I've had my glider for 2 months now and she has always been a biter since the day I brought her home. Unfortunately, she is geeting worse, not better. I've tried everything I've read so far to try to get her to stop. Licky treats, bribing with snacks, keeping my hand there and just taking it, etc... I need some new ideas. If I put licky treats on my fingers she bites through it or looks for bare skin instead. Or, she walks up my hand onto my arm, finds some bare flesh and starts digging in. She used to just nibble and then move on, but now when she finds bare flesh she sits down and starts biting over and over again like she's trying to get to the bone. If I try to use a finger to mover her she grabs the finger and tries to bite it. If I turn my hand over to mover her she bites the back of my hand. I'm about to give up because I'm tired of the bite marks. I spend time with her everyday either playing in a tent or having her sleep in my pocket or in a pouch. I rub on her and hold her when she sleeps. Her only interest is eating my flesh. Any ideas would be GREAT!

You must establish dominance to her. She is in her terrible twos and will certainly continue this behavior unless you define yourself as the alpha. I believe anybody that allows an animal to bite them repeatedly is insane. This is no way to teach an animal to not bite you.

I have had great success with feeding by hand, everything. The animal will learn that you are the source of food and treats. I use sunflower seeds as treats in the morning.

A cage mate will change things a lot for her. I would find a male rescue to add to her cage. An unneutered male would work even better for the initial greeting and exchanges and final acceptance. Then you can get him neutered immediately or wait for a first litter if it ever comes. Having a cage mate will allow her to bond with someone that isnt you. And it always helps if that other animal is already a tame one.

You could also try a pouch design that is really more of a sling or hammock, but the idea is that it is open and offers no complete privacy to the biting animal. This forces them to interface to their world differently and has generated some positive responses with biters.

You must be referring to the Pouch Protective Pouch made by The Pampered Glider ( www.thepamperedglider.com ).

There has been some fantastic results with this pouch. I have seen for myself the difference with one little glider named Buffy.

This thread on GC goes into details as to it's effectiveness. If you have a pitbull biter or even just an extreme biter, I recommend reading this thread.
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She has a cagemate. We bought them together. The thing with the biting is that she is otherwise playful and friendly (once awake). She is so much fun in the tent EXCEPT the biting nonstop. She is not aggressive at all to the other sugar either. I always have something to offer her to eat or lick. I hate having to take the bites, but if I pull away, isn't that teaching her that I'll go away if she bites? I'm not sure she wants me to go away though. If I open the cage or come by, she runs right up to it. I just checked the site for the pouch protective pouch and I cwill give that a try. When she is in a pouch with me, it's sometimes alone, sometimes with the other. We have more than one type of pouch and she's the same whether it has a top or it's open. Also, I wanted to point out that she only does it when she's fully awake at night. If she happens to wake up during the day, she'll take something out of my hand no problem. I keep hearing it's a big NO NO, but would it be just horrible if I wore some lightweight cotton gloves? She definitely knows me, my smell, my voice. I do not want to give up on her and love when she's playful. It's just that her favorite game is "catch the skin"! Thanks for the link to the thread-I haven't read through all of it yet, but am going to go finish it. Thanks for the responses!

If she bites you, you should calmly, quickly and w/o eye contact, put her in her cage. Try putting something into her cage that she can chew on like a fresh non toxic tree branch. The biting that you describe is the same technique a glider uses to extract nutrients from a tree branch. They spend a great deal of time in the wild doing this. She does not want to bite flesh. Don't take it personally.

A tame cagemate is also a good idea, as is handfeeding her and Dancing's recommendations. Keep carrying her around when she is sleeping but don't let her bite you if you can avoid it. A non-painful little bite that the glider obviously inhibits when she realizes is a human not food is ok, but chewing on you or frequent biting shouldn't be allowed to become an established behavior. If you are going to have her out, wear long thick sleeves and use a cat toy w/a feather on the end to distract her before she bites, then offer praise. Give her playtime in her cage at night where she can chew on a branch and eat before you take her out.

