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my 2 new sugar gliders

22 15:54:51

Question
QUESTION: Hi there, I am totally new at this but I need help. My boyfriend and I decided to  buy 2 sugar gliders the other day, a male and a female. The male is very timid, the man who sold him to us said that he probably won't let us handle him for a few days cause he is really shy. The female, as soon as I got her, was crabbing non stop. The two of them get a long just fine, they love eachother. Me and my boyfriend were trying to bond with them, we got the female in a pouch and kept her around our neck. As soon as we got her in the pouch she started crabbing and attacking the bag for a good 10 minutes, she just would not stop crabbing or biting the bag. Is this normal?? or is it too soon to try and bond with them that much? We have never had sugar gliders before we are complete beginners! please help!
ANSWER: I would leave them get use to their new home and environment for a day or two then do what you have been doing putting them in the pouch and holding them like that...also you can offer them treats from your hand, it may take a bit but if they see when they crab you are not gonna stop bonding with them they will form a trust for you after a while and the crabbing should stop....if when they crab and have fits you just stop bonding they will use that crabbing to make you leave then alone....just keep doing the pouch thing and maybe offering treats from your hand and the crabbing should evenually stop once they learn to trust you and know you are not an enemy....

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help on my last question! I have one more question though. We have now had them for 4 days, the other night I slowly put my hand inside the cage, and I layed it flat so they the gliders could smell me or whatever, and the female came over and bit me extremely hard, like she broke the skin and I was bleeding. She also did that to my boyfriend yesterday, bit him really hard. Are we just making her too nervous? or should we be worried that this is aggression?

Answer
the biting is normal for gliders to do cause right now they dont know you or your boyfriend and see your hards as an enemy right now, like i said before just keep putting them in the pouch and carrying them during the day and also feed them treats from your hand so that they get to know that you two are not the enemy and mean them know harm....it may take a bit but eventually they will come to trust you and the biting and crabbing will stop....just try not to pull back when they bite cause that teaches them that they can get what the want just by biting....