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Sugar Gliders
3 year old female refuses to bond
3 year old female refuses to bond
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Nov 30 2021
08:15:36 AM
So my wife and I have owned Brownie for exactly 3 years today! Its basically what we consider her birthday. For a bit of background, she is my 4th glider total, and my first glider I owned was back in 2008. With all of my previous gliders (female and male) were of varying degrees of friendly, however with a lot of attention and sometimes hard work, they all bonded. Some bonded within a couple months and others took a large amount of time. Regardless they all became great and lovely friends!

My wife and bought Brownie as mentioned before aout 3 years ago. During this entire 3 years, i have spent countless hours almost every single day trying to bond with her. I have never met such an unfriendly glider not just including my own personal ones. We regularly try and put her in her bonding pouch but to honest she doesnt enjoy it very much. She prefers almost exlusivley her sleeping pouch inside her cage. It took a very long time, but she does take fresh fruits from my hand every single night without much hesitation. But she is seemingly petrified of my bare hands without the presence of treats. She really doesnt like my wife but thats because my wife is kind of skittish. She doesnt pull her hand away or make jerky fast movements that would scare Brownie, however its basically evolved to a point where my wife is just too afraid and lost her confidence it will change. Shes never owned a glider before.

I refuse to give up. I will not give her away because i love the little girl, she can be so cute! I am just so tired of her bitting me. Her crabbing has all but vanished in most situations, but she gets very aggressive when i try to go the extra mile thinking I can finally make at least some progress. She eats well, as i give her fresh juicy fruits via hand feeding on a daily basis, she gets a fresh bowl of meal worms daily and twice a week i give her special suagr treats made specifically for gliders. She regularly chirps with satisfaction when i give her a fresh slice of tangerine or clemintines, and she never in 3 years has shown signs of depression ie refusing to eat or staying in her pouch for exteded periods. She can be heard every night at 2 am doing her rutine backflips around the cage bars, barking until i come and talk to her and she drinks water in a healthy amount. Its so strange that she outwardly seems quite content, but she just does not want to e bothered and its making me quite disconcerted and sad. PLEASE HELP

Question
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Dec 07 2021
02:22:15 PM
GandKaidos Glider 55 Posts
Hello!!

Sounds like you're doing great with your gliders- one thing to note though, a glider doing backflips is not a sign of a healthy glider. do they have a lot of toys and a lot of stimulation to keep their little brains working? Have you taken her to the vet to get her checked out for something that she could be sick with that's making her feel gross? Sick gliders are not often snuggly gliders.
you sound like you're doing a fabulous fabulous job. Those gliders sometimes just don't like to bond. The backflipping is a definite sign of stress, however, so I would see what I could do about that...
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Dec 07 2021
09:51:37 PM
BYK_Chainsaw Fuzzy Wuzzy Visit BYK_Chainsaw's Photo Album BYK_Chainsaw's Journal USA 1301 Posts
1. I would consider getting her a cagemate.
2. you don't say a diet. but mealworms every day is alot of fat.
I would pick the OHPW or critterlove or BML diet to feed her.

3. I have 6 gliders about 6/7 years. one female is still skittish and prefers
to stay IN the cage. they have a glider room and can roam free, but she stays in
the sleeping tote or in cage most of the time. If I bother her enough she will
put her teeth on me but not really bite. I can feed her treats, pet hers, but she
prefers I leave her alone. after 6 years I still see little victories once in
awhile. note: she has always hated bonding pouch, so I dont use it. I notice
if I pet her back she is more tolerate of it, she actually left cage and sat on
my leg for treats this month. she no longer crabs every time I check in sleeping
tote in morning.

I just let her do her thing, I have 5 other gliders in the colony to hold and pet. BUT I'm always trying to pet her once a day and let her know I'm not going to just completely give up on her.

I would not like the biting. I think you should switch up the mealworm treats, ONLY give her the treats from your hand/fingers. Make her step on one arm to get to the treats your holding in the other hand. keep this up for weeks, and try to make her get more on you arm to get to the treats. after some time, weeks or months, she should have to climb on your arm/hand to get the treats.

With Link, I would get him on my arm with a treat, weeks of work. then carry him to kitchen for more live mealworms. after awhile he would be waiting at cage door, and climb on my arm as soon as I open door for the ride to kitchen for live mealworms. Oh and he would give me little nips on my arm if he had finished his mealworm and I didnt have another one ready for him.
3 year old female refuses to bond

GliderGossip GliderGossip
Sugar Gliders
3 year old female refuses to bond