Hi there! I just need some advice for my new sugar gliders. I adopted three sugar glider back in Early August or late July . Two boys Apollo, 3, Milo, 1, and one pregnant (which I didn’t know at the time) girl, Echo, 1. It’s been a few months and the two boy sugar gliders have bonded very very well with me and the rest of my family! They can easily come up to us and play, jump on us, they even groom me occasionally. I would say I am very bonded with my two boys the most. The issue comes with the girl glider. She absolutely hates everyone. She not only bites us to make us bleed but she will lunge at us as if to attack and bite wherever she can. We try not to pull away as we’ve heard that pulling away is a bad idea, but she will none stop continuously scrap off my knuckle skin. Making it hard to do anything with the cage if she’s not asleep. She’s very dominant over food and will constantly bully and bite my other boys to where they chirp and whine. I’m not sure if this is correct but whenever she goes to bite me through the cage I’ll lightly blow on her face, but I’ve been doing that for weeks and she doesn’t seem to care. This make us scared to bring her out to play, considering we can’t touch her.

At first we assumed it was because she was pregnant and just is protective over the baby. Well this one time we thought the baby was dead because it wasn’t moving so I went in to pick it up and check on it, the girl watched and didn’t seem to care, neither did the dad (Apollo). I occasionally will take the baby Joey out to check on it and make sure it’s okay. They still don’t mind that I do it. I am able to put the Joey back and they will sniff and lick him but then go about playing in the cage again leaving him be to sleep.

So I guess what I’m asking is what can I do to make things better? I’ve tried bitter yuck, which she can smell out which finger i sprayed it on, gently blowing, and even sleeping with her while she’s in the bonding pouch, also just wondering with her in the pouch constantly. The cage is set up in my room so I watch them and just sit next to the cage for her to get used to me being there. I’m starting to feel hopeless, it’s sometimes almost impossible for me to even open the cage to be able to interact with my other two boys. I know it takes time but I figured she would have bonded with me once the other two were. I try my best to supply them with the best food and toys but I’m just confused.

The support and help on this website seems amazing, so I thought I’d try reaching out. P.S - I’m a new sugar glider owner and have done my best on research. I just want to do things right, Thank you <3

chapter one. what I would do. Leave the female alone for now. STOP LETTING HER
or giving her the opportunity to bite you. I do NOT go by the "let them bite you
rule." I think it is stupid. I'm not an expert. but I have worked with 15 gliders
over 5 to 6 years. and they dont bite me, I dont let them bite me. she is scare
so you let her bite, she is scare again, so she bites again....this is not fixing the problem. she is scared of you!
So she is pregnant, so let her alone, let her calm down, also she needs MORE
food while pregnant. the OHPW diet requests TWICE the wombaroo powder per litre
from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup. she needs nutrients to supply her babies. I would give
one food tray to the boys and one food tray to fat mommy.

I got connor a single glider, I talked to him, feed him LIVE mealworms from a spoon to start. I put the sleeping pouch on me on couch and talked to him and sing
to him, ONCE i was sure he wasn't going to jump out of pouch and run. I did NOT
touch him for about 2 to 3 weeks!! finally I got him to a point I could slowly and
gently pet his back leg while he ate a Live wormie. some gliders take a LONG time.
I got one female that STILL doesn't like me and its been 5 years, but she doesn't bite, so thats good.

so after reading the rest of your post, its mostly about the female.
again, I would just get some live mealworms or paradizepets fish sticks on
amazon.com. and just try to feed her some treats at night. I would let her take
care of her joey. Once the joey is away, I would work on her more. I think
you being the bringer of delicious live mealworms over time would help. also
if she doesn't go nuts in a bonding pouch, using gloves to put her in the
bonding pouch and holding her for an hour or two would help, my one female just
hates it and tries to get out and stresses out. At night I give my scared female
one mealworm then for more she has to jump on me like the other gliders and get
them out of the container. I have made small progress over a long time, bites to small bites, to little nips, to just touching me with her teeth. Now she only crabs and only gives me a small nip if I try to pick her up. I mistook her for fat face and picked her up to a small nip.

Hey Gabe,

I don't know anything beyond what I've read in terms of Joeys and pregnant females.

However, for your overly grumpy female...
Listen to what's been said before me, she's terrified of you. For good reason, you're this giant MONSTER coming toward her after she's had a baby and is naturally more protective. This is not your fault. HOWEVER. I would recommend putting your clothes into the cage for her to smell and explore and play in. Wear a ratty t-shirt for a day (sleeping in it is good too) and drape it over the cage/put it inside of the cage... Gliders bond by smell. This gives you the ability to lend your hoodie to a friend so they can hold the gliders... This also gives you the detriment of your glider not being familiar with your scent.

Start with that. Speak calmly to your sugar gliders every night when going to feed them. I use a specific sound as I descend the stairs to where my sugar glider's cage is to wake them up and tell them it is time to eat. The process of a aquiring a Sugar Glider's love is sometimes extremely slow. Start by not chasing her. Reward for good behavior and get her used to accepting treats from you and even being comfortable with your hands being near her.
Start slow.

