My family and I fell in love with sugar gliders at the past animal show we went to and immediately set out on researching them. We stumbled across this wonderful owner who could no longer care for her pair of two-year-old female gliders and due to unforeseen health complications and was seeking a home for them. We drove about three hours to bring them home. We left them on their own for a while and then began the bonding process. They sleep in a bonding pouch as I lounge around the house and eat snacks from my hands. They seem to be most closely bonded with me as they stay in my room and I am typically the one they interact with. However, I am worried that they are too attached to their previous owner to trust me. Every time I feel as though we have reached a new level of "bonded," I'll receive a chomp to the finger or crabbing randomly when I peek at them in their bonding pouch (which they are usually fine with and come up for head pats). I know these things take time but I just want to make sure that they are going to be happy with their new home. Am I moving too quickly? Will it take them longer to bond with me since they adored their previous owner?

some gliders love to crab, I have read some are the alarm system for the colony.
in our 6 glider colony we have one the will always crab when we get the pouch, but will stop when she sees its us.

in our 5 colony, newer gliders, we have 2 or 3 that are still nervous and will crab alot, even after seeing us 1 will still crab and tell us to go away.

they should get used to you someday and to crab unless they are in pouch and you bother them, then you could have 1 the will always crab.

the chomping sounds alittle odd, but should go away with time. my wife's glider is friendly to me, but with our 13 year old he will try to grab his finger and give him a small bit. maybe he is expecting a treat. one of our less bonded gliders will give a small nip if I put my finger in her face and leave it there.

in the end, don't worry about crabbing, like a dog barks, just their protection alarm system.

chomping and crabbing are not necessarily signs that they are not bonded.
They can crab because tehey are startled or not in the mood to be bothered.
I have one who is born here and still chomps because she simply hates to have fingers near her face, apart from that she is perfectly fine with me and hang around in mt sweater whenever she can.

Thank you for your help. I’ll just give them some more time.

Just tonight as I got the girls out, I had Roo (the shyer yet sassier of the two) resting on my arm as I was talking to her she just decided to scurry down and place a nip to my palm. I made the “tsst” sound and she ran back up towards my shoulder. A few minutes passed with her sitting on my upper arm and listening to me talk, and she went back down to my palm and took a much harder bite out of the same spot. I don’t use any fruity soaps or had given any treats from my palm. Perhaps it was her way of requesting snacks? Or trying to tell me she was boss?

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Originally posted by malkat99

Thank you for your help. I’ll just give them some more time.

Just tonight as I got the girls out, I had Roo (the shyer yet sassier of the two) resting on my arm as I was talking to her she just decided to scurry down and place a nip to my palm. I made the “tsst” sound and she ran back up towards my shoulder. A few minutes passed with her sitting on my upper arm and listening to me talk, and she went back down to my palm and took a much harder bite out of the same spot. I don’t use any fruity soaps or had given any treats from my palm. Perhaps it was her way of requesting snacks? Or trying to tell me she was boss?

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She could have been hungry or playing. Mine are much more nibbly when hungry and will also playbite me. She also could have been testing you to see what you'd do or trying to tell you she was unhappy about something. One of mine will give a nip if he wants me to stop doing something. If she tries it and you don't want her to move your palm so she cannot bite it. Turn it away from her or put it against the ground or couch, so she cannot get it, or distract her.