Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are just past half a year of owning our two gliders Baxter and Lily and we have leaned on this site a lot for the information you all provide. So first off - thank you! And second off, maybe we can get some tips for our specific struggles.

Background: We adopted Baxter (6yr) and Lily (6mo) from a family member who wanted them to go to a more attentive owner. Baxter's partner had recently passed away and Lily had been introduced (successfully) to keep him social.
We knew it would be a little harder to bond since they were not joeys, but we don't mind putting the extra work in.

Baxter is a sweetheart - he's a little cautious but very gentle and is bonding very nicely to both my girlfriend and I - he will approach us readily, eat from our hands, groom us, and we are both comfortable with him outside of the cage.

Lily, however, is the opposite. First the good - she approaches us, will take treats from our hands, will let us pet her while she eats, and in general isn't afraid of us. On the opposite side of the coin, however, is she is very much a biter. She only very briefly reacts to tsks and we have to get progressively louder for her to completely stop. I have also tried letting her bite me to let her see that it doesn't phase me - she chewed a neat little hole in my hand and I was bleeding before I tsked her away.

I know they go through a biting phase as they grow up, but she seems very pointed on finding soft spots to bite. She also rides Baxter when she is anxious and gives him bites on his neck which he mostly tolerates.

Basically the advice I'm looking for is two-fold; how do you bond a bitey glider (she hates bonding pouches - she tries to chew her way out), and is her biting consistent with normal adolescent behavior? Further, is there something we should be doing to further encourage her not to bite us during this (hopefully) temporary stage in her life?

Any advice is good advice - thanks in advance.

We had an older bity glider. I would just continue to pet her head, every chance I got. I would pull out sleeping pouch and pet her head. after a long time she would still try to give me a small bite if I left my finger in front of her face, and would give a good bite if allowed during nail cutting time. she was making slow progress but sadly she passed away ( we think she was older or had lived on a bad diet for many years). We now have one called mary, and she is making slow progress, but it just takes time and persistence with bonding tricks. in glider room she will climb all over us without biting.
I would put lily in bonding pouch during day and try to get her to sleep, if not I would leave in open and just continue to pet her 1. not letting her bite me or 2. my wife's method, making a fist and putting it next to glider so its much harder for glider to bite you, eventually they tire out and go to sleep with your hand/fist.

lily is young, so she should have to many bad habits, and you should be able to change her if you keep up bonding.

I remember reading another post where they gave their glider some eucalyptus sticks in their cage to work on and it reduced their human biting habit. Sorry I don't remember where I read it!