I apologize if I sound frustrated but I feel like I've done almost all the things that have been recommended. She does have a cagemate and she is tame. As crazy as it sounds, this one is pretty tame except the biting. When she is carried around, I pretty much leave her alone but I also don't normally seal the pouch. She seems to only really bite when she's wide awake. She definitely has time to eat before she comes out. Sometimes, I'll go to her really late before my bedtime and she runs right up to the cage door waiting for me to open it. She'll run up and down my arm, sit in my hands, but not without the biting. I almost always have something for her to eat but she'll lick or bite it and then push it aside to bite me. When we're in the tent, she'll bite ears, neck whatever... It's crazy because she's so much fun in there. She plays like crazy, she likes to run to the top of my head, jump down and run up and do it again but not without biting in between. I don't know. I have read all over that she might grow out of it, but she's gotten worse. Now, if she starts biting, I just leave the cage area altogether. I'm going to purchase the recommended pouch right now. I appreciate all the feedback..maybe she's just on her own schedule and will still grow out of it?? I guess I don't understand why it would be getting worse...I have no intention of giving up on her. I love them both so much but just want to be free of the skin-breaking bites. Oh, that brings up one other point. We have two kids and I don't want to have them interact until this habit stops. They would freak out and I don't want to backtrack. When is a good time to introduce other family members?

I for one don't "take the bites". I never have. I admit, I'm a coward when it comes to that. I instinctively pull back each time. BUT, If the bite is agressive "go away, leave me alone", I ALWAYS go right back to what I was doing. Even if I pull back 3-4 times before I accomplish what I started to do, I still go back. This teaches them that biting, or attempting to bite will not get them what they want. I"m still in control. It is still under my terms.

Biting in a non agressive way, like during play time...that is a different type of biting. It can range from testing to see if you are a tasty treat, or grooming you, or marking you.

You need to look at potential causes of that biting. Gliders are very scent oriented. We pick up scents even when we don't realize it and from unexpected places. Everyone will tell you that the biting could be from the scent from your soap, laundry detergent, shampoo, deodorant, lotions, that sort of thing but, if the biting is more random, you could be picking up strange scents from other sources. For example, I live on 80 acres, about 40 of them wooded. I can SMELL the woods on my husband if he has been out walking through them. It isn't a foul smell but it is different than how he smells when he just gets home from work. He asked me one day what I bought at Walmart... I had not told him I had even gone to walmart. I asked him how he knew and he said he could smell a faint scent of the bathroom deodorizer used at our local walmart. Sure enough, I had been to walmart and had used the restroom there just before coming home.
Dogs and cats...My gliders are used to the scent of MY dogs and never react to those scents on me. But, just as my dogs can smell when I've petted or played with another dog, so can the gliders.

So, try this...each and every time before play time, shower. Don't change brands of your current hygene items (shampoos etc) so that your scent is consistant. If the biting continues, try a process of elimination to determine which scent they seem to find so tasty.

In the mean time, use the feathers or something to distract them if they start to bite like Jewels suggested.

I hope this helps in at least some small way.

Edited to add:
The quilted flannel shirts are great for tent time. They have a difficult time biting THROUGH the thick shirts. You could also get one of those to wear just during tent time. They will mark it but if you don't wash it after every tent time, it should cut down on their "need" to scent mark you during play time. Wash it only once a week or so, (unless it gets to stinky icky more often) and only use it during play time.

I would let them wake, let them pee and then play with them BEFORE feeding. They have the rest of the night/morning to eat. If they are hungry when you play, they will be looking to you for food and not as an annoyance. When in the tent, offer a running wheel to hide and run on. Perhaps towards the end of play you can begin offering treats. I put Pican on my shoulder and she watches me prepare dinner for everybody and she'll run down to snatch some protein and back up to eat it pretty much right in my ear. She looks forward to that. I have found that while eating, my gliders are much more accepting of my attention. I can squeeze them, pet them, scratch them and they are happily eating and ingnoring me.

