I've had Gizmo since he was 8 weeks old, back in March. He is now 11 months old and neutered. I'm getting a female just out of the pouch next week. He has been an only glider for most of his life and I don't know how he is going to take to his new cage mate. He practically lives between by boobs by day and is a Houdini squirrel at night and most of the time roams around the bedroom. What introduction protocol should I follow? What happens if he doesn't want a mate? How long should the intro take?

Honestly because he has been a lone glider most of his life, he is very likely to take to your new glider. (it also helps she is a female) But make sure you do the 30 day quarentine and 2 vet checks before you introduce them, then do pouch and toy swapping for a couple weeks after that. During those few weeks you could also put their 2 cages next to eachother but not close enough for any one to get grabby. It is always safer to wait until the new joey is of similar size to your current suggie in case a fight DOES break out, she would have a better chance of defending herself if she is of similar size. Good luck!

I would wait until she is about the same body weight as he is.

I'm pretty sure you meant that she will be out of pouch next week and you'll be getting her when she is ready? Or that she is at least out of pouch 8 weeks now and you'll be getting her next week?

Just trying to make sure I read that right. The above advice is good.

Hello, what worries me is the fact that your female is only 10 weeks OOP, which means she will be quite small compared to him. Even if neutered your gizmo will try to mate with her as soon as she gets her first heat, which could lead to injuries.

*Sorry, I missed the 10wk in the topic line*

The major concern here is that she will be SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than him. He could hurt her, especially if they were to fight. She could be fatally injured quite easily in a fight with a one year old male. For intros it is recommended that you only try to introduce similar sized gliders. You can try but be careful.

Thank yall for the help! I was concerned about the size difference also, and wanted to see what more experienced folks had to say. I've heard from others that Gizmo is a large male, as in large for being a sugar glider. There's a little worry in the back of my mind that she'll never be comparable in size and I just can't and don't want to have 2 seperate cages forever. A couple months? No problem. As for her age, she will actually be 11, almost 12 weeks oop if that helps anyone. Thanks again everyone. I'll defitely end up back on here with more questions and updates!

3 months oop will definitely grow significantly more; our babies just turned 4 months and are now almost as big as their dad, but still not there yet. She probably won't get as big as your male, but at this point you can't help that; I'd say wait until 4-5 months, or you could just go for it; it's unlikely a male/female pair will fight, especially if they're both craving another glider, but if it did happen it would probably end badly. Anyways, a month is no problem if you're doing the 30 day quarantine anyways. See how she looks at 4 months, and you can choose if you want to wait longer then. Our middle gliders were basically full grown at around 6 months. They're 10 months now and have hardly changed since 6/7 months. Our 4 babies are 4 months and we now have to look twice to see if it's baby or dad because they're a lot bigger than they were even at 3 months.

Do your 30 day quarantine, begin scent swapping while waiting for her to get bigger, even if it's another month or two. About a couple of weeks prior to intro, really mingle their scents for both cages so they are used to their combined scent, this will help. I'd use a fleece blankie in each pouch for about 2 days, take the blankies out and cut each in half, then replace one half of each in both of their pouches.