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2 new gliders for me...what am I doing wrong?

4K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  RenaRose 
#1 ·
Hello. I brought home two 8-week old male and female siblings. I visited them every week since they were only a day old. Every week I would hold them for about a half-hour. So precious they are! Now they have been home with me for nearly two weeks and I have not held them because they are afraid of me (and I am afraid of their teeth) and dive into their cage pouch. When I try to coax them out, I get the royal crab treatment! If I still try to pet them, they open their mouths and crab like they want to bite me and spread their arms wide open. What should I be doing to have them enjoy me like I have always read that these little creatures do with their owners? Why did they change their minds about me in the first place? I have a large cage for them but currently have them in a small one so they will become accustomed to me. One of them will come up to the back of my hand to sniff but then I get "tasted". How can I ever hold them if I feel that they want to bite/eat me?

Also, in reference to their diet, I feed them a staple. For treats, they get little banana slices (which they love), half of a boiled egg (which they seem to enjoy), and an ice cube consisting of Rep-Cal no D3, Vionate, and Wombaroo HPS. How long do I keep the Wombaroo in this mix...isn't this a milk replacer for babies? Either way, they do not eat much of it..it must be like broccoli for human children. lol.
 
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#2 ·
I don't have a sugarglider and I'll leave it up to a glider owner to answer most of your questions but I know it's going to be hard to tame your gliders if you're afraid of getting bitten since they almost always do =/. The best thing to do is to just let them bite you and tough it out...if you pull away they'll just bite more since it'll teach them that they can get what they want by biting.

By the way, how long have you had them? It's going to take them a little while to get used to their new home...they are probably scared.

Also, congrats! :D Any pics? ;)
 
#3 ·
I think you really need to do some research on glider diets, I would look into BML, Suncoast Diet and The Pet Sugar Glider Diet, I have links on my website at www.critterhill.com.

As they are siblings has the brother been or is he going to be neutered? They will breed otherwise.

You really need to start working with these guys to start bonding. Intially they were probably a little scared because even though they had seen you before, your house has different noises and smells than their old home and they had also lost the security of their mom and dad and their old owner. I know you are scared of being bitten, but you will have to get over that fear, because they are probably picking up on it.

Do you have tent that is small enough to put up inside the house? If you don't I would go out and buy one. It really helps with the bonding process. You can read more info on tent time here: http://www.critterhill.com/TentTime.html Also look on the links page and there are some good articles on bonding.

Good Luck

Catherine
 
#4 ·
I don't own one either so I can only say what I think. When they didn't live with you did they accept you holding them? if they did, I think it just takes time to get used to you in new surrondings. As far as biting let them bite once and then scold them, I have gerbils and the babies would bite. when they got older one or two would still bite. But I just flicked his nose gently not hard and said no, and started picking him up under him instead of going into a grabbing pick up :) he doesn't bite anymore, only if scared. He drew blood and bit hard. good luck with your babies :)
 
#6 ·
:) no don't do that to yours gliders I just did it to let him know that it wasn't acceptable, I guess I got lucky that he didn't get afraid of me after that, and I also changed the way I pick him up now too. The reason I did flick him was reflex it startled me :) but everything is fine now. really never take advice from someone who doesn't have the same pet as you or a vet because I gave wrong info and I am sorry for that:)
 
#7 ·
Catherine, You mention that I really need to research their diet...I feed them the staple diet of Dr. Cathy Johnson-Delaney. The supplements are given just as I was told by the breeder. The treats are on a list of glider acceptables. Why do you question this...:confused:
Yes, I have a little tent. I just put it in my living room.:)
If I wait for my babies to awaken, would I be fine to attempt to just scoop them up in my hands...or should I transport them directly to the tent via their cage pouch.;)
I never strike any of my animals.:mad2:
Thank you for the link, I will look at it.
 
#9 ·
DeguCrazy said:
I have one more question: Are sugargliders litter trainable? Has anyone from this forum ever tried?;)
No, they aren't. They just go whenever.

But I've heard of putting a litterbox where they usually go...though they probably wouldn't go out of their way to use it.
 
#10 ·
Your explanation of what you were feeding did not sound like a recognised proven diet.

And doesn't seem to follow what I know of as the Dr J-D diet.

Dr. Johnson-Delaney Recommendations
Dr. Cathy Johnson-Delaney is an experienced exotic animal veterinarian and respected author and speaker. Her feeding recommendations are based on studies of the natural diets of sugar gliders designed in consultation with Australian zookeepers and veterinarians. The suggested amounts are per sugar glider, per day, fed in the evening. The amount should be adjusted depending on activity, size, reproduction, etc.

1 Tablespoon Leadbeater's Mix (recipe follows)
1 Tablespoon Zoo quality insectivore diet (e.g. Reliable Protein Products Insectivore Diet) , or insects. If using insects, variety is important (crickets, mealworms, waxworms, moths, spiders, etc), and the insects should be fed high quality food such as commercial cricket food, and dusted with a complete vitamin/mineral supplement.
treat: small amount of fruits, chopped together so the gliders can't just pick out ther favorites.
Leadbeater's Mix Recipe 150 ml Warm water
150 ml Honey
1 Shelled, boiled egg
25 grams high protein baby cereal
1 tsp vitamin/mineral supplement
Mix warm water and honey. Blend egg, then gradually add water/honey mixture. Then blend in vitamin powder until smooth, and then blend in baby cereal until smooth. Keep refrigerated until served. http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/sugargliders/a/sgfeeding.htm

I would ask your breeder how long you are supposed to use Wombaroo for. There is egg in the Leadbeater's mix so are you feeding the half egg you mentioned along with the egg also in the mixture? And are the vitamins not being put in the Leadbeater's mix like it mentions?

You have me confused LOL

As to the tent thing. I would take them in their pouch about an hour or so before they get up usually in to the tent. If you take them in your hands, they might decide to explore before you get them and you don't want to have to chase them down. :) Take treats too.
 
#12 ·
I would buy a travel pouch to wear around your neck. That way they can get used to your voice, smell, and movements. I carried mine day in and day out whenever I could. We were pretty close-- and yes-- I got bit bad in the beginning. lol, It happens. If you can handle their little claws then you can handle anything!
 
#13 ·
I don't know why your gliders would act like this. Somethimes the little guys can be unpredictable. But one somewhat untamed glider I have would bite me as if I were a large mealworm she wished to consume.:drool2: It was quite painfull. I was told to try and tough it out and just take the bite. So I did. I sat with my glider nawing happily away at my hand whille I cried , petted her, and tried to coax her to stop. I have a very low pain tolorance. All the next week people would say to me "What on earth did you do to your hand?!" Well I decided that was to painfull for me to tough out so I rubbed a bar of soap on my hands. Everytime she tried to bite she would have to stop and spit out the gross soap. Now she dosen't bite quite so much and I can hold her with out soapy hands. When she does I gently blow in her face to get her to release and then try and distract her with food. She is slowly improving. The best advice I can give you is to keep trying and spend as much time with them as you can. Persitance is the key! When I got my first glider I caried her around with me everywhere I could with my hand in her pouch. She would crab at me and sometimes nip, but not hard enough to hurt me. After a week she settled down and is now one of my best behaved gliders!:thumbsup:
 
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