I have 3 sugar gliders. 2 females that I have had for 5+ years. They have always gotten along really well. 3 months ago I got a male.Intros went great. The girls excepted him. He's 5 months old now and recently fixed. We do believe that 1 of the females might be pregnant. Last night I noticed that the pregnant one was fighting with the other female. I heard them and ran to the cage and they were balled up fighting. They have never ever had a problem. They always got along so well. It seems that the possible pregnant one keeps going after the other female. I'm not sure why this is happening after so many years. Last night I finally put the one female into another cage. Why is this happening? Any ideas? I really need to figure this out and get some advice on how I can address this. I don't want to keep them separated but I don't know how to help them. All advice is greatly appreciated.. thank you all in advance. This sugar mama is stumped

Hi Bella,

Sorry no one has responded yet (unless maybe on another thread?). How are your gliders doing? I wish I could explain why this is happening but I'm just as 'stumped' as you are. I have only had single gliders so I'd hate to give you the wrong advice about intros, separation, pregnancies, etc. I'm sure it's hard to keep them separated, especially since they've been together for so long. But I do think you did the right thing, in order to keep them safe. Sounds like pregnancy has maybe made her more territorial and hopefully this will just be temporary. Hopefully someone with more knowledge about this will comment and have some helpful suggestions. Wishing you all the best!

I see it's been awhile, and Tiakristen, I can't really add any advise. I have no experience with pregnancy in gliders. Please be patient, summer time is pretty slow for members in here. Hopefully someone will be on to help soon.

Yeah thank you so much for replying. I've tried introducing Meeks back into the cage 2 times and both ended up badly. Yesterday I put her in the cage during the day and all day they all slept in the same pouch without any issues. Then as they woke up and started moving around the fights started. It's killing me because I don't know how to fix the issue. Well, if anyone can help or give me advice that would be wonderful. Thanks again

My pregnant female is really territorial. She'll sleep in the pouch with everyone else for the most part, but I've notice that when everyone wakes up at night she'll take a spot, whether it's a different pouch or the tree trunk like pouch with the hole in front, and then when anyone comes near it she lunges and crabs. (Or like that psssst sound they make at each other, but like louder) At first, my SO thought they were playing a game, because we didn't realize she was pregnant. But no one was ever injured, and there wasn't really any fighting that caused alarm. She has since had a second pregnancy but wasn't as bitchy. Maybe she was just a little bit more over protective of her first babies.
Although I never had to separate them, and I'm certainly not an expert, I hope this helped a little.

Hi!! I know this post is pretty old but I think I know what is happening. It's dry common that when you have 2 females paired with a male glider and one of the females become pregnant they will fight. It's because the girl who isn't pregnant is trying to steal the baby, to in a sense ( keep her genes alive and not the others). She will most likely kill/eat the baby if you don't separate them and keep them separated :( 2 females and 1 male rarely work if the male isn't fixed.

Hi!! I know this post is pretty old but I think I know what is happening. It's dry common that when you have 2 females paired with a male glider and one of the females become pregnant they will fight. It's because the girl who isn't pregnant is trying to steal the baby, to in a sense ( keep her genes alive and not the others). She will most likely kill/eat the baby if you don't separate them and keep them separated :( 2 females and 1 male rarely work if the male isn't fixed.

I too have heard those stories about "females stealing others' babies" repeated all the time, the problem is that it is the exception rather than the rule. Many breeders have couples rather than colonies (for obvious reasons, it allows to control the lineage), so few have 1st hand experience with colonies, yet the myth sticks (remind me, wild gliders live in.. colonies, there are multiple females in those, yet they do still breed...)

Facts are that it is a possibility, but by experience it's as uncommon as rejected joeys, when the females are members of a stable colony.
When it occures, there is almost always another factor, such as stress caused by a recent introduction which destabilised the colony hierarchy, environmental changes, not nutritionnally balanced diet, disease, parasites and so on, yet people focuse on the "2 females" factor and disregard other factors alltogether.

In the present case, the male is a relatively new introduction inside a colony which was stable since 5 years (underlying tensions); If the male entered sexual maturity, it's possible that the females heat are the problem (I have 1 female who is agressive when she is in heat); if the one female had joeys in pouch, it being he 1st pregnancy it is also possible that she gets really defensive toward anyone.