Hello, all!

I am a proud newish sugar glider parent!

I recieved my girls about three weeks ago from My Little Sugar Gliders in Nevada. Their names are Licorice and Necco. They are three years old and one year old, respectively. Licorice is platinum and Necco is a Ruby Leu. Licorice is actually Necco's mother!

I am so enamored by these babies already and am trying to bond with them patiently and diligently. I try to take them into their tent for a few hours a day. Some days I am not able to do this, so I think the bonding is taking longer than it possibly could, but I can definitely see progress! They crab less and have stopped biting (at least, stopped intentionally biting. Licorice sometimes still bites my fingers when she is finished licking food off them.) They seem to view me now in a friendly manner. They don't let me pick them up or hold them when they are not in their pouch, but they do climb on me when they are awake and let me pet them. This morning I opened the cage and was startled and excited to see that Necco jumped right onto my shoulder!

I just have some concerns regarding dominance. Licorice, being Necco's mother, is the dominant female in the pairing. This is a natural hierarchy, obviously, but sometimes I'm worried that she is being excessivly mean to Necco. Sometimes when I give them treats, Licorice finishes her own and takes Necco's away from her. In short, Licorice seems more gluttonous or greedy, and is more of a picky eater than her daughter. I get slightly concerned, however when she deliberately takes food and treats away from Necco. She will crab and push Necco away. And she refuses to share afterwards! I know that issues can evolve between females that share space and so I wonder if this could become an issue, or if because they are family, it will be fine.

Also, I haven't really started to carry them around with me during the day yet. I think these babes are especially pouch protective and even when I carry them around the house, any loud noise or exaggerated jostle sends them into a frenzy of crabbing. (It is mostly Necco who crabs, but Licorice does join in.) I wonder if carrying them despite the crabbing causes unnecessary stress for them? I don't want to push their boundaries and prolong the bonding timeline.

I would appreciate any advice! I made this post mostly to intro myself to the community, though, so hello! I'm so excited to be a part of the glider universe!

Much love,
Cheryl, Licorice and Necco!

As far as the food stealing and fighting over food, divide their nightly food up into three different feeding stations.

That way when the dominant one moves to steal there is another dish for the submissive one to go too.

Congratulations on your new babies!

Well, first off it sounds like things are going fairly well for just a few weeks. I'm not sure what your daytime schedule is like, but earlier on with my first pair, I did "pouch time" during the day. I probably did like maybe 3-4X/week for about maybe 10-15 minutes during the day. Keeping treats handy, usually a spoon of fruit flavored/fat free (not sugar free) yogurt, I'd take their sleeping pouch, with them inside and just sit there with them on my lap. I'd gently rub the pouch and talk softly. When they popped their heads out (both my girls were light sleepers), I'd offer some treat, and then finger scratch their little heads. I kept it short and usually skipped at least a day in between so has not to disturb their slumber too much.

Your out of cage play during wake time sounds like it's going well, having one jump right onto you is a very good sign.

As for food snitching, what Kimberly said, plus I'd like to add a little more to that, as when I added my third glider, I ended up seeing some food aggression issues showing up. My girls got along beautifully (they were not related but had already been paired for almost a year when I homed them).

1) At least two, but better three separate feeding centers, at least for f/v bowls. I started out with three, but ended up just using two and it worked out just as well.
2) If possible, serve food prior to them waking up, so they don't have to wait for food, this usually helps. I personally couldn't do this one, because mine are early risers for first meal, especially Ollie. The girls would get up usually anytime between 7-8 for their first meal, this changed periodically, maybe at times as early as 6-6:30, but usually not. Ollie on the other hand would be up by 5! Sometimes even a bit earlier, looking for his first meal, he was the one with food aggression issues. Unfortunately for me and them, my work schedule didn't permit me to serve their food that early, nor would I want to.

Now for dominance, I usually couldn't really tell with mine. At one time I thought it was Lulu (RIP), then I thought Skadoosh, not really sure with those two, they were really like two peas in a pod, although their personalities were so different, they just got along beautifully. Anyhow, so I don't have a lot of experience to offer in this area. All I can do is recommend to keep an eye on it. My gliders would snatch treats or favored food from each other (both girls did, not sure about Ollie, though he had his snatched plenty), but the girls just kind of went with it. So if Lulu (RIP) snatched from Skadoosh, Skadoosh would just let her take it after a little tugging, and vice/versa. Ollie would fuss, but it wouldn't stop the girls from snatching or trying. Probably why he started chasing them away from the f/v bowl. Just keep an eye on them like I said. Make sure no injuries are occurring and also that Necco isn't loosing weight, otherwise, that she's getting enough food.

I know it's brutal and hard to watch, but they have their ways and as long as no one is getting hurt or starving, you have to just let them do their glider thing. Hopefully she'll improve towards her daughter when they are more serving areas around the cage.

I'll try that!

Also I love your gliders' names!!!! I'm watching Enterprise right now. Huge crush on T'pol.

You have been given some great advice.

Please ask if you have more questions, and keep us posted on your progress!