hello again everyone i wrote a couple of days ago about how my parents got me a sugar glider and all i would like to know how i can bond with my sugar glider? i don’t know how old he is exactly because he wasn’t born here but he does have a small diamond shaped bald spot on his head which means he reached sexual maturity and is older than 8 months i like him a lot and i know sugar glider may take months to get used to someone my problem is that he doesn’t seem afraid of me he sniffs me when i’m next to his cage and when i put him on me he doesn’t seem to mind BUT he bites my fingers a lot and sometimes ears and it hurts he made my fingers bleed twice from how hard he bites me i’ve only had him for about 5-7 days now so i don’t want to scold him when he bites me because i don’t want him to be afraid of me i know snacks are a good way to bond but he can’t have too many so it’s not going to work as much people think it would plus he has no problem licking food or water off my finger but when i put my hand near him he reaches out to one of my fingers, brings it closer to him and then BAM he bites me like i said he doesn’t seem to be afraid of me he just doesn’t like me?? also this has nothing to do with the bonding problem but how come he never jumps/flies i’ve never seen him jump or fly he will goes to the very corner of a high place seems like he’s about to fly/jump but never does it /:

If you need him to back up without scaring him blow at him slowly. I find this is a good way to stop their bad behaviour without scaring them or hurting them.

Also try thick winter or ski gloves. I know this seems strange but I find this works well when handling new gliders as it stops them hurting you or drawing blood. I assume your glider does this to scare or intimidate you. Also try not restrain him too much as that can cause him to bite too. I know this from personal experience.

I also hold sweets outside the cage bars or near the entrance so the gliders are forced to come up to me. I also run a feather along the bars outside the cage so they chase it from the other side of the bars. It's a good way to teach him to play with you so he associates playtime with you.

If you need a space to bond try a tent, an empty room or the bathroom. But remember to block any holes in the bathroom like behind the sink and make sure your glider can't get into the toilet as that would cause him to drown so be sure to put down the lid and make sure he can't crawl in.

As for flying or jumping we had to teach ours to jump by having him jump between me and my other family members. But that was after our gliders have started getting used to us.

Feel free to ask me anything else and best of luck.

I forgot to add. Make sure your hands don't smell of food or anything sweet when you handle him as that could be causing him to bite too. I made that mistake the first time.

I had handed my glider a few sweets and ended up getting the smell on my fingers, as you've guessed I got chomped quite a bit.

The same thing happened with my cousin and the hamster she had just finished eating and tried to pick up our gentle hamster. He smelt the food of her fingers and took a bite.

Also if you have coconut oil on your hair he may try to lick it or chew on it. I've not been bit on the head yet but it does look funny when my gliders play with my hair.

I would start bonding by putting your glider in a bonding pouch, DURING the day is best to start, at night he will want out to play. let him fall to sleep in pouch and you can also talk to him. Since he is biting, I would not stick my hands in the bonding pouch, after a few hours put him back in cage. After some bonding time,maybe days or even weeks, my wife would make a fist and put it in sleeping pouch with glider, so he would sleep with her scent, ALSO a fist makes it harder to bite you, some of the gliders would try, then just tire out and go to sleep. Keep your movements SLOW of your glider is scared/jumpy.

Put your scent on a small piece of fleece and put into his sleeping pouch in cage, rescent after a few days, so he sleeps with your scent during the day.

to start do not feel the need to put your hands all over the glider, he may not be happy with you yet. If you get in a playroom or tent, let them walk on you, explore, you do NOT have to touch him if he is going to bite. Feed him some treats then back away with your hand.

make sure your hands are not scented with soap or food that he could smell and think is food.

give your glider TIME, weeks and months.

I have gone slow with connor, its been many weeks, but he will now climb on my hand thinking he can get a treat, he was a rescue, not mistreated but ignored and scared of people, he has not bitten me. but he will crab and if I move fast lunge at my hand, then sniff then be ok.

Also do as much research as possible i have done months of research before i even got a glider.