Introducing Gliders

[Marie]

It’s important to quarantine any new animals before introducing them to your existing animals.  Two weeks in a cage in a separate room should be ample, don’t even be tempted to swap a pouch!  Use separate feeding bowls and wash your hands everytime you touch them, the cage or anything they have come into contact with; you can never be too careful! 

Getting them together can be a nightmare, not all gliders want company, but all of the one’s I’ve introduced have been fine.

There are a few basic guidelines, these are
· Never introduce a juvenile female to an adult male
· Always make sure they are of equal size, and no less than 2 thirds the larger suggies weight.
· Never introduce a neutered male to an un neutered male
· Never leave them to fight

Many people put the two cages side by side (but not too close) and they swap pouches and toys for a week to allow each glider to become accustomed to the others scent and so they become aware of and familiar to each other.

To introduce them, you can allow them to play out together which is great if you have an enclosed glider proof space in which the two will have to come into contact.  Some people use a tent (which can also be used for bonding) and others use the bathroom; because there are too many slippery surfaces for the suggies to climb they have to stay in a small area - but if you do this MAKE SURE THE TOILET LID IS CLOSED!!!!  I personally think that the slippery surface idea causes too much stress especially if the glider isn’t bonded, afterall they are arboreal and to escape from danger would run up trees!! 

After a week of playtime and pouch swapping you can try  putting them in a cage together.  The best time to do this is during the daytime, they are usually half asleep and all they want to do is curl up again (awww).   Placing a glider into another glider’s cage is not ideal, the newbie would be invading the territiory of the existing glider and is likely to be attacked, so use a fresh cage.  Use clean pouches, bedding, toys and water bottles.  Provide 2 of everything at opposite ends of the cage, so they can go about their business seperately. 

Be prepared to intervene if fighting breaks out, there’s bound to be a few squabbles and scuffles which is normal, usually they will squabble and have a little roll around and then stop and move to opposite ends of the cage where you will see them both sniffing furiously at each other.  They then approach slowly, sniff each others bums and crawl into a pouch and curl up.  If it’s a male and female pair you may see the female put her head underneath the males chin, this is a submissive sign.

Some gliders won’t squabble at all, I’ve seen two young females walk up to an adult female and immediately begin grooming her, which went down very well.  If during any of the scuffles blood is drawn intervene immediately!  Be prepared to get bitten, you will probably be bitten hard but you must take it.

If  for whatever reason you are wishing to introduce a male to a female who has already been with a male, you should leave her in a fresh cage for a couple of weeks to allow the scent of the previous male to diminish.

Some people place a drop of vanilla or peppermint extract on to each glider so that they both smell the same.

Introducing 2 un neutered males isn't impossible but it will take a lot longer as they are territorial.  If you needed to do this I would seriously consider neutering BOTH of them first.


© Shropshire Exotics 01/01/07

[roxyandboys]

Would just like to add to this what a difference getting males neutered makes to intros.  I had entire males who would not except another male, for over a year there was a hate campaign being fought against poor little Eos, my group really didn't like him at all.  I got them all de-pommed (neutered) and a week ago tried the intros again, as i type all my babies are snuggled up together.  Neutering really really really does do wonders!

[Marie]

Yay - they're finally all snuggle up together!!!  That's brilliant news Rox! 

[Rhianna]

what about females? any tips on how to do females? are they harder to introduce then males?

[Marie]

Females are easier to introduce than males, they live in female heavy groups in the wild.   Follow the steps above and it should be fairly straight forward.

[Rhianna]

what if the female is head of the colony?

okay, Onion is the head of the colony with her hubby Biscuit.
They have a kid called spice. Biscuit also has another son in their called Widget and Widgets son Gum, so they are a family unit.

will this affect the relationship?

[Marie]

What makes you think she's head of the colony?

[HoneyHeart]

Have to say i've been following this advice, and it seemed to work VERY well!

At first i tried introducing them after a month and it didn't go well, but after much scent swapping, they are all in the same cage together, pretty happy!

Had two squabbles between the boys, but nothing that has lasted long, or drawn blood. Am a bit worried about Pumba as he seems to be trying to gain dominance (he is grabbing and grooming the girls and Pom- and they are not having any of it!). The other four have had no issues luckily. The sounds they make sound alot worse than it looks like too!

[Burnett09]

Hey everyone!

Its been a while since I've visited but was looking for some advice!

We've just purchased another male glider who is 14 weeks and uneutered. We would love to introduce him to our family of 4 gliders one female (Mum) and 3 neutered males (Dad and 2 sons).

The ideal situation would be for them to eventually live as one and hopefully the new glider will mate with mum then he will be neutered like the rest of the males.

How do you think he will react? I feel because he is younger there shouldnt be too much of a problem with him joining and being uneutered.

As always every bit of advice and opinions are appreciated as this forum has helped us sucessfully hand rear 2 joeys in the past and I regulary lurk and check in from time to time to see whats new!

Luke

[Marie]

Can't resist the cuteness of joeys eh?   

He should be ok with the 3 neutered males but you need to make sure he is about the same size as the rest of them before you start to introduce.

As soon as the quarantine period is over, put his cage in the same room and everything, and start the whole pouch swapping routine so they can all get used to each others scent.

[Burnett09]

Indeed he is very cute! See!  



Thats good to hear, he is still very nervous and crabs a lot when looked at as he sadly wasnt handled much but I currently have him sat in his new pouch and manged to have him cupped inside my hand while he fidgets and sleeps so he can get used to me.

They're all in the same room but the cages are apart and not next to each other at the moment. The other gliders definitely know hes arrived because as soon as he crabbed our youngest tamest glider popped his head out to see what was happening, followed by the rest of them! I just hope he dosny get too lonely on his own for a bit. Hes quite a good size though and eating and toileting fine. Forgot about that scent on uneutered males!!  

[Marie]

He looks a good size, he should be ok so long as he can hear and see the other gliders.  Obviously it's not ideal but he needs to be big enough to defend himself if he gets picked on.   

[Burnett09]

Totally understand 

Its tempting to see if he would be okay too see the youngest son as he is small and tame. The son will probably be scared stiff though as our four dont really crab much at all haha. I think they all wonder what is going on as we dont usually see them with the front room lights fully on and they are already moving about tonight! 

[Emma9383]

Off topic *ahem* but I can't help thinking that nice fleece isn't gonna stay clean long, hee hee. It's gonna look like a blood bath when he tucks into that yummy food, ha