glider behavior I havent seen before

Question
I am having concerns with my bonded pair of gliders. He is 3 and she is 2. They are rescues that I bought from a lady. They had a 4 month old boy in with them. I seperated him because I didn't want to take a chance on breeding between mom and son. The lady told me on the phone that the girl might be pregnant because the pouch was wet the night before when she changed it. I don't know what that had to do with it but I have had them for a month yesterday. The problem is, the pair have been crabbing and makeing noise for hours during the night for the last three nights. I keep checking on them and it seems as tho they are chasing or running from each other. when I look in on them they stop. then start again when I leave.There have been no injuries from fighting I have a hollow log in with them and the female has been under it alot during these episodes. two mornings i have found her under the log and him in the pouch. This morning they were both in the pouch again. I took them out to give them some mealworms and change the pouch. I took them out of the old pouch fed them the mealworms and gave them the new pouch. He went in but she did not want to and seemed upset. When I tried to get her to go into the new bag she ran away across the counter. I took them back to the cage with him in the new pouch and I carried her. Put them in with the both pouchs. She ran in and out of the old pouch digging in the corner once like she was searching for something of trying to burrow in to hide, then cam back out and was running all over the cage. Finally she went to the top shelf of the cage and sitting on the shelf held on to the bars with all fours kind of hunched up.I I loosened her hands from the bars hoping to examine her and see if her tummy was damp or if anything else was wrong, she got away and ran from me, when I tried to pick her up again she bit me. I decided to leave her alone for a little while and search for someone to ask what might be happening. I was wondering if she might have been giving birth and lost the baby in the pouch, then maybe it fell out on the counter or into the sink strainer when i brushed the mess off and she was upset because she couldnt find it. She acted like she was searching the bag when she would go into it. I searched the counter where I had turned the bag inside out and found nothing. I looked in the sink but there were some little pieces of ham scraps from me cutting ham. I dug thru it but didn't know exactly what i was looking for. I had read that they are the size of a grain of rice. I wouldn't think she would have stayed out of the pouch to eat mealworms if she was giving birth would she?I just went to check on her and she was back in the dirty pouch by herself. I took the pouch out and she let me pet her and started cleaning herself then curled up to sleep. I have had gliders before, they had a baby but I have never heard this kind of fussing or seen the female not want to be in with the male. I also have never seen them act this way when i tried to change their bag. I don't know what is happening and what upset her so much. I feel really bad that she got this upset. They are the sweetest gliders I have ever seen. The old bag is really smelly much more than usual and has what looks like smeared poop on the inside which I have never seen before either but I feel that I need to leave her in it for now. do you have any ideas as to why she is acting this way with him and the new pouch? I change the pouch every two days. They never really want to change but never act like this.

Answer
Well, that is some situation you have going on there! Firstly be happy in knowing that they are most likely just fussing with each other.. When gliders "fight" they really mean it and do some horrific damage to each other..

Is the Male Neutered?
If not you may want to consider getting him neutered as this can corral the feuds between males and females..
Here at my home & rescue we change pouches only 2 times a month.. I don's see the need to change it out any sooner than this for just 1 pair of gliders.. unless the sleeping pouch is very soiled for some reason.. My gliders have never protested any "new" clean pouch I have ever introduced to them so I am unsure why they would act that way unless it may have something to do with the detergent you are using..

Gliders are very much instinctive.. so finding the pouch which welcomes them with warmth and darkness is what they will most likely go to on their own.. perhaps you may want to wait them out and see if they eventually retreat into the pouch on their own.. Inquisitive they ARE.. so it shouldn't take too long.. and maybe remove the hollow log for a short time as well in order to hurry the process along..

If for some reason what you were suspecting was true (that a baby was lost along the way)it wouldn't take her long to get over the fact.. perhaps a day or two, but loosing a baby is very unlikely as even though they are very small like a grain of rice.. they are also very sticky and adhere well to their mamma as they make their way into the pouch..

Hopefully they will dissolve their feud on their own as most families tend to do.. if they continue to have difficulty getting along after you have tried these different methods try giving them separate pouches..  


Best Wishes

kaden O_o