We just adopted two 1 year old male twins yesterday. Everything went great last night. Tonight we were in the other room and heard them crabbing. Came in to see Vash, the dominate male humping his brother. They stopped when we came in so we didn't think much of it. But over the last few hours Vash won't leave him alone, to the point he can't eat or rest. I get dominance behaviors but this seems extreme.

They are in separate cages now. The submissive male has a small bite mark so we felt separate was best.

Are we being over-reactive or was separation best? Can they live in separate cages in the same room for now? It will be a few months till we can get them both fixed.

What is the best option at this point?


Just to add, they haven't been well cared for in the past. The guy I got them from had them on a diet of meal worms and eggs only and in a small cage. The diet has been fixed but the injured one is alone in the larger cage till we figure our best option.

Also, we have been waiting to feed them till after they have been awake awhile. Could that have caused it somehow?

They should have food in their cage before they wake up. If they awake to an empty cage aggression increases as the dominant one is worried there won't be enough food. He's starving and will overpower the other to ensure he "gets his fill".

Since they were on a poor diet they're desperate for nutrients and don't realize food will always be around for them.

If the cut is bad, he might need a vet. Glider bites can get infected easily if the skin is broken. If you have vetericyn you could clean the wound and put that on. It's hard to say if they need to be separated until the neuter or if this was just food aggression and stress of a new home. Can you show a picture of the bite? Is the skin broken or just fur pulled out?

Being so new they are pretty nervous of us anyway so I'm not sure I can get a picture. The fur in that area was definitely gone and it was red but I think it was mainly irritation not blood. I will check again this morning.

What signs of healing should I watch for?

Should we move the dominate one's pouch into the new cage today and just be very mindful of putting food in early or give them time apart? I could hear the dominate one trying to find his brother all night.

Edit (sorry after 20 minutes): I checked the spot. It looks like he barely broke the skin in a pinch mark. I washed it off well.

The dominate male was in a panic this morning and would not pouch. We put him in the mew big cage and he immediately joined his brother in the pouch, snuggled up and fell asleep.

My boyfriend is a stay at home person, so he will be at home all day and will listen closely for crabbing.

What time should we feed to be 100% sure they don't wake up foodless so hopefully we can avoid this happening again?

My gliders wake up as soon as it is dark, so I make sure I put the food in 30 minutes before then. It only takes a few minutes for any frozen foods to thaw.

Even with food in the cage before they wake up the dominate one is humping the other.

We have a small spray bottle from when our cats were younger so we have been stopping the humping with that so we aren't physically prying them apart. I hate taking the dominate one out every evening. I know part of this behavior could be related to a new home and constant back and forth with the cages isn't helping but the dominate one gets frantic to get to his brother if separated.

We are trying to keep them in the bug cage together tonight but obviously we can't spend all night busting up fights.

Right now the plan is for each night if the aggression starts to swap who is in the new cage and during the day, since we have had no issues there, putting them together. Should we separate immediately after the first round of humping or try to spray him first and if it continues then separate?

If it's related to food aggression, it will take a while to die down. The gliders need to learn food will always be available. What are you feeding them, and how much? Putting extra food in might help.

The alpha is probably just in overdrive with all the new scents and new cage, etc. He feels he needs to assert his dominance and he will do so until he feels safe in his role. It could be that the less dominant guy is trying for the alpha title. If that's the case, they will keep bickering until one gives up. If that's what they're doing, separating them will just prolong the battles. I think separating them nightly is a terrible idea though. It'll cause stress 2x a day, Both when they are separated to be alone all night, then again with another reintro every morning. I don't think it will solve the dominance issues either since added frustration and stress in a glider rarely fixes issues, it usually makes behaviours worse. You might also begin to see signs of depression or stereotypy since they'd both be alone for their most active time period, while knowing another glider is nearby.

Do you know much on their history? Have they always gotten along or did they fight with their previous owner?

Is there any way to get a video of the behaviour? It's hard to tell if it's normal dominance establishing that you would let sort itself out or if it's the more vicious fighting of two intact males that simply can't live together anymore. Sometimes that just happens with intact males, once they reach a certain age.

Neutering will reduce a lot of this behaviour. Really push for a neuter ASAP for at least the most dominant male. Better to do them one at a time than separate or have to spray them down multiple times a night. The spray bottle will most likely work, but won't be conductive to bonding or making them feel safe in your house. The dominant male won't associate the spray with the "humping", since he's acting on instinct. And the less dominant male, not only is he getting dominated, he's also getting sprayed. They will learn to fear you coming to their cage.

If the fighting is bad enough that you have to separate, it would probably be better to just keep them separate until neuters and then reintro. If you do this, just make sure they each have a wheel and continue to scent swap their sleeping pouches so they will stay familiar with each other's scent.

It is not fighting, the submissive male just runs while the dominate male harrasses him. The dominate male just chases the other around and wont stop humping him. The one time we tried to let them "work it out" the dominate one rode the submissive male around the cage like a horse constantly biting and humping for a solid 10 minutes till we split them up and during that time is when the submissive one sustained his injury. The dominate one just keeps him trapped in the pouch and continuously bites and humps him.

The reason we have been re-combining them in the mornings is neither will settle to sleep till they are together.

I am feeding GliderKids Leadbeaters Staple and two fresh fruits and two veggies. Yesterday we had three feeding areas set up but the dominant one still started humping the submissive any time he tried to leave the pouch to eat.

We don't know thier history. The guy we got from said they have always gotten along but its hard to say if that is truthful.

We are looking into costs to spay at least the dominant one today to see if there is any possible way we can manage it.

Going to try and get the dominate one neutered this week and foing to try leaving them in the cage tonight. If they fuss a bunch then we will separate.

If anyone has advice I feel really lost here.

Welcome to the forum and to glider parenthood.

Are you positive they are both male? How old are they?

Do they both have bald spots on their heads and a yellow area which is another scent gland on their chests - along with an obvious scrotal sack in the middle of their bellies?

What you are describing sounds like normal mating behavior including the small injury on the shoulder of the submissive glider.

If they are both intact males - it would be best to have BOTH neutered. If you have only one neutered it is possible that they would just reverse dominance roles with the intact one becoming more likely to try mating with the neutered male as his hormone levels drop.

If you are going to separate them it would probably be easier on the gliders if you just keep them separated and even move the cages to separate rooms until you can have them neutered. If one is actually a female - then she is probably in heat and things will settle down after a day or two - but would most likely happen again in a month when she is again in heat.

Both have sacs and bald spots. They are a year and 4 months, twin brothers.

Do you have any other gliders in your home?

Both boys should be neutered ASAP or you may not be able to keep them together.

No other gliders. Last night the boys peacefully interacted with minimal crabbing. We aren't 100% sure they both got up and around last night (they were up after we went to bed and pouched back down before we woke up) but all the staple was gone.

We do plan to neuter both but we are hoping to wait a bit as that cuts a massive hole in our emergency critter budget.

Hopefully they continue to chill the more they settle in