How many?

[helen88uk]

I'm SO EXCITED to be getting two young girlies nxt sunday. Cage has been set up for ages. I'v already made enought food for about a year ha! (not quite a year but I did get abit excited ) I've just been reading thru loads of different posts about anything and everything and it seems that most of you keep several gliders. I was just wondering how many you think is a good number to keep. Is the the more the merrier? As long as you make sure you consider the genders and neutered status of males etc ... i'm guessing that more is better but obviously only enough as you can handle and care for properly.

I'm obviously not thinking of adding to mine pair yet but I am getting two young females and wondered if I did feel like I was able to take on any more in the future, what genders / ages etc... would match my girls?
Is it ok to add females to females?
Do they just have to be roughly the same size rather than the same age?
Is a male easier to add?
Would my females fight over attention off a male?
If I added two males would they fight over the females?
Would the males have to both be snipped?
Could I introduce 1 intact male with 1 neutured male to two females?
Would the intact male then fight the other 1?
Could I introduce 2 intact males to my females and if/once they'd bred then get them neutured? Would they fight?

Sorry there are so many questions! I would never introduce an intact male unless I felt confident about breeding. I would love ideally to later on get a male to breed with my girls to increase the colony size. I like the idea of them being in a family based colony but I've also been reading alot on the breeding section and there are some traumatic horror stories that I can't believe you guys have had to go thru. A lot of this is hypothetical. Just thought i'd ask all the questions and find out as much as poss. Sorry it's so long!

I don't know the outcome of the questions I have asked, hance why I'm asking. So if any of the questions seem abit irrisponsible to you guys (as experienced owners) then I appoogise. Like Isaid, a lot are hypothetical and I would NEVER do anything irrisponsible towards my suggies. Basically, if any of the questions leave you thinking "NO! Don't be so f***ing stupid!!" then i'm sorry  I just wanted to know what all my options were x

[Marie]

It's irresponsible of you NOT to ask TBH!  If there is something you're unsure about it is better to get the experience based opinions than just go ahead and ask questions later  .

In my opinon, three is a good number.  Colonies are a lot of fun and interesting, but the larger the colony the harder it is to keep your eye on each individual. 

As you are getting two girls, in theory you can add other females or neutered males without too much of a problem, but if you want to add an entire male then you should only add ONE entire male.  Entire males won't always fight over females if they are raised together (assuming both are not the dominant type).  One male will assume dominance but you are likely to have issues when breeding.  Often one of the males will kill the other's joeys. 

You can add neutered males (assuming they have been neutered longer than a month) as their testosterone levels will have dropped and so should (in theory) have lost their territorial behaviours. and an entire male can be introduced to neutered males.

I wouldn't say it's any easier to introduce female to female or male to female, colonies in the wild consist of a male and a number of females.

Whatever you decide to do and how many you decide on, only add 1 entire male. 

 

[Amalthea]

I'm obviously not thinking of adding to mine pair yet but I am getting two young females and wondered if I did feel like I was able to take on any more in the future, what genders / ages etc... would match my girls? I always think at least three is the best....  With pairs, if something happens to one, you're left with a lone glider without other gliders to help with the mourning process.  As for genders and ages, you can pretty much add any to a group of females
Is it ok to add females to females?  Yup
Do they just have to be roughly the same size rather than the same age? Yup You want any new gliders to be at least 2/3 the size of the original gliders (or vice versa) before intros
Is a male easier to add?  Not really...  Usually females are pretty easy to introduce others to
Would my females fight over attention off a male? Nope
If I added two males would they fight over the females? Two intact males could seriously hurt eachother and/or the females
Would the males have to both be snipped?  Yes....  It COULD work where only one was done, but that's usually in already bonded family groups (like the son is neutered, so he can stay with his parents)
Could I introduce 1 intact male with 1 neutured male to two females? I wouldn't recommend it
Would the intact male then fight the other 1?  He might.
Could I introduce 2 intact males to my females and if/once they'd bred then get them neutured? Would they fight?  Not a good idea at all.....  See previous answers.

