Angry little glider!

[stedgyson]

Started having problems with one of my gliders, i have two males who are brothers and this is the first winter i've had them. Anyways they've started getting up far too early wanting to be fed and i think their sleep patterns are a bit messed up because its so dark all the time now.

I tend to go into the room about 12pm to feed the reptiles i have and usually they'll get up and play for an hour or so then i'll feed them and they'll go back to bed. A couple of months ago they didn't get up till about 5-6pm, summer 8-9pm. same deal, Play for an hour, eat go back to bed get back up and stay up all night.

Thing is one of them has become incredibly aggressive, especially around food? If i feed him and stay in the room he will go nuts in his cage crabbing at me then attack his pal who is completely relaxed all the time. If i open the cage, billy big bollocks will crab, lunge and attack me but then instantly calm down. It's effecting the other one because he's so aggressive all the time and he's constantly on his case, i found him curled up in his food bowl looking very sorry for himself yesterday, took him out and he was fine.

If i let them out and there is no food on the scene he's totally sweet. He has always been the crabby one of the two ever since i got them, yesterday he was kicking up a huge fuss.

I'm just wondering why he's being such a pain? Anyone have any ideas?

[roxyandboys]

Food aggression, ummm... cannot say i've ever experienced it but...

Do you have two seperate food bowls for them?  Are you feeding enough each night (suggies tend to eat a bit more in the winter)  Is it a particular thing in the food that is making him so possessive?  Is he trying to tell you somthing about what you are, or possibly are not feeding him, perhaps he is trying to communicate that he doesnt like what you're feeding him or that it is missing something that he needs?  Is it specifically only when food is around?

[loulou]

Also to add, do you have 2 pouches? I noticed you said one was asleep in the food bowl, the other one may not be letting him into the pouch either and at this time of year they need the pouch.

Oh another thing are they boys neutered?

[stedgyson]

Food aggression, ummm... cannot say i've ever experienced it but...

Do you have two seperate food bowls for them?  Are you feeding enough each night (suggies tend to eat a bit more in the winter)  Is it a particular thing in the food that is making him so possessive?  Is he trying to tell you somthing about what you are, or possibly are not feeding him, perhaps he is trying to communicate that he doesnt like what you're feeding him or that it is missing something that he needs?  Is it specifically only when food is around?

I do have seperate bowls for them and i am feeding them more than i usually would right now, they aren't fat but they definitely aren't starving! I tend to feed them the same recipe for a few weeks at a time exept for changing supplements. It gets worse when food is around but not always, like just now i went to feed them and one lunged at me crabbing as i put the food in the cage. If they are just playing out of the cage in the room they are absolutely fine, he is more defensive while he's in his cage though which is unusual. Hasn't been like that since the first day i got them. Also when i feed them something they don't like they leave quite alot of it, this recipe (papaya, mango, apple and pear courtesy of Tillie!) is a big hit and they never leave a trace! haha

Also to add, do you have 2 pouches? I noticed you said one was asleep in the food bowl, the other one may not be letting him into the pouch either and at this time of year they need the pouch.

Oh another thing are they boys neutered?

I do have two pouches and a small purple thing that they sometimes sit in, when he was asleep in his bowl, the other one was actually eating out of it too squeezing past him. I think he might have exausted himself eating too quick
They are still sharing the pouch though, he isn't kicking him out all the time or anything like that.
No they are not neutered, at least if they are i wasn't informed by the previous owner, i have noticed that they mark whenever i clean the cage. It's not the nicest smell! Do un-neutered males get particularly aggressive at any time of the year?

There was one thing that may have upset him, the introduction of a kitten that i rescued who ended up staying with us for about a month. He's been gone for a couple of weeks now, this was one of my main suspicions but they just seemed interested in him. They were never aggressive to him like the extent they are with myself and my girlfriend!

[HoneyHeart]

Are they bonded with you yet? Maybe the aggresive one is trying to work out some sort of pecking order and is pushing my luck.

Paige used to crab if you LOOKED at her because she was so scared of people, maybe something is making him uneasy?

[Marie]

Sounds like a dominance thing, I'd get the aggressive one (if not BOTH of them) snipped.  Un Neutered males don't get aggressive at any specific time of year.  Sounds daft but have you changed your soap?  Have you been hadling reptiles before feeding/opening the suggie's cage or anything like that?

[stedgyson]

Are they bonded with you yet? Maybe the aggresive one is trying to work out some sort of pecking order and is pushing my luck.

Paige used to crab if you LOOKED at her because she was so scared of people, maybe something is making him uneasy?

I don't think they will ever fully bond with me to be honest, i've had them for a few months now and although they are relaxed around me and will play i bought them off a nice lady who bought them off a pet shop a few months before, apparently they were two years old when i bought them so they spent the early part of their life in a cage probably getting poked at by passers by. They can get a little funny around hands?

A couple of days ago i showed him that crabbing wasn't going to work on me and yesterday he was alot better, more of a grumble than a crab!

Sounds like a dominance thing, I'd get the aggressive one (if not BOTH of them) snipped.  Un Neutered males don't get aggressive at any specific time of year.  Sounds daft but have you changed your soap?  Have you been hadling reptiles before feeding/opening the suggie's cage or anything like that?

No i don't think so, sometimes its after ive been handling the reptiles, sometimes its not. They live in the same room together most of the time and sometimes run around together. They barely even acknowledge each other.

Hopefully things continue to get better!

[Marie]

So the gliders aren't together in the same cage? Or am I getting totally confused now?

[leer0ybr0wn]

Marie, I think he's saying the gliders are in the same cage as each other but are kept in the same room as the reptiles too. I'm assuming that the gliders and reptiles run around with each other and neither are that bothered about each other....therefore the point he's trying to make I think (reading between the lines) is that the whether he's touched the reptiles or not before approaching the sugar gliders, has nothing to do with their crankiness!

I think that's right?!... -.-

[bubbles]

yes i got that impression too leeroy

[Rhianna]

dont know if its just me, but i wouldnt let my gliders fart around with reptiles. im sure i read someone where that snakes are a sugar gliders natural predador, and even if these are ickle snakes, i bet a couple sharp bites form a sugar glider would result in a dead or severly injured snake, same with lizards.

im just not a fan of mixing species.

it might expain why the sugar gliders are cranky towards you. if they smell a reptile (aka your hands) coming towards them, they are probably defending themselves.

[Rakuen]

I agree Rhi, I wouldn't want to risk it personally.

[Marie]

TBH, I dismissed the idea of the reps and suggies running together.  I hope it's not snakes!  I wouldn't advise letting the suggies and any reps run loose together to be honest, that could be causing stress hence aggression.

[bubbles]

lol fart around with!  awesome choice of phrase!

[Rhianna]