Hi everyone! One of my friends reffered me to this forum, since I'm having a lot of trouble with my little ones.

Our first girl, Aria, took about 3 months to bond to me. Even still, she doesn't like when I try to hold her. She doesn't bite or crab anymore, which is great, but it's still a struggle to try to get her to bond more with me.

Then, about a week ago, we got two new babies for her. Skunk, a 9 month old neutered male, has already escaped the cage 4 nights in a row. He's also bitten me several times. He had been handled since he was out of his mom's pouch, which is why I'm baffled so much by his devious behavior. We also got his half sister, Spencer. She's only about 3 months old, and again, has been handled since she came out.

Here are the major things I'm struggling with now with all three:
-Spencer crabs and fights with both of the older ones, yet the two older ones get along great.
-Skunk and Aria have gotten out of their cage 4 consecutive nights now, and they bite when I put them back in.
-I put up a mesh around their cage, due to them escaping, but it hasn't proven effective.

Can anyone help me out with any of these? If not, my partner wants to sell them. She's become terrified of them after wanting them for over half her life.

Welcome to the forum and to glider parenthood.

First - you have had your 'problem' gliders for only a week. This is barely enough time for them to begin to adjust to a change in their entire WORLD - new cage, new sights, new sounds, new smells and new humans.

Give them some time to settle in to your home and to become comfortable with their surroundings before you judge their behavior. You would be irritable and confused if plucked from your home and dropped off in a totally strange place - like moving from a quiet country life to being dropped of in the middle of Time Square with no warning.

Gliders are very scent oriented and can be territorial as well. Some of the biting is out of fear of all things new - but it may also be a reaction to the scent of a 'foreign' glider on your hands.

It appears that you have already put all the gliders together in one cage. If you did not do gradual introductions and swap sleeping pouches and toys for several days to get all the gliders used to the scent of the others - they are just reacting to the presence of FOREIGN gliders in their space. Very often a female glider will be very happy to have a male companion but may be territorial when it comes to another female entering her territory. The younger female's fighting with the others is just part of the gliders establishing dominance between them.

If they are balling up and actually physically fighting with each other they must be separated immediately or they may do serious harm to each other. If they are just chasing and crabbing at each other - they will work things out between them.

Escaping the cage is not a glider behavior problem - the cage is probably not suitable for gliders. If you can post a photo of your cage, I can be more specific about the corrections needed. Here are some suggestions though.

If your cage has wire spacing greater that 1/2 inch between the bars your gliders can just slide right out. If your cage bar spacing is 1/2 inch - then they may simply be opening any small slide up doors found on many cages and walking out. Another escape route favored by gliders is to slide the bottom grate forward and to then slip out behind the grate and exit through a gap between the grate and the cage pan found on some cages where the cage pan is not snug against the bottom grate.

Since you put mesh around the cage to keep them in - I suspect the problem is wide bar spacing. The best solution is to get a cage that has the correct bar spacing.

If you put mesh on the cage it needs to be attached to the INSIDE of the cage bars and zip tied at many points to prevent escapes. It needs to cover the entire inside surface of the cage.

Putting the mesh on the outside of the bars is DANGEROUS because the gliders can get between the bars and become trapped between the bars and the mesh.

One more consideration - If all of your gliders have not been checked by a glider experienced vet, a well check up and fecal testing would be a good idea. Sometimes glider behavior issues are actually a sign that they do not feel completely well. Fecal testing will let you know if there are any parasite issues that might need to be dealt with. Since you have already put the gliders together if any of them have parasites all three will need to be medicated.

Generally we advise a 30 day quarantine for new gliders being brought into a home with other gliders present. This allows the new gliders to adjust to the home before dealing with other gliders. Part of the quarantine is fecal testing at the beginning and again after 30 days to ensure that the new gliders are not bringing in a problem to share with the current gliders. This assumes the current glider has already been tested and is parasite free. Unfortunately, you were probably not aware of this part of bringing additional gliders into your home.

hi and welcome to the forums.

