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Sugar Gliders
Too many cages! Which gliders would make the best cage mates?
Too many cages! Which gliders would make the best cage mates?
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Aug 12 2020
05:42:02 AM
I tried phrasing this question in a different way, so this is a second attempt.

I have 3 cages and 8 gliders. I would like to get it down to 2 cages. This is just a lot to keep up with and clean, not to mention the space 3 cages take up. I have:

- 2 adult females in "Cage 1." (VERY tame.)
- 2 young females in "Cage 2." (NOT tame.)
- 2 males and 2 females in "Cage 3." (Pretty much tame.)

***Note: "Cage 3" is a family. One male and one female are young, the others are the parents. The males have supposedly been neutered.

Who should I put together, assuming I can even calm down the young females in "Cage 2"? I would REALLY like to have all 8 in the same large cage eventually, but I don't know if that is just too many.

I'm going crazy over here. Which gliders might I be able to put together to eliminate 1 of the 3 cages?

____________

Any tips on calming down the young females in "Cage 2" are appreciated. They hate pouches. They like to escape the cage and run when possible. They attack treats in anger. "Tent time" does not end well because I have to catch them. One of the two is slightly more receptive to people than the other one.

I work from home, but's hard to bond individually with 2 young gliders, plus bond individually with the family of 4 I accidentally ended up with, but care about and would like to keep.

I don't know if I should spend most of my time with just 1 glider for a week or two, then try another glider.

____________

Sincerely,
In over my head (?)
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Aug 17 2020
12:54:19 AM
aapuzzo Joey Visit aapuzzo's Photo Album 17 Posts
I don't know much but I don't think how tame they are with humans matters too much regarding how tame they are with other sugar gliders in making the decision if combining cages is all you are trying to accomplish.
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Aug 17 2020
03:56:06 PM
WhiskersNC Starting Member Visit WhiskersNC's Photo Album 8 Posts
Thank you @aapuzzo. Someone else on Glider Gossip said that I should not put the bonded gliders with the "wild" gliders. (I guess they were saying that doing so would make the bonded gliders less tame?) I really don't have any experience with this at all, so it is nice to get input.
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Aug 17 2020
06:04:39 PM
aapuzzo Joey Visit aapuzzo's Photo Album 17 Posts
There may be truth to that but my not tame female has not rubbed off on my male. What I would avoid doing is putting my hand in a pouch with one crabbing. That may cause them to learn the behavior however in my case it didn't matter. If they are awake and you get the tame ones to come to the front of the cage and jump onto you with a treat it won't matter. They are all individuals but my male could care less how much the female is complaining. He only crabs back at her when she tries to get away from me and puts a foot or her butt in his face. He doesn't hold a grudge against me.

I was mostly speaking from the perspective of if the gliders would get along based on the subject of which gliders would make the best cage mates.

If you are holding treats out they may all follow if they see another glider coming over. As long as there is no crabbing I don't think you will be teaching them anything bad and causing the tames ones to become less tame. Don't chase the untamed gliders down unless you absolutely have to because that will scare all of them. If you want to take them out with the pouch wait until they are in a pouch by themselves or without the tame ones in the same pouch.

The ironic thing is my female glider is now pregnant and for the first time ever jumped up onto me last night once I stopped caring about taming her. I have been holding the food bowl in front of her at feeding time for the past week to make sure she gets her fill of the hpw. If unsupervised she will get no hpw and all the seconds.

After doing this for a few weeks I held the bowl further away making it so all 4 paws needed to be on me to get food. After doing it once she now only hesitates for a moment before jumping onto me for food.

Edited by - aapuzzo on Aug 17 2020 06:20:57 PM
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Aug 17 2020
06:27:00 PM
WhiskersNC Starting Member Visit WhiskersNC's Photo Album 8 Posts
Maybe I should have worded that differently, or just elaborated.

Of course, I want the gliders to be sweet and bonded to me, but I do also care about the feelings of the gliders and would not want a "wild" glider to stress/scare a happy, tame glider and take away her sense of peace and safety. I hope that makes sense.

I wonder if it would be best to just try adding one of the "unbonded" gliders at a time. (Perhaps allowing her some "meet and greet" playtime with the bonded gliders each night in the tent before returning her to her sister for the rest of the evening so that none of them is left feeling lonely?)

Maybe that could help ease the young gliders into the situation and reduce the chaos that might ensue if I suddenly and permanently move both young gliders into a different cage with other gliders. It would also be easier to remove one glider from the situation than to remove two if any fighting occurred.