Your female sounds like my male. He is friendly coming to the door for treats and not afraid to interact with me. He only gets nippy when fully awake and really playful. My 6 yr old can't handle him during those periods. I took this as natural behavior. And yes he can get pretty nippy. Now he does not draw blood but the nips are hard during this fully awake playful time. It is not my impression he aims to hurt. It is something else wether just the way they play or test thier environment. I would suspect if this is the case of your glider that the bites are becoming more frequent because it is getting accustomed to doing it with you. Perhaps do play time early evening while they are not so awake. I don't force him but if he wakes cooperatively that's what we do. I find that works for Tarzan. I think the pouches are for aggressive gliders who intend to harm for fear rather than those who are bonded and are aggressive players.??? I also agree with the distraction technique. I hope you can find your comfort zone!

Since gliders were never meant to be pets and are undomesticated, this is not an extremely unusual situation. Females' behavior changes sometimes when they are in breeding season and as Kazko said, when they are approaching maturity. I would do all the things Dancing said. Does she by any chance bite you where you have touched the other glider? Sometimes scent-induced biting can be helped by putting a dot of pure vanilla extract on her muzzle just above her nose or touching the extract and then touching her nose. No extract in the nose, just on her skin to hamper her sense of smell so that you can have a chance to redirect her w/a cat toy and the pssssssht sound.

I must say I can see how you feel my male became very dominant when he reached 7mo and was really attacking. It was different he would grab on and shake his head and do a crabby attack noise at me. He just changed one day. I would try what dancing suggested it does not sound like yours is doing what mine did becaue mine became totally unfriendly.

Tootles, if you are still having problems with your biter, I might be able to help. My young boy did the exact same thing less than a year ago. Now hes a daddy and wont even attempt a bite, hand in pouch, grabbing at him and his baby. Nada.

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Originally posted by kyro298

I've had my glider for 2 months now and she has always been a biter since the day I brought her home. Unfortunately, she is geeting worse, not better. I've tried everything I've read so far to try to get her to stop. Licky treats, bribing with snacks, keeping my hand there and just taking it, etc... I need some new ideas. If I put licky treats on my fingers she bites through it or looks for bare skin instead. Or, she walks up my hand onto my arm, finds some bare flesh and starts digging in. She used to just nibble and then move on, but now when she finds bare flesh she sits down and starts biting over and over again like she's trying to get to the bone. If I try to use a finger to mover her she grabs the finger and tries to bite it. If I turn my hand over to mover her she bites the back of my hand. I'm about to give up because I'm tired of the bite marks. I spend time with her everyday either playing in a tent or having her sleep in my pocket or in a pouch. I rub on her and hold her when she sleeps. Her only interest is eating my flesh. Any ideas would be GREAT!

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I sent you a pm. But will offer any help I can to anyone here with a biter. I did have a pit bull biter. I say did because a week after getting the new pouch and our bonding techniques Buffy is no longer a pit bull biter.

I thought I would ad my messengers are shelle_riddle@yahoo.com ans shellesgliders@hotmail.com

Any opinions on apple bitters or has anyone tried that?

I have the exact same problem with my glider. We got him and his lovely roommate at the same time (male and female). His female companion, Kohna, is very calm and quiet and a bit shy. Shiloh, on the other hand, is quite a bit different: he will do the licky treat thing, but will start to ignore the licky treat and then bite anywhere he can find. The other day he chewed right through my knuckle and starting licking up the blood (he probably thought it was sap or honey?). Whenever he crawls on me, he will bite all up and down my arms and chew on my hands and fingers. For some reason, he completely avoids the licky treats altogether and will just gnaw on my hands and knuckles. If there is someone who knows about this, I would be highly appreciative of your great abilities to cure his biting!