One thing you need to understand first is, gliders really don't like to be "held" it's very confining for them and they prefer to "just be on you". I've had my female since June, and have held her once, when she was awake and when I was sick and she chose to stay in my hand. The other times I have held her was when she was sleeping and out cold

However, we are very bonded and she prefers to be on me or in my clothes more than anywhere else. So don't take it personally and understand they just don't like to be held or confined. Bonding does not equal holding, bonding equals trust.

Are they all three in the same cage?? How and when did you introduce them?

If they are escaping you need a more secure glider appropriate cage. Pics of your cage and set up would help us to be able to help you secure it until a new cage can be obtained.

Just because the breeder handled them since they came out of pouch doesn't mean they are ready for you to do the same. You have to earn their trust, the breeder already has the trust of the joeys parents, so the joeys then trust the breeder. YOU have to start from scratch and don't have that benefit.

How are you retrieving the escapees? Are you chasing, grabbing, lunging at them?

Or calmly getting a pouch or piece of fleece to pick them up with?

Your hands resemble claws grabbing at them which instinctively makes them think you are a predator, of course they are going to bite when they are scared they are about to be someones lunch.


A week isn't a lot of time for the three of them to all be together, they are probably still establishing who the dominant glider is going to be in the colony.
Bickering is common but you need to pay attention to make sure there is no actual fighting going on.

What methods do you use for bonding?

Seems we have been typing at the same time AGAIN

yep, that doesn't happen to me a lot though lol I was a little surprised when I saw you post before me lol

Aria barely wants anything to do with me though. Like I said, she doesn't crab at me anymore, but she's not usually wanting out of her cage.

The breeder brought the two over and slowly introduced them. Skunk was first, since she spent more time with him, and they were fine. She put Skunk back, and tried Spencer. They were great at first, and I set up two pouches on different levels (it's two levels total), but that night, just Aria and Skunk were in a pouch. Spencer got out, and I did scoop her up with some fleece and put her back in (after making modifications to the cage of course). However, she didn't end up sleeping in either pouch. She slept in the hammock instead. And it's really gotten worse since then.

If the gliders were introduced by the breeder the day she brought them into your home - that is not a GRADUAL introduction.

Usually we recommend swapping pouches between cages for SEVERAL DAYS before doing fact to face introductions.

One thing glider ownership teaches us is PATIENCE.

Your gliders really just need time to get used to all the changes in their lives.

Take things back a step or two. Sit by the cage and talk to them quietly without trying to directly handle them. After a few days they will be more familiar with all the new sights, sounds and smells around them.

Since they are already in the same cage and apparently not balling up fighting - they will have to work out their dominance issues between them selves. I expect they will all sleep in the same pouch after a few days to adjust to each other.

In the mean time - you need to secure the cage safely, or get a glider safe cage or they will keep escaping each night. Gliders are very smart and once they have found a way out of the cage - they will repeat the escape until it is secured.

We didn't do a gradual introduction either, and there was a week or so of grumbling but they sorted it out and get along great.

My male loves being in his cage, in fact he will stay right in there even if Leela escapes and leaves the door wide open. He will pace back n forth barking at me until I get up to return Leela from her lil "outing".

He can also be sound asleep on me, and if I go anywhere near the cage he wakes right up and climbs up on my shoulder and wants back in the cage.

Leela on the other hand would rather be on me lol and does not often voluntarily go back in the cage

It's not really anything to worry about, I think it's just part of their personality. Some are more social than others and some just want fed well and left more on their own.

Sometimes my pair won't sleep in the same pouch and even when they are on me during the day they each have their fav spots to sleep. Leela on my hip or the arm pit of my sweatshirt, and Simon in a small pouch in my bra. Some days Leela joins him in my bra but it's really up to her. I think sometimes they get to warm when they sleep together or Leela moves to much and disturbs Simon.

I think I would let them be for another day or two, then maybe start working on bonding with them using the bonding bag during the day... that will help with scent mingling- your scent with theirs...

i agree with candy you've only had them for a week let them settle in. give them treats when their good and don't use mesh they will chew through it make sure the bottom of the cage is taped shut too so they can't get out. and let me worn you they are smart!