They love grapes, use that to your advantage. Perhaps every time she interacts you she gets a delicious treat?
Perhaps your clothes have a snack inside of them?
Work slow. Be patient. You gots it!

IF it helps, I've had my sugar gliders for two years (they were pre-owned) and one of them still decides to crab at me like he's never seen me before sometimes. It's just behavior that gets trained out.

Thank you so much you guys! I’ll definitely take all of these into deep consideration and follow the steps you guys have suggested! Thank you again for the information and helping me go down the right path! =)

How is everything going, Gabe?

Things are going okay. I listened to the responses. I decided to buy some meal worms and give them every so often to show them that I have really good treats for them when I’m around. I moved them more into my room so they can hear me more and see me more and I’m in general around their cage more so she can just get used to me being there! I don’t reach in the cage as much, only to change and clean their toys. At the beginning, when I stopped reaching in more to give her/them space, I realized the boys started getting more grumpy with me and nipping me more. I didn’t want to loose my bond with them so I occasionally will reach my hand in to grab one of the boys and play with them. Unfortunately though the girl is the same as always. She now has days where she will not bite me but scratch me with her teeth, the other days she will do the same old blood biting. I got them a new raptor wheel to help them with exercise. Echo (the girl) LOVES that wheel and uses it every night, when we fall asleep to when we wake up. She was up pretty late today so I tested out to see if she would lunge at the cage and try to bite me. I held my finger up to right outside the cage to where she can’t reach but I’ll see her reaction. She lunged at me and actually reached my finger, scratching it up pretty badly. I didn’t pull away even though I started bleeding cause I know that’s a bad thing to do. She didn’t stop though and it went on to where it was really bad so I had to pull away but I didn’t do it fast, I did it calmly. I’m starting to loose a bit of hope, but I know it’s still early =(

Gabe, you're doing wonderfully!!!
I'll tell you this, my sugar gliders (who were pre-owned, so I expected it) took different amounts of time to come to trust and like me. One, Bobby, still likes to chew on me when he's frightened.
Don't sacrifice your bond with your boys to get her to love you! Play with the boys, put your shirts (that won't tangle with their little nails, we don't want them chewing their toes off to get to freedom) in the cage where they will sleep in them..
If the boys smell like you she will get used to you. Let her come to you. Do you have a place you can take them to let them play like a bathroom or something? I recommend getting some TASTY treats (like grapes, my suggies go CRAZY for grapes. And you said you have meal worms too. Yum) get the sugar gliders out, all of them, and let them all play and be around you. Don't reach in to pull your frightened girl out, if she is in a pouch or blankets, pick her up IN THE BLANKETS/POUCH and take her to the room that they can play in. Let her wake up and come out of her own accord. Leave her pouch on your lap or next to you and put some treats at the edge.
This is going to take time. And it is going to potentially take a long time. But she already is calming down! You will have days that are v e r y grumpy days for her. And you will have days where she gets better even just a LITTLE bit.
Keep playing with the boys. Keep giving her chances. 12 seconds of good behavior near you is better than 1. 1 minute of good behavior is better than 12 seconds. You will have to build slowly and carefully. But don't lose hope!!!
How is the Joey doing?
You have 4 gliders now right? The 2 boys. Your darling problem child, and then the joey? Just trying to make sure I have a clear picture. It makes tons and tons of sense for her to be very unhappy with you because of the baby.
You are doing very very well!
If you want, you are free to contact me for direct help as K don't check this site every day
But you are doing very very well. Know this is a long process and enjoy your boys as you work with your girl!

Gabe, you're doing wonderfully!!!
I'll tell you this, my sugar gliders (who were pre-owned, so I expected it) took different amounts of time to come to trust and like me. One, Bobby, still likes to chew on me when he's frightened.
Don't sacrifice your bond with your boys to get her to love you! Play with the boys, put your shirts (that won't tangle with their little nails, we don't want them chewing their toes off to get to freedom) in the cage where they will sleep in them..
If the boys smell like you she will get used to you. Let her come to you. Do you have a place you can take them to let them play like a bathroom or something? I recommend getting some TASTY treats (like grapes, my suggies go CRAZY for grapes. And you said you have meal worms too. Yum) get the sugar gliders out, all of them, and let them all play and be around you. Don't reach in to pull your frightened girl out, if she is in a pouch or blankets, pick her up IN THE BLANKETS/POUCH and take her to the room that they can play in. Let her wake up and come out of her own accord. Leave her pouch on your lap or next to you and put some treats at the edge.
This is going to take time. And it is going to potentially take a long time. But she already is calming down! You will have days that are v e r y grumpy days for her. And you will have days where she gets better even just a LITTLE bit.
Keep playing with the boys. Keep giving her chances. 12 seconds of good behavior near you is better than 1. 1 minute of good behavior is better than 12 seconds. You will have to build slowly and carefully. But don't lose hope!!!
How is the Joey doing?
You have 4 gliders now right? The 2 boys. Your darling problem child, and then the joey? Just trying to make sure I have a clear picture. It makes tons and tons of sense for her to be very unhappy with you because of the baby.
You are doing very very well!
If you want, you are free to contact me for direct help as K don't check this site every day
But you are doing very very well. Know this is a long process and enjoy your boys as you work with your girl!