2 males acting funny

Question
I am a relatively new owner. I adopted a pair of brothers from an incapable owner. I definitely consider them rescues and treat them as such. I have had them now for about 5-6 months. I was told they were 8 months oop when i got them but im not sure the accuracy of that. They have always been very good. A little skitish but i figured that normal. They never bite more than a very tiny pinch and i can pick them up and play without a problem. They go in and out of their cage easily. I feed them a solid fresh diet and always mind the balance of calcium they eat. Over the past week i have noticed a few changes. They have started to crab much more loudly then before and more frequently. They are not fixed and i feel like they are in the puberty stage as they have started rubbing on things in new ways. They are also not being as friendly as before. I have still been taking them out to play but it has gotten to the point i need some advice. So my questions are: is this a constant behavior for males after this? If i get them fixed now how will that effect our bond? Are there other options?
Thank you

Answer
It is just common for male gliders at this stage. I would really watch them, I NEVER house 2 males together, neutered or not. They will sometimes fight even if they are fixed but 2 intact males can get into vicious fights over dominance and it is pretty common for one to even kill the other if he feels challenged enough.

If you cant get them fixed then they need to be separated if they begin picking on each other at all, you will continue to have some issues with them being sassy but you will just need to continue to do things as normal. Dont pull away if they crab or bite, dont get rough with them or bother them to much, but still let them know that their behavior isnt going to make you go away.

Intact males also have been known to cause more self mutilation to themselves ( chewing off legs and tails) due to their hormones. This can especially happen if they are in a stressful environment with another male or even with a female. Although some have reports of self mutilation starting or continuing after the neutering.

If you get them fixed, they will need to be kept separate from each other during the healing process. But I would keep the 2 cages right next to each other. I also remove any wheels, rough toys or anything that can cause them to harm the wound.

As far as the bonding goes, if you have a good bond now then that should not change. But every glider is different so no one can really say what it will be like. Most of my males that I have had fixed are perfectly fine after, they even become sweeter to me and their cage mates and it makes for a more enjoyable pet.But I have had a small number of them go to the "dark side" after being fixed.

They would refuse to be handled and would attack your hand when put in the cage. They would bite and claw like crazy and crab constantly it seemed. They just hated life after that for who knows what reason. But out of all my gliders I have ever had only 3 were ever like this so odds are slim.

You can try to leave them as is and handle them daily and see how they do with that, but watch them very carefully. If one has wounds or they fight and chase each other, if one begins to get depressed or the other is obviously becoming more dominant then something needs to be done with them to prevent the issue from getting out of hand.