I'd honestly like to try to just go ahead and put one of the young ones directly in the other cage for a few hours. Their cages are very close, so they smell, hear, and watch each other already. If you happen to read this and you think that's a bad idea, let me know!

Thank you for the advice. That's a good idea re: treats as well. :)
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Aug 17 2020
06:45:31 PM
aapuzzo Joey Visit aapuzzo's Photo Album 17 Posts
there are many youtube videos and links on how to introduce gliders. It sounds like you already did step one which is put the cages near each other for a period of time. If they aren't side by side I would do that first. I would personally rather have them meet on neutral ground like my shoulder but probably a tent in your case. I personally wouldn't add one glider directly into the territory of another.

Your case is different because you want to introduce pairs. Not sure if the scent of the other pair would stick to the introduced one when you go to move them back after the introduction. I would be more inclined to do all 4 at once but hopefully somebody with more experience chimes in.

I have no experience to base the scent thing on but I know my cat that stayed home turns on the other one that went to the vet.

Edited by - aapuzzo on Aug 17 2020 06:51:18 PM
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Aug 17 2020
07:16:44 PM
aapuzzo Joey Visit aapuzzo's Photo Album 17 Posts
quote:
Originally posted by WhiskersNC

Thank you @aapuzzo. Someone else on Glider Gossip said that I should not put the bonded gliders with the "wild" gliders. (I guess they were saying that doing so would make the bonded gliders less tame?) I really don't have any experience with this at all, so it is nice to get input.



I just came across the post on "Introducing two untamed gliders and two tame gliders?" Is this the post you were talking about? If it is I think the person was just saying tame gliders won't help with the untamed ones and not that that you can't or shouldn't put them put them together. I think they just meant you shouldn't put them together for that reason expecting it to help. You new post was too many cages :). I think we are saying the same thing.


Edited by - aapuzzo on Aug 17 2020 07:19:14 PM
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Aug 18 2020
01:31:35 AM
WhiskersNC Starting Member Visit WhiskersNC's Photo Album 8 Posts
Yep, that was my post!

The three cages are all as close to side-by-side as possible without allowing the gliders to physically touch. I'll putting both of the "NOT tame" gliders in the tent with the two "VERY tame" gliders. I dread getting my little naughty gliders out of the tent again, but hopefully it will be worth it for them - and for me - in the long run.

On a separate note...

I did try putting the 2 "VERY tame" gliders and the 4 "KIND OF tame" gliders together for a few days a while back. They all more or less got along, but I became concerned about the behavior of the 2 "KIND OF tame" males. They kept smelling the bottoms of the two "VERY tame" girls, and this seemed to irritate the girls, so I separated them again.

I'm not sure if this is normal behavior for neutered males. I believe that I will just have to make a vet appointment to know for sure whether or not they are actually neutered. If they aren't neutered, I know that the "magic of life" may have already occurred. Once again, it will just have to be something to talk to the vet about.

Thanks again for your help. I'm glad that your pregnant female is acting friendlier. I think it would be really fun to see gliders raise a joey. (With my current situation, it's just wouldn't be the best time.)

*I feel silly with all of the descriptions of the gliders relative to how tame they are. With 8, I figured that it would be even more confusing for anyone reading to keep up with who was who based on a list of names!*

VERY tame - Indigo, Magick
SORTA tame - Cloud, Cedar, Cougar, Canyon
"Naughty" little ones - Moonlight, Hope

(The irony of Hope's name does not escape us. We HOPE that she will accept us in time!)
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Aug 18 2020
02:27:37 AM
aapuzzo Joey Visit aapuzzo's Photo Album 17 Posts
Just leave a pouch in the tent when you want to get them out. I have read the sent glands on males shrink a good amount when neutered. Are they very visible? My un-neutered male is cover in oil now that it is apparently breeding season. Also if the cage with males weren't neutered they would have a noticeably different smell.

I believe there are 2 methods for neutering them one which removed the pom pom from where the pouch on a female would be. I think if they use a laser this does not get removed.

Aren't the 2 males already in with females in cage 3? You would already have babies or fighting if they weren't neutered.

Edited by - aapuzzo on Aug 18 2020 02:36:34 AM
Too many cages! Which gliders would make the best cage mates?

GliderGossip GliderGossip
Sugar Gliders
Too many cages! Which gliders would make the best cage mates?