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GliderGossip GliderGossip
Sugar Gliders
PLEASE HELP - Brother Sister dominance fights??
PLEASE HELP - Brother Sister dominance fights??
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Feb 15 2017
01:43:34 AM
Hello there, I am at a bit of a loss with a behavior that has arose with my babies. This has been going on for 3 days

I have recently taken in a brother and sister pair of gliders (The male is named Desmond, the female Paisley) they had been weaned from their mother fully, and they've been with me for two weeks now. The breeder was an amazingly nice man, and spent a lot of time with the babies so they've had some decent human interaction before hand. The male has not been neutered (he will be in another 2 weeks, I have found a vet for it). The male immediately warmed up to me and is a very friendly and active glider, he's so excited to see me and glide to me just an easy glider to work with in general. The female is more cautious, she was extraordinary crabby and lunging at first, though good tent time has really warmed her up and she's slowly coming around!

The behavior they are doing has me lost to figure out cause. It has been going on for 3 days now, and it seems like fighting? Demand, the male, is usually the one starting it. It always occurs in the upper half of their cage (5ft tall, 3Ft wide, 2ft deep). He always tries to grab at, or nip at her which initiates it. It doesn't seem to be outwardly aggressive, he has yet to hurt her at all and they break it up fast, but it happens so frequent, over and over. I can hear Paisley hiss as him when he does it, and they typically wrestle. It seems like Desmond is trying to get on top of her, like pin her down. It makes me think it has something to do with asserting dominance?
There isn't anything that seems to cause it, they'll just be near each other and he'll take the opportunity to try to get himself on top of her, though they are so young I don't think it could be anything sexually driven? It doesn't seem like he's trying to make with her, the vibe I get is that he's trying to make her submit? Though I've heard play fighting can occur with gliders, I just can't seem to figure this behavior out
I have two feeding stations set up for them,
and have then filled an hour before they wake up, the behavior does not seem to have anything to do with food. They are still on good terms and sleep together, there's never any crabbing unless he does it when she's sleeping. Someone help! It's driving me mad
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Feb 15 2017
04:02:15 PM
Tveit_Momma Glider Visit Tveit_Momma's Photo Album 197 Posts
The only thing I can think of is that he's becoming hormonal and trying to mount her. Maybe not necessarily to mate with her, but it could definitely be a dominance issue. I would just keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn't get worse and no one hurts each other. It sounds like something that will go away after he gets neutered.
PLEASE HELP - Brother Sister dominance fights??

GliderGossip GliderGossip
Sugar Gliders
PLEASE HELP - Brother Sister dominance fights??