And don't ever feel the need to apologise for asking a question It's better to ask a seemingly silly question than to not know the answer...  Plus, you can almost always guarantee somebody else will need to know, as well   Marie beat me to it *lol*

[helen88uk]

Thankyou for taking the time to reply to that! I think I will possibly look for a neutered male later on to turn my pair into a trio. I think 3 is a nice number for me. I thought it would be so amazing to go thru a successful breeding process and see a joey from birth and watch it grow up in the colony but I'm getting two baby girls, (well....3month o.o.p) so I'll still have the chance to bond with youngsters Also I'd be devastated if anything went wrong with a joey and I was responsible.

Maybe i'll get a neutured male early next year if I feel me and my girls are ready to take on a boy
I'm so excited for sunday! Come home NOW Mark! Lol x

[Amalthea]

Yeah, breeding can be pretty heartbreaking....  It isn't for the light hearted, I promise you.  But if the loss of a joey DOESN'T upset you, I don't think you should be breeding, anyways.  But there's always time to decide to bring an intact male into your colony at a later date

[Marie]

You're getting them off Mark are you?

[helen88uk]

At the risk of going off topic ... have you ever bred? The loss of a joey would devastate me! I'd only consider breeding if I thought I could definately do it safely and successfully. But I don't know how I'd know I would be able to without actually doing it. Does that make sense? I would LOVE to have a family colony BUT if I had any doubts at all that I wasn't 100% sure I knew exactly what I was doin and what I would need to do if anything was to go wrong then I wouldn't even consider it.
Do gliders do better in family colonies or can unrelated gliders form bonds with eachother that are just as strong as with relatives?x

And yeh i'm getting them off mark. Went to see them about a month ago. Gorgeous doesn't even come close x

[helen88uk]

The "have you ever bred" question was aimed at Amalthea rather than you Marie I've read some brilliant comments from people who've had gliders from you. But didn't you have to hand rear a couple of yours? I'm under the impression that that wasn't what put you off breeding as i'm sure you said that the hand reared one (s?) are your closest bonded must be really something special to have that mother/glider bond from hand rearing despite the sadness that its own mother was unable to do what you did x

[Amalthea]

Yeah...  I don't any more, but I have done in the past

[Marie]

The reason I stopped breeding was because I got sick of people promising forever homes for them and then finding them up for sale 6 months later!  I get annoyed because I make sure I stress the amount of time and work they need again and again and again!  I know people's lives change but knowing how much these animals bond I just decided I couldn't do it anymore! 

If you're having them off Mark then they will be descendants from one of my pairs, Girlie and Little Man.   

[helen88uk]

I just wana do this properly. But I don't wana get into a position where I'm out of my depth. I never want to have to sell on any of my bonded suggies because I can't look after them. I'v noticed that hday (hope that is right) has 2 neutered males she needs a new home for. I don't even have mine yet so I can't think about taking them. Also the cost for the initial setup for these has put me back abit! But possibly in a few months,, if some1 was possibly in a similar situation and had 2 neutered males needing a home, would they be suitable companions for my girls? Is it possibly to sum up how much more difficult it is to take care of 2 rather than 4? Is it having enough time to give them enough attention that gets to be the problem with the more gliders you own?

I've got questions popping out of my face on this subject lol. I do appologise! x

And thats cool that they're descendants! I'll try and get pics up as soon as I can Still need names. I feel like  terrible mother/tree already as I don't even know what I'm going to call my babies! x

[Marie]

4 gliders that are all living together happily shouldn't be too much harder to look after than 2. The only things you really need to be careful of is that you make sure all gliders are eating, no one is being bullied etc.   

[Amalthea]

I agree with Marie...  Not a whole lot of difference between 2 and 4....  It's when you start having to deal with several COLONIES you'll increase your work load.  Obviously, while you are still working on intros, you'll have two cages running, but after that, it's easy enough

[helen88uk]

If i was going to introduce anymore gliders to my girls is it best to do it as soon as possible so they don't get too territorial over their cage and find it hard to accept new additions? does that make sense?x

[Mark]

Howdy I started out with my 2 females and I had them for a couple of years before I added my male that I got from Marie.  I found that I had built a really good bond with the 2 females as they both had different personalities.  I remember when they were younger they could scrap a little bit, but as they got older this stopped and they settled more.  I then added my male.