i recently got a new rescue male that i have received a lot of help with now my other boy is acting strange. most of the time he is perfectly normal, but sometimes he drags his body along the cage really hard like he is pressing on it with his body and he bites the bars as he does this. he oldy does this when he is in the same room as the new male. but i was wondering if it might be something worse because his back legs kinda look like they are dancing. he looks very angry when he does it. i was thinking maybe hlp, but he doesn't exactly drag them. so i wasn't sure if this was marking or something worse.
i am taking the new guy to the vet tomorrow. if need be i will take both .. not that we can afford it but i love them.
any ideas on this movement?
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26679 09/28/0402:00 AM09/28/0402:00 AM
It sounds like he's doing some serious marking with his chest scent gland. Males are very territorial. He is saying to the new arrival, "This Is MINE". They also rub their head gland, or bite/chew on things to scent mark them. Since it's in the vicinity of the new male, that's likely what he's doing.
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26680 09/28/0406:52 AM09/28/0406:52 AM
[:"green"] I agree with Jen. They usually will scent-mark their territory by doing exactly what you've described! He probably never did it before because he didn't feel like his territory was threatened. Now he does. He will gradually get over the panic phase, but he will continue to scent-mark often. You will need to make sure you scrub down the cage on a regular basis, or it will really start to STINK! [/]
he's always been a stinker!!! i was a little worried with the leg activitiy since it looked a little crazy/uncontrollable. thank you. he skunks our female glider too. rufuf is our little skunk. now he marks and skunks and the new guy smells (possibly old diet).. goodness our little apartment can't handle all this. so we have been cleaning double time. luckily not many people come over here. the glider stank would scare anyone away. but you gotta love em!
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26683 09/28/0408:40 AM09/28/0408:40 AM
That's marking, too. Sometimes they'll lean and rub the length of their body against the side of the cage or tent, or other object. It can look pretty odd. The 'crazy legs' is part of the marking behavior-my hubby calls it the 'pee pee dance'. Here's a pic of Gimli in the tent doing the body rub mark. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> He's not too extreme in this one-sometimes it's almost like they're walking sideways!
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26686 09/29/0401:39 PM09/29/0401:39 PM
thanks for the pic of the marking. when i first saw it it scared me. now my husband and i laugh at him. with the new boy in the house they are marking like crazy. our boy and girl remark everywhere the new boy walks. it's like a war.
last night they marked our entire bathroom during playtime. my husband and i laughed so hard we were nearly crying because they spend a whole hour marking.
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26687 09/30/0403:25 AM09/30/0403:25 AM
Ours will do that during tent time, and little tailless Gim is especially funny to watch sometimes. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" /> And it IS a war, sort of. They're saying to each other (through their scent)-"This is MY bathroom", "No, it's MY bathroom", Next day, "Hey! That OTHER guy marked up MY bathroom again, I'll show HIM!" ~Rub, Rub, Rub~ ~Mark, Mark, Mark~ ~Dance, Dance~ ~Rub some more~. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Jen/Colin Commander Riker 12 16 02-10 04 12 you will be FOREVER missed Sinbad, Gabby, Baby, and Alley
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26688 10/01/0412:54 AM10/01/0412:54 AM
How funny! My guys all have to use the same play room, so they all spend their first 5-10 minutes of play time "erasing" the previous group. It is hilarious. When I got my first glider and didn't know doodley, the first time he got on his side and started marking I thought he was gettin paralyzed! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> Thank goodness I jumped on the forum here before I took him to the vet, I would really have felt stupid! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" />
Re: one of my males doing something strange
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#26689 10/01/0410:55 AM10/01/0410:55 AM
Mine do the exact same thing to me and the tent durring play time. I watched one walk the enitre length of the tent side ways, their back up againsth the outside. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" />