GliderCENTRAL

The girls coping with Stewie

Posted By: Ladymagyver

The girls coping with Stewie - 07/24/18 12:10 PM

I really should have logged this as we went, so again, I will play catch up here.

Stewie is finally big enough to hold his own with the girls.

He has been out of his ejacket for about 5 weeks, gained weight and has regained his coordination.

I was concerned about how he and Dot would get along since Dot is the alpha and quite large and fluffy.

They have had contact when the girls wanted to check out who was in their old cage. All went well as long as he was "inside" and they we're climbing around on the "outside". This happened by accident, but went well. I don't recommend this at all.

The girls are rather mellow and are mature 4year olds. Stewie is more like a pinball machine that just won't stop. He runs, bounces, and jumps faster than the girls did at his age. This seems to make Dot a bit nervous.

We had several morning tent times instead of bathtub time. Both of my tubs are escapable. They have low sides. Anyway, they went well. With the exception of Dot and Fiona were willing to go in the clean pouch, but Stewie was too wide awake and excited to go to bed. He would bounce and climb and run, check on the girls, but just wouldn't stay inside the pouch long enough to catch him in it. This would go on for over an hour (9-10am). The girls became crabby and after a bit, wouldn't allow him in anymore.

Dot did come out of the pouch after him and they balled up. I broke it up, and Dot went after him 2 more times. This can happen faster than you can react. I didn't get bit, Stewie wasn't bleeding. So I suppose Dot was trying to teach him some manners.

So I handed the girls out to hubby, and observed Stewie to make sure he was uninjured, and other than a little hurt pride, he was fine. I had to catch him and put him back in his cage. He went willingly.

Then I had a break. That night, Dot was being unusually mean to Fiona. She wouldn't let her out of the pouch to eat. And when she finally got out, Dot climbed on her back and literally hung on to her and used her back feet on the cage bars to keep her from her dish.(yes, they have separate feeding areas). So I intervened and after a lot of bites from Dot was able to peel Fiona away from her. This was about 11pm. Fiona of course came to me willingly. I removed her dishes, and offered to put her in with Stewie. She went right in. I added her food to Stewie's and observed them for an hour. All was fine.

Dot on the other hand was not happy. She did this "hiss bark" all night.(So much for sleep). Stewie was concerned about Dot. He even tried to get out of his cage to go to her.

Next day, 9am: I pulled Stewie's stinky pouch with Fiona in it. Offered it to him, he willingly went in. Carried it over to Dot's cage, opened the door, and Dot went in to the pouch. No hissing, Tsking, or crabbing. All was well... Time-out worked.

After a bit, I handed the trio over to hubby to babysit so I could clean the big cage (again) from top to bottom. Washed bedding, cover, wiped bars with vigenar water, cleaned wheel, drop tray. Made everything scent free for the third time...

1pm: I hung them back all together in the big cage. Nothing other than the typical tsking of get your foot off my face stuff.

8:30 pm same day: Dinnertime.... To be continued...
Posted By: Feather

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 07/24/18 10:45 PM

thumb
Posted By: Claralice

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 07/25/18 12:11 AM

Mine are still in separate cages. I am thinking of keeping it that way. I would really like to downsize to one cage but cant seem to find the right way to get them together. Tent time went fine but I still have snow white (not invited to last session) and she and Marshmallow play so well!
Glad to hear your group are together and going well! Hope it continues!
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 07/25/18 07:21 AM

So, knowing Dot has food agression issues, I was worried.

Dot gets up before Fiona every night and goes between her dishes and Fiona's and picks out all the corn and most of the peas. Then she goes back to bed and holds on to Fiona untill about 11pm. Then Fiona is allowed to eat out of her dish only.

So now we have Stewie. He wakes up earlier than Dot, gets a drink, potty/poo, a few rounds on the wheel, goes for a little nectar, a few more rounds on the wheel, then he will eat his f/v. It's been this way every night since we picked him up.

Now it's close to dinnertime...

-Should I take Dot out of the cage and feed her separate?
-Place only 1dish in at a time as each glider wakes up?
- Or play referee?
-Or do I let nature take it's course and put all food dishes in cage before anyone wakes up? And observe?

At the last minute I decided to do the latter...

And this is how it went:

Stewie makes a break out of the pouch first. Dot pokes her head out watching Stewie as he gets a drink from "Her" water silo. Then he rubs his belly on "Her " dinner shelf, and then looks right at her to do his "other business" off the ledge of her shelf. Dot climbs out of the pouch and slowly approaches Stewie. He then lit off and started his circle to avoid her, and lands in the wheel, running as fast as he can go!

Dot in the mean time discovers a new shelf in her cage opposite side of cage. So she goes to check it out... Stewie took the opportunity to steal a bit of Dot's nectar before she lands on her shelf with corn in her mouth. She sits on her hind legs to "slap" Stewie a few times only to hit air... He's gone and back in the wheel... Then into the sleeping pouch to get Fiona up(didn't happen the first 3 tries). He wasn't fully happy untill she got out of bed.

So basically Stewie ate on the run, Dot grazed at all the dishes, but was more concerned about protecting her shelf. Stewie just ran circles around her all night.

Next morning, I had 3 plates licked clean.

I did check each glider for injuries and full bellies.

All is good...
Posted By: Claralice

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 07/25/18 11:46 PM

Amazing! Too cute-one for the (boy)s!
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 08/05/18 02:00 PM

I thought I'd give an update...

Good news!!!

But first I have to say... Feather, you were right!!! Stewie was a bit confused on how humans should be treated... "Monkey see, monkey do" works for him.

In his hyper state, he did watch how we interact with the girls. He jumped and ran and did a lot of wheel time, but somehow watched me and the girls play, how they liked to be petted, how they didn't run away, how they jump to us and he was especially curious how Fiona would curl up in my hands and disappear amongst my fingers. He even jumped to my cupped hands and try to remove my fingers to free her. When he got a hiss from Fiona, he jumped back in what I would describe as awe... Like "wow, she likes that?"

He won't sit still to observe. He is constantly on the move. But he's watching...

DISCLOSURE:

The following comments are not for one person alone to try at home...

He wants OUR attention too. I mean hubby and I (not just one of us) Since their cage is at the foot of our bed, we allow playtime on the bed(made of course). Stewie loves his free time, and after herding him back to the bed, he knows this is where he can be free. He is curious of other areas, but he has learned