Join Us On Facebook
|
|
|
Fighting over food
#875757
12/02/09 04:33 PM
12/02/09 04:33 PM
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
Hi everyone, I have 3 gliders: a male, Yojimbo, and two female twins, Abby & Batgirl. They have been together for over a year. They were introduced when Yojimbo was about a year OOP and the females were about 3 months OOP. They got along great from the start - except for at dinner time.
When I bring out the food, Yoji gets very dominant and will not allow the girls anywhere near until he has had his fill. He will crab, lunge, and bite at them to keep them away. Then, once the females are allowed to eat, Abby becomes the dominant one and tends to kick out Batgirl (who is very timid by nature and runs away if there is the slightest confrontation). So since Yoji is more than happy to overeat and there is not much left by the time Batgirl gets her turn, I end up with one fat glider, one regular size glider, and one slightly underweight glider.
I tried giving them each their own bowl of food in a separate glider kitchen (tupperware container with a hole on the side). This helps but as soon as Yoji is done with his BML, he will skip his fruits and veggies and go kick out another glider to take the rest of their BML.
The only thing I've tried that works really well is to use the glider kitchens and actually take Yoji completely out of the cage to eat. But, frankly, this is a lot more work than i want to be doing every day just to get them fed.
Has anyone else had this problem? Are there any other tricks to get them to behave better at feeding time?
They get along so great at all other times, I just wish they could eat peacefully too.
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: LSardou]
#875781
12/02/09 05:39 PM
12/02/09 05:39 PM
|
GoGoGliders
Unregistered
|
GoGoGliders
Unregistered
|
I have this problem with my Brando....even with two dishes in the cage in totally opposite sides, he will lunge and attack and I used to separate them for meals which is not the best solution......I read here that someone got this problem to stop by ensuring that there is food in the cage before he wakes up so now I am religious about "having dinner on the table" before Brando ever wakes up and this has solved the problem completely.......it did take about a week during which I continued to put two dishes in the cage.....now as long as dinner is served before 6:30 (my gangs get up early) I have no issues
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: LSardou]
#875782
12/02/09 05:40 PM
12/02/09 05:40 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 13,748 Vincennes, IN, USA
suggiemom1980
Glideritis Anonymous
|
Glideritis Anonymous
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 13,748
Vincennes, IN, USA
|
You could try putting their food into a bunch of foraging cups/ toys. I had an overweight glider and to help him lose weight, every bite of food went into the cups on his foraging toys, hung all over the cage. If you do that, he'll be too busy trying to eat out of a few of the cups. There won't be any way he'll be able to get to, and chase the others away from, every single cup. This might take longer than just letting him eat first tho. Is the food out before they wake up? I have three cages and if the food isn't there the second they wake up, three of my gliders become aggressive, stingy little beasts. If the food is there when they climb out of their pouch tho, they're just fine about sharing.
Connie 812-890-9734, 24/7 Emergencies/Joey issues SmallWorldSuggies"The greater the challenge, the sweeter the reward" "Glide free Silly "Ozball" Ozzie. You left us 11/21/12..way too soon. You're forever loved, remembered, missed."
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: suggiemom1980]
#875783
12/02/09 05:42 PM
12/02/09 05:42 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 13,748 Vincennes, IN, USA
suggiemom1980
Glideritis Anonymous
|
Glideritis Anonymous
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 13,748
Vincennes, IN, USA
|
I read here that someone got this problem to stop by ensuring that there is food in the cage before he wakes up I was posting the same thing at the time you did! LOL! Great minds think alike!
Connie 812-890-9734, 24/7 Emergencies/Joey issues SmallWorldSuggies"The greater the challenge, the sweeter the reward" "Glide free Silly "Ozball" Ozzie. You left us 11/21/12..way too soon. You're forever loved, remembered, missed."
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: suggiemom1980]
#875832
12/02/09 06:56 PM
12/02/09 06:56 PM
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
I am going to try having the food out when they wake. Now that I think about it there have been a couple times when i've done this and I think they did act a lot better. I’ve just done that so rarely in the past that I guess I never made the connection.
Thanks everyone!
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: ]
#875884
12/02/09 08:00 PM
12/02/09 08:00 PM
|
GoGoGliders
Unregistered
|
GoGoGliders
Unregistered
|
just make sure you are very consistent about it for at least a week and I think you will see an improvement
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: ]
#879061
12/09/09 01:22 PM
12/09/09 01:22 PM
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
psyte
Unregistered
|
Just wanted to let everyone know I've been doing this for a week now and it is working great. The first couple nights there was some crabbing, but everything is going smoothly now. It's so great to see them all eat together peacefully.
Thank you all so much for your help with this!
|
|
|
Re: Fighting over food
[Re: ]
#879197
12/09/09 04:58 PM
12/09/09 04:58 PM
|
glidermommie
Unregistered
|
glidermommie
Unregistered
|
I have the same problem with my female. I have 4 separate bowls that I keep a little ways away from each other. When its time to eat she hisses and bites at my male until he moves away, and he always gives in and walks away. Even when they are eating from different bowls, she will go by him and hiss and bite at him until he moves. There are times when he is able to grab a piece of food real quick, and she will actually chase him and take it right out of his hands and even his mouth. He looks so confused when she does that. Many times I will pick her up so he can eat, which probably isnt the best solution. I just havent figured out how to stop her yet I wish she would stop, because I feel so sorry for him. The funny thing is my male is chubby, and my female is regular size They get along very good and she is a big sweatheart, but when its time to eat, watch out! She is definitely the dominant one in the cage.
|
|
|
|
Please click above to see how you can help!!
|
|
0 registered members (),
329
guests, and 77
spiders. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
Owner,
Admin
|
|
Forums132
Topics10,374
Posts159,160
posts in the last 24hrs0
Members7,324
|
Most Online2,693 Jan 2nd, 2020
|
|
This site was tested and is best
viewed in Google Chrome & Mozilla FireFox
Download your copy today!!!
|
|
|