Help! After having our new glider Luna (4 months old) for 9 days now, since our girls seemed interested in each other, we did an introduction following ALL the rules necessary and they balled up fighting and I got bit extremely bad by our Lila (5.5years old) and now I am afraid they won’t get along. Should I brush it off and try again once Luna is more bonded to my husband and I? We are still working on her getting used to our hands and have only picked her up with a pouch, fleece. Lila has always been a dominant glider (she lost her cagemate 2.5 weeks ago) and she always liked to get on her back. Lila is so sweet with us, we are horrified that this even happened.

I’m trying not to get discouraged, but it’s hard because we expected them to love each other. Has anyone had this happen?! Can this happen and then one day they just accept each other?!

No. Do not try again.

Typically gliders are kept in quarantine for 30 days, then have a vet appointment to get the all clear to do scent swapping.

Scent swapping usually takes place for at least two weeks. During this time the gliders should be kept apart, only pouches and cage items get swapped. I had to scent swap with my gliders for FOUR MONTHS before I introduced them.

Please get the wounds treated by a vet.

Then, you will have to keep their cages at least 12 inches apart, but maybe much farther. I had a case when just being near the other cage stressed my sugar glider out so much. They never crabbed at each other but one would always jump on the side of the cage facing the other glider, and since I knew she was a dominant female I knew she was posturing. I had to move the other glider to another room.

Since the first into went so bad, I suggest you scent swap for a very long time and maybe consult with some experts before trying again.

I agree with kferg.

you say you followed ALL the rules. 9 days is to fast, so you didn't
follow that rule.
you need 30 days then a vet check so the new glider is not sick and does not
get old glider sick also.
you need several weeks or more of pouch swapping, THEN we put cages at a
distance the glider can NOT touch or grab TAILS. so at least 6 inchs or more.
maybe 2 weeks or more. so 30 days, then 2 weeks pouches then 2 weeks
cages so 60 days at the minimum.

I would have 2 pouches in each cage. The one the glider sleeps in is the
one I move to other cage. Once the glider starts sleeping in the pouch moved and scented with the new gliders scent, then after 2 weeks I move cages closer.
the last time I didn't even move the cages, I just waited for about 3 or 4
weeks and the gliders were ALWAYS picking the pouch scented with new gliders
scent, the introduction was 4 glider and 1 new glider, the intro was successful.

please give it more time.

Our girls seemed interested in each other so we thought it would have been a good idea to introduce them. Lila didn’t seem bothered by the scent pieces nor did Luna. We have not yet swapped pouches, Luna loves her pouch so I almost feel sad to take it away from her. Lila sleeps under her blanket in the cage, or her nesting box, not a pouch so I’m almost certain she wouldn’t sleep in a pouch necessarily, she only does when shes with me for morning snuggles with my hand in it with her.

Maybe it will be better waiting longer so that Luna can completely bond with us before we start introductions again. Luna currently is finally coming to the front of the cage and is sniffing our hands and not biting. She seems a little pouch protective possibly , she only crabs super hard in her pouch during the day and has bit us several times.

I read so many articles and thought the 30 day quarantine was mostly for checking for disease states. I read a few where people introduced the same day (I would never do that). It seems that there is no black and white answer when it comes to introductions with gliders. There is too much info out there. I feel terrible also keeping Luna in her smaller cage (the traditional bonding cage). We have a giant one set up for when they accept each other that we bought brand new and are keeping neutral for now. I will do my best with all the advice given.

With gliders being territorial you can never tell how they will accept or
reject a new glider to the group. just dropping in a new glider in greatly
raises the possibility of a death. I have seen some do it on youtube and
you can see the first glider starts off very unhappy. you never now if that
night or the next day things could go bad.

with scent training your getting both gliders used to the new smells, and
reducing that chance the original glider will reject and try to fight off the
unwanted intruder.

so all the work isn't any guarantee, just an attempt to increase the odds.
one breeder I read said they had one single glider that had rejected 3 different
glider introductions is just wants to be alone.
My gus is king of the 6 glider colony, he completely rejected the return of 2 gliders that used to be in the colony when it was at 9 gliders. I feel is
aggressive behavior will no longer allow ANY additions. even at snack time he
doesn't like the other gliders around if he has a LIVE mealworm, so I have to
carefully watch him until all mealies are gone.

Yeah, I have read that some gliders end up liking to be alone which is a risk we are taking. We have been scent swapping for about a week and a half. I scent swapped this afternoon and Lila bit me while she was in her pouch with my hand with Luna’s fleece, but when I put her fleece in Lila’s cage on her big blanket, she lays on top of it and snuggles it. Mixed signals for sure. If Lila even bites me in her pouch during snuggle time, it’s usually a live nip, so I don’t know if she smelled Luna and but me a tad harder than the love nip/playful nip that she usually does? This is the first night Luna slept in the opposite pouch this whole time, she’s been sleeping in the pouch with Lila’s scent on it, so I’m hoping that our bad introduction didn’t cause her to not be accepting of Lila’s scent now.

We will do our best to give this some serious time. We have a vet apt for them both in less than a week, so I will also try to get additional advice from my vet. It’s just so odd, Lila is very territorial, but at the same time she snuggles her fleece and makes a chattering noice when she discovers her new fleece every day along with when I snuggle her in her pouch with my hand. We have a very nice new cage setup in case we have to completely separate them once we let this all play out for a few months or as long as they need. I hate keeping Luna in the bonding cage so long but I have to keep the other new cage neutral, correct? How long can I keep Luna in her bonding cage? I want her to have more space in the meantime to play at night.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mamababies

I hate keeping Luna in the bonding cage so long but I have to keep the other new cage neutral, correct? How long can I keep Luna in her bonding cage? I want her to have more space in the meantime to play at night.

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I believe NO. we have never had a completely new cage for after intros.
we make a good wipe down of cage. my wife makes some mix of water and vinegar we clean off cage. wash sleeping pouches and fleece cage set or put in a washed
cage set. then after the tub intro goes well we put them in the cleaned up cage.

once going from 6 to 8 in the colony we put them during the day in a tiny cage with a big hanging hamick and the wife watched them in living room all day to make sure they slept together without fighting, then at night we put them back in big separate cages for 2 days. then when all seemed good we put all
8 in a wiped down big cage.