So I have two boys, going on three years old now. They were born and raised together they are not genetic brothers. Kupo, is slightly slimmer/smaller but has always played the alpha male.

Now, I switched their diet to Critter Love Complete. Edgar has always been super shy, but now he's very outgoing and can't wait for his food! Its made such a big difference for them, so I'm glad I switched.

However, Kupo has been defensive more often than not with the food now. I thought it would work itself out again, but it has not. And two days ago I found that he even pulled on and injured Edgar's tail! (image attached)

Edgar lets me touch it and isn't sensitive about it. So, it's not serious. But I need to correct this behavior. I need to spend more time with them in the bonding pouch and out-of-cage play time, I've been slacking. But I think something more than that would be helpful.

Any advice?

Make sure the tail stays pink also.

Sometimes a bite will disrupt the blood supply and the end of the tail will die and turn black.

If that happens it will need to be amputated.

I will definitely be watching the injury very closely. Thank you for the heads up.

Other than separate eating spaces and trying to discourage this behavior when I'm around, is there anything you recommend to curtail it? I put Kupo in timeout last night in their travel crate to separate them when I couldn't be there. I was planning on do it again for one or two more nights . I put him back to sleep together during the day.

Please make sure you feed your gliders at least 30 minutes PRIOR to them waking up. This helps a great deal.

I just want to mention this for you and anyone else who might read through this thread looking for advice. Please don't take this as nitpicking or rude, it's not at all intended as a personal attack. Many animals are stoic and will not show obvious signs of pain. This is a survival tactic - weaker animals are often ostracized from communities and targeted by predators so it's an evolutionary advantage for most mammals to hide pain.

Even animals that are showing obvious signs of pain may be doing so in ways humans do not recognize. And pain is not always in direct correlation to the severity of an injury or illness.

Please do not assume any injury is not serious. This is a determination best made by a veterinarian. I understand observing minor issues like this at home, and I definitely don't like taking a trip to the vet just to find out I could have treated the issue with basic first aid. But please don't take any injury on your glider as minor unless a veterinary professional has made that determination.

Monitor this injury closely as such wounds can easily become infected, especially if he or Kupo grooms it. Furthermore, take this injury as a warning because if these gliders continue to have arguments much more serious injuries can occur.

Definitely work on multiple feeding stations and if necessary, separate them even just for feeding time to avoid fights. I did not see it mentioned...are these boys intact or neutered?

They are both neutered

Their bowls are as far from one another in the cage as possible. Is there anything special about setting up a station otherwise? They never got used to going inside a hut like construction for their food when I've tried before

You could hang fleece to make it where they can't see the other dish while eating.

I took them to the vet today just to be safe, and because they hadn't had a checkup for long time. She said tail is fine and everything else checks out well