So I picked up 2 sugar gliders approximately a week and a half ago. The neutered male likes to grab my fingers through the cage cars and he licks and then nibbles on my fingers. He hasn't broken skin yet as I remove the finger from his surprisingly strong grasp before it gets to that point. I want to discourage this behavior if possible because he also does this during tent time with my fingers and toes. It doesn't necessarily feel aggressive, but he is very persistent with it. Any suggestions without scaring Him? He is almost 12 weeks out of pouch.

Yeah I definitely don't want to take the bite, I want to completely discourage it and make sure it never happens. They do not try to bite when I take them out of the pouch or anything like that. They will crab occasionally but that's it. I will try the tsk or similar hissing noise and "no" and see if that works. I may end up making him a chewing toy, I think I already have one actually that is a left over bird toy that my parrot hates. I'll wash it and see what he thinks

Arthur will sometimes do something similar. He will reach through the bars and grab me (sometimes with both front paws), lick me a bunch of times, then look at me expectantly. He has a surprising grip, too.

Martini, you right not to scare them, and you want to encourage them to like your hands. Telling them no or tsking is a good idea. Timimg is everything. I loved it when I would be groomed. Watch out for having fresh cuts or scabs. Even moles or freckles. They just want you as clen as their cagemete. When you tsk them, they may not respond at first, but they are listening.

sounds like you have a pair of sweeties!

Please keep us posted on their progress.

I'm coming to think that he just needs to taste EVERYTHING. I mean he licks and then nibbles on anything and everything he can get his hands on. I did the tskkk today and that seemed to work pretty well. Need to figure out a good chew toy for him, he didn't like the bird toy but I will hang it in the cage and see what he thinks in there. They are very sweet though, I had sugar gliders before and it definitely took them longer to get used to me and they did bite a few times but not these guys. Especially the female( bubbles) she is so soft and gentle, never crabs or lunges or anything. I got really lucky

Regular drink straws woven through cage bars or a wiffle ball works great.

You can even bend one into a tiangle push ends together and hang from ceiling of cage.

Based on my experience with my gliders and based on the age you mentioned it sounds like you are going through the teething stage just like puppies etc all go through. When mine started trying out their teeth I made little teething toys to distract them from teething on me. I always kept one in my pocket on hand. Little beads and tiny bells strung together in a loop. Worked like a charm. Everyone's feedback is fabulous. Distraction and verbal tsking or a lip pfft sound has always worked like a charm for me and got every one of my gliders through this stage.

I really like the drinking straws idea! He has decided he likes the bird toy and was chewing on it frequently last night! Definitely going to get more toys though and will probably make a ball pit with some harder items in it for nibbling . Thanks for all the input!