And as far as the bonding pouches Finley doesn't mind it but Lily absolutely HATES it.

Well, for putting them in the bonding pouch you can try my suggestion and get them a bonding pouch that has removable straps and used as both their sleeping pouch, and their bonding pouch.

For "tent time" you can use a bathroom instead of your closet. Just make sure is glider proofed, i.e. that they don't have access to electrical outlets, that there are no small spaces they can get under or behind, or any opening where they get stuck in, that toilet seats are down, that there are no water accumulations either in the sick or tub, among other precautions. Falling down won't usually hurt a glider, they are actually be sturdy critters; in the wild they glide long distances and their landings are not quite grateful (they land with a thunk ). Still, in my glider room, I try to cover all possible landing surfaces with a mat or something soft, but that's because I am extra cautious.

When doing "tent time" it is recommended to not have bright lights in the room (this can disorient them some, and they are more likely to try to hide somewhere, instead of going out to play), you can use something like a laptop's light, or a small nightlight for your own use. Personally in my glider room I use red light bulbs, I can see them perfectly and they don't seem affected by it at all; just a suggestion in case you want to try something similar.

"Tent time" is done at night, but you don't want to force them into it. You would need to wait until they wake up, and them take them into the tent or glider proofed room. Some folks take them out of the cage before they wake up and when they start moving around (usually they groom some before coming out of their pouch) then take them to the tent/room and place the pouch down and let them decide when they want to come out (you can tempt them with treats to accomplish the same). The more often you can play with them, the better for bonding.

Your little girl Lily may be a little pouch protective, so you may want to try getting them an open environment pouch.

Hope this is helpful.

THANK YOU! that really does help.
What do you mean by an open environment pouch?

The idea behind open pouches is that the gliders are able to see their environment with just a lift of their head and can see what might have been scary to them when they were at the bottom of a regular pouch and couldn't see what caused the noise or the hand coming towards them.

There are a few options, you can see a few here:

sugarglidershowroom.weebly.com/open-environment-sets.html

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Hiii!

I completely understand your perspective on your progress with your babies.

As others have previously mentioned every single glider is different. I currently have two bonded males(NERF) & (BLUE) and two un-bonded females (ZOEY) & (FARA).

They are all COMPLETELY different in so many ways. Nerf and Blue I have had since Jan of this year...
Blue is blind, My approach with him was to give him comfort with smelling me the second day he came out of his cage and got on to me to explore, since then he has been a COMPLETE MOMMYS BOY. Nerf did not want a part of me, or any parts of me near blue lol (Very over protective) although understandable.

Nerf was a different little guy altogether, he found me interesting to look at but if I attempted to touch him he ran. Well what would you know he is now bonded and still has the personality of I love you momma BUT I like to be on my own exploring what I can.

In the span of a week these boys knew me and looked forward to my presence due to treats. After the second day I didn't hear a crab ever again.

Now the girls.. Now I know they say girls can be moody and my little girls are moody, Not biological sisters/twins
Zoey was from a friend who was no longer able to care for her and I took her in. A day later I went to pick up a little girl who I would name Fara and would put these two together ASAP (after quarantine of course) Zoey was housed alone and obviously needed a friend.

Both girls are distant, Constantly Crab(they like to hear themselves) but are coming along but so distant compared to my instant love from my boys.

My point being, Don't give up, they are terrified and they might have had a hard life up until you. They simply want someone to show them that they are there to give them love and yummies so they can open their hearts up to you in return.

When they do get to the point where they are bonded you will have such a feeling of honor. I know because i am honored daily to be accepted by these little babies as their mommy.

Hope this has helped. Good luck !