a turn for the worse!

[lilyofthedamned]

So, we had to seperate elvis and the girls this morning. He chased sweet P around the cage several times after sweet p went by his wheel when he was in it. he nipped at pixy again. When he was chasing her he did this weird crab and hiss mix sound.

We went and talked to his previous owner and found out that he has always been a very dominant male and wheel protective. So, we bought a silent spinner wheel and put it in the cage. The girls are running in it and we have elvis's wodent wheel in with him in the other cage.

We are going to try one more time to put them together and see if this helps. I still think he's going to attack the girls when they go by his wheel even though their is another one to use. If things get bad again we will have to seperate them and get a new cage for my elvie poo.

I don't get it though. When the girls first woke up they went looking for elvis. Elvis looked for them too in his cage. When they finally spotted eachother they kept on following eachother. The girls have been barking and elvis has been hissing at the girls but not the pffft kind and the girls have been hissing back.

* here are the aggressive things elvis has been doing:
Doing the pffft hiss at the girls.
Chasing them while making the crabing and hiss mix.
He's been wheel protective.
This morning he was aggressive over everything.
He hasn't been letting them eat.
When he has a treat he attacks the girls.

* here are his friendly traits:
He still sleeps with them and lets them sleep with him.
He looks for them when they are gone
He's still friendly with me.

I don't get it!!!!!

anyone want to donate to my cage fund? 

[Rhianna]

to be honest, and i know this is going to come across as bitchy but it has to be said i think,

 I wouldnt bother getting the leu.

with all animals that get introduced, a thing to take into consideration is the fact that they may never get on, and you will end up with numerous different cages. While with suggies this is rare, your Elvis seems to be one of the few that just dont respond well to company, probably due to the fact that he was alone for so long in the first place.

If you get the Leu, you are running the chance of it being rejected from Pixy and Sweetpeas cage as they may associate new gliders as bad, and may be quite....whats the word???...territorial/bullyish. If all goes well and it does go in then thats great and il be made up for you, but i would think is it worth it if they wont get on? 3 cages, 2 of which house a lonely glider.

just my advice.

[lilyofthedamned]

I've already put a $300 down payment on the leu. I can't afford to of just waisted that kind of money The leu is from the same breeder and all her gliders have always been social so I don't think they will reject her.

I've made my decision to make elvis a single glider but I'm going to try one more thing. I'm going to put him in with the girls without his wheel and see if it actually is wheel protection.

If things don't work out I have borrowed money from a friend and i'm going to buy elvis his own cage.

If things do work out then I'm going to try and place elvis's wheel back in the cage along with the girls wheel and see if that fixes things.

[lunar]

I don't know if its just me that thinks this or not but it will only make it worse if you keep taking him out and then putting him back in again. I've had a lot of experience introducing other animals (e.g. rabbits) and I know that if you keep mixing up the group dynamics by adding/removing members it causes much more aggression and doesnt give the group chance to settle into any kind of hierarchy. Its the same with all animals that live in colonies or groups. (Have you ever watched Monkeyworld and seen how difficult it is to reintroduce a chimp thats been taken out the group JUST OVERNIGHT for some kind of veterinary operation/treatment?!)
They also don't like it when their territory changes - e.g. cleaning all the toys, rearranging, etc. I know mine always go abit mad scenting everywhere when I've done a really good cage clean (does everybody elses gliders do the same thing?). I think the combination of adding/removing gliders and cage components might just be exasperating your situation.

I think if you put Elvis back in with the girls you should leave him there for a few days to see if it settles down. Obviously if he attacks and injures the girls then obviously you need to remove him but if they are squabbling then I would persist to see if it settles. It sounds a bit horrible but sometimes if you let them jus work it out on their own without interfering then they'll sort themselves out and be best buds in no time. Of course I am not suggesting that anybody ever lets too animals fight and injure themselves. It's a case of just using your own best judgement.

I hope this post hasn't come across as negative. I am just trying to help.

[roxyandboys]

wow, seems like a difficult position that you're in.  An option would be to try the entire introduction process again once you have his new cage, you know starting from scratch again, might be possible, although if there is another glider coming into the mix this could send the stress levels over the edge i suppose.  Has having 2 wheels helped at all?  I'm assuming there are 2 sleeping bags and 2 feeding stations and 2 water bottles etc etc?  Sorry, you may have heard all this already.  If they really are not getting on then they will have to be split, but of course you'll need to keep a close eye on elvis if he is on his own and also have him out for playtime more often, provide more toys etc.  I've no experience with keeping a single glider for any length of time, Eos was on his own for a few months and he seemed fine with extra attention from his human, perhaps having their cages close to each other will help if ti turns out that he is to be kept alone.

[lilyofthedamned]

I think I'm going to keep elvis and the girls seperated for now. I'll let the girls bond with the new leu and then I'll start from scratch. I'll try and intoduce elvis to them again. I think he wants gliders to play with but I think living with them is too much for him to deal with. All he needs is his wheel and his ducky and octopus toy and he's fine.

[lunar]

Thats a good idea. In the mean time why don't you try to keep somethng that smells like the girls in Elvis's pouch and something that smells like Elvis in the girls pouch, and keep the cages near to each other, and that way they wont totally forget about each other and the intro process might be easier when you get round to it.

[lilyofthedamned]

that's what I'm gonna do! 

I hope things end up working out well. :sg:

What size cage do you think I should have for my single little elvis?