Emaillmr
Krossia is right. I rescued my sugar glider. She was skinny and scared! it took 7 months to get her to the point of trust, fully bonded and happy. she now sleeps on my tummy, in the hood of my sweatshirt or bra lol, Never give up and if you have to use leather gloves in the beginning, then do so..I had to but just until she understood I was mommy not the enemy, a month.

heathersbabies
Thank you so much for your feedback Krossia. I'll keep your suggestions in mind :)

krossia
Its never really too late to try bonding with them. I would definitely attempt it! However, you need to solidify your resolve. If you want this to work, expect them to crab at you, bite you, lunge at you, etc. Be prepared for it and train your reaction to it. I always handle them with a psst ready at the tip of my tongue for when I even see the motion of a bite. I ensure my motions are smooth, slow, and trackable to them at any time, even if they crab, bite, or lunge. I stay still when they do bite and psst at them in reprimand until they let go. If they crab, I just gently hold them through the bonding pouch until they calm. My gliders now no longer lunge, bite in some sort of fear or retaliation motion, or crab at my movements or activities whether inside or outside the cage or bonding pouch. Gliders are rather smart; if they see that their defense tactics, including biting, don't scare you, they will eventually stop, some albeit faster than others. They see it has no effect and therefore give up on it. You need to persevere if you want this to work. If you are scared or skittish, either showing the behavior outside or keeping it inside, the glider will pick it right off and become anxious or defensive as a result. I am assuming you haven't really held them the past 4 years, so I feel that I should warn you of this: as a word of caution, the gliders may have lost much of their hand-raised behaviors. Every animal is different, but the general thing I have experienced is that if they aren't held or manipulated by hands in a long while, they begin to lose their handling tolerance. You may need to retrain that into them. Bonding is all about patience, time, and tolerance. You need to give it a consistent effort, particularly with the mean one, or it will do no good. I wish you all the best with this!! Post your results every once in a while so we can see how you're doing with them!