In Reply to: Inexperienced owner needs advice posted by Allie on January 10, 19100 at 21:26:09:

: Hi. I have two male gliders. One is 5 months and the other is 7 months. I have been trying very hard to bond with my babies, but I'm not sure if it is working. I feed them by hand, and they take the food but after a bit, they start crabbing. I also try to pet them in their pouch, but when they wake up they crab at me again.

Okay here I go again, giving advice that is contridictory to what you have already been given. I do not let the crabbing intimidate me. I ignore it. If they crab at me when I go to put my hand in their pouch I just put my hand in there anyway and have them curl up in my hand to go to sleep. If you will notice that when one is in the pouch and the other goes to get in they will often fuss at each other.

They do like to bite me when I stick my hand in the cage, but I just let them sit there and nibble so that they know it doesn't bother me.

Now are you talking bites or the social nips? The nipping is a social behavior that can be discouraged by blowing into their faces.

I am always startled when they crab at me though, so I immediately jump (unintentionally).

Of course you are. After three years of raising them I am still occasionally startled when one of them crabs at me.

They let me pick them up a coupld of times (I've only had them for 6 days), but once I get them in my pocket, it takes me almost 2 hours to get them out.

I am not so sure that this is a bad thing. I mean you want them in your pocket and what better way to get them use to your scent, movements, and the sound of your voice.

I'm not sure if I should stop what I am doing when they crab at me.

No you do not want them to think that they have intimidated you because if it worked once it will work the next time too.
I don't want them not to trust me and I have been taking the crabbing as "leave me alone". Am I doing the right thing. Should I not pick them up until they come to me and stop crabbing?

Trust has to be built both ways. You have to trust them too. Yes pick them up anyway. Let them get use to being handled. But go slow, you may want to start out by just petting them whether it be in the cage or in the pouch or your pocket.

I have pleanty of time to spend with them at night (I just moved to Boston by myself) but if I can't pick them up, how am I supposed to spend a lot of time with them?

Exactly! You can spend some time with them by wearing them in a pouch while they are sleepy. That counts as time spent with them as well.

I do talk to them a lot, but is this enough for the stage in bonding we are at?

In the short amount of time that you have had them then yes this is a good stage of development of bonding. You should be progressing towards at the least, petting them, and wearing them in a bonding pouch. You see I do not have your problems because my babies are handled from day one oop and anyone can hold them and pet them and bond with them from the first day that they take one of my babies home with them. I could give you countless references on me and on my gliders, but that wouldn't do you any good. Gliders do not need to be tamed after they are in their new home, but so many out there don't really care about the glider or it's new peoples.

Please help me out because I am kind of stressing over the whole thing.

Please do not become overly stressed by this. Your gliders will pick up on your anxiety, and that will only serve to make them more anxious.

I want my babies to love me as much as I love them. Thanks for your help!

I know that you do, and I hope that in some small way I have helped. Oh BTW I do have bonding pouches available with a pull out but not removeable inner lining so that you wouldn't have to fold them out of their pouch. Just pull out the lining and there they are. This too is less stressful on the gliders and also makes for easier cleaning.

: Allie

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