So I had purchased 2 sugar gliders, a male and a female, from a Breeder on December 19th. The Breeder said they were 2 months out of pouch, however my sister had bought a little boy from a different Breeder about a month before I bought mine and he is A LOT smaller. So my sister figured that the Breeder lied to me and gave me older or adult gliders. I had asked for a male and a female from separate litters since I eventually want to try to breed. (I've bred many different kinds of small animals before)
Anyways, I took my gliders out of their cage after I got home today to try to bond with them some more. I've spent as much time as possible with them since I got them despite my fiancés scolding that I give them too much "roaming time" since the Breeder advised to handle the gliders one by one in a small enclosed room, like a bathroom and no more than a few hours per "bonding session". Ive heard from friends who own gliders and since this is not the first glider my sister has owned, I took their advice of keeping the gliders with me in different rooms so they get more use to my scent and learn to trust me. I've handled them separately and together, since I want a relationship with them and want to be able to handle them together.
My male glider at first was being very sweet and let me pet him and seemed like he was going to fall asleep on my arm like usual. Later he decided to climb up my arm and sit on my shoulder and licked my neck for 15 minutes. It was the first time he's ever licked me, so I had no idea what I should do other than watch him carefully. Awhile after he finished licking and climbing around, he decided to jump off of my arm and onto my bed, I proceeded to lay my hand in front of him like normal to retrieve him, and after walking into my hand, he bit me. I know that the initial reaction to jerk my hand away is not the right thing to do with gliders and that they do nip occasionally, so I ignored it. Shortly after the first bite, he bit again and a lot harder, not letting go but not drawing blood either. I just held him until he let go, but then he bit me again and drew blood on a different finger. I've never been bitten my him since I've got him. I tried to think that maybe he was hungry and my fingers smelled like the fruit I had just cut for them or maybe he mistook my finger for a snake. (something the Breeder said they think our hands are and why you should not point at them or do any quick moments to them) Maybe I put my hand down too quick or maybe the light was bothering his eyes, so I went into a different room with dimmed lights.
He kept trying to jump away and I repeatedly put my hand in front of him and he would keep biting. Thinking he may have been trying to look for the girl which my mother was holding at the time while my female glider slept in her shirt, I had taken the female and put her with him on my arm. She climbed onto his back and what seemed like, trying to calm him down. He kept repeatedly biting my fingers, and getting frustrated with all the biting, I decided to put them back in their cage.
I'm used to the female nipping occasionally, not the male and even when they sleep, she is the one who gets defensive and barks at me until I put my hand down and she sniffs me.
Since the male isn't neutered, could that be why he kept biting and jumping away? I know when they get scared, they put out a scent similar to a skunk, but he didn't put out any scent. Any suggestions would help because I am clueless to why he has started biting now and why he was biting so hard.

 

Cowboysangels19
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