I got my two suggies, Pip and Smea, roughly 9 months ago. Neither of them have even begin to show signs of bonding, despite the fact I put them in their pouch nearly every day and attempt to hand feed them at least once a week. They came from owners who were moving and had to give them up, and those owners had only had them for a month. I believe they are roughly a year and a half old. Pippin is fairly friendly, in that he doesn't get angry very easily, but he still wants nothing to do with me. Smeagol, on the other hand, will crab at me endlessly, and at Pippin when he's tired, and at anything else that doesn't go his way. Frankly, I am losing hope with these two, and have begun to look into glider rescues in my area. Despite the effort I have put in, I have gotten nowhere. Any tips would be great, especially with dealing with Smeagol. Thanks

dogs bark, gliders crab...my opinion....forget about it.

my connor is still a crabber in pouch, as soon as he hears me outside of the cage he starts to crab, I will make him look at me and he will continue to crab until I talk to him for a minute. then he finally stops, but getting him to stop took a few weeks. I would hold him in the sleeping pouch, open it up, sit on couch. while he looked up at me and crabbed I would talk and sing to him. he still crabs in pouch like crazy. but I get him out of pouch feed him a few mealworms, pet him, let him sit on my arm. I have actually only picked him up ONCE, to get him back in cage and he didn't bite me. he actually has never bit me, but I have taken it very slow with him.

1. maybe quit the pouch training. switch to room/tent training. get a glider safe area, sit in it, you don't have to move, let/push gliders out of sleeping pouch and let them sit in room with you. At most you can offer them mealworms or yogurt drops. LIVE mealworms from petstore are the best, if they dont eat one at first keep trying, once they finally take one they should come make for more.
2. work slowly with them, try to get them to make small progress steps. again START with live mealworms, at night out of pouch, open cage door, put mealworm on a small tray that you are holding, get them to eat off it while you are holding it. DO THIS WITH A FEW MEALWORMS EVERY NIGHT. mealworms are fatty, so if everynight keep it to about 2 mealworms. If you have one that runs on wheel alot (I'm assuming you have a glider safe running wheel in the cage, this is a must have) you can feed a running glider a little more, they tend to burn off the fat on the wheel. If your gliders start taking the mealies nicely, maybe you can switch to trying to feed them with your fingers not the tray. then if that works, make them come to you if you can, start 1 inch away, then 2 inches. I shake the dried mealworm tupper ware container and the gliders come running, they now that sound means MEALWORMS!!!!!
so shake the can and give them that sound to relate to.

In the end, I would put my hand out (bravely) and make connor walk on my hand to get to that yummy treat. he would sit on my hand and eat, SUCCESS!

Tent time can also get them to start walking on you, seeing that you are NOT a predator, but this takes time, and you should do tent time as often as possible.

I have a glider room, they come out about 1 hour, run around then go back to napping in sleeping pouch.

this is us cutting the nails on our really crabby and aggressive glider Pinkie.
he has gotten alot better, I can hand feed him, pet him, but he still doesn't walk on us much, and I don't pick him up without fleece.

notice in the first 30 seconds he crabs, I let him crab and do his thing, and I do my thing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv2yAfkVHg&list=PLNDuthIFR8sPX4Vo99uQ0c0Dkj9K7lqFj&index=4