To Get Another Glider Or Not To...

[Rakuen]

Right well basically I have 2 gliders at the moment, they're sisters one is just over a year old and the other is about 7-8 months old (aprox) and I've been thinking about getting another one to keep in with them. Obviously I'd get another one from the same breeder so they will all be related and I'd go for another female. The things I wanted to ask though were;

Will they all get on okay or might my two pick on her?

I am going to buy mine a new cage next year, but depending on when a female joey will be available is my cage at the moment big enough for 3? http://www.animalinstinct.co.uk/acatalog/info%5f40328%2ehtml, the new one I get them will be bigger!

Will the two I have now be bonded to each other so that they may just leave the new one out?

Is it ideal or not to introduce a new glider with my two at the age they are now?

I think thats all I needed to ask, but if there's anything I may have missed let me know! 

Thanks

[roxyandboys]

Hi

My Brothers Sugar & Spice were about 8 months old and my other group were over a year an a half old when i introduced them - i had rthe same concerns as you do but they have gotten on together just fine and dandy.

What i did was to leave the the new gliders in a seperate cage next to the other gliders cage for a week so they could "talk" about things through the bars first, then they started being out to play together and when i saw that this caused no concerns they all went in together into their new super big cage and they has been no looking back, witin hours they were snuggled up all on top of each other in a bag!

Dont assume that my case is standard as these are the only suggies i have kept

Cheers

Roxy

[Marie]

Well there's never any guarantee, but Roxy has had success and I've never had any problem introducing a newb to an already established group, and as they're all girls then I think you should be fine.

Obviously if you're happy with the breeder you got your girls from then great, but you don't NEED to get a related suggie, it won't make any difference.  I wouldn't advise putting a freshly weaned joey in though, the general rule of thumb for suggie introductions is that the newbie is at least two thirds the size/weight of the biggest suggie, so a joey would need to do a bit of growing first.

The cage is fine for 3, obviously if you can upgrade then great!  And with out of cage playtime too then there's no reason why 3 couldn't live happily ever after in there.

Just remember though, make sure you have at least 2 sleeping pouches (or boxes) and at least 2 food bowls.

[Rakuen]

Thanks for your advice!

When I introduced the two I have now I did it during the day so they were a little sleepy and Keeba was more intrested in her toys to begin with lol, but when they did go over to each other they had a little "talk" and for about a week after that there was a few little squabbles, not fighting though just talking and they've got on fine since. (I'm aware thats not really the way to do things but I did have advice from my breeder!)

I know that introducing a 3rd one will be a bit more tricky as there will be 2 of them wondering what the hells going on and 1 will be frightend, but would the sort of way I introduced those two work or is the best way through having them in seperate cages? If that is best, would the soft reptarium do as temporary housing? (I would like to get her from my usual breeder Lee, yemen101 and I know Honey has not long had twins male and female and the female has been reserved, so by the time shes had more I may have a new cage by then anyway!) also how long would I need to keep them separated? As Keeba has taken after her dad and shes quite a big girl!

Hope that all makes sense as I kinda confused myself there lol. 

[Marie]

Ahhh, you had them from Lee  .  I agree with what Lee told you about the intro's, the way I got newbies into my colony was by taking the 2 out of the cage, and by placing the newb in the cage.  So after you've let them out to get to know one another, put the newb in the cage and then put the most placid one in first, if everything goes well, you can then try putting number 2 in.

As you'll be getting a joey, you'll need to keep her in a seperate cage until she's about two thirds the size of the largest glider, so you'll have plenty of time to let her settle and to do the pouch swapping.  Cerian uses a reptarium as a holiday home when she used to travel from uni to home.  A reptarium will be fine for a short while

[Rakuen]

Ahh ok right then so if the new joey was fairly big (which was the case with Kaida lol) and if the meeting went well would she be able to move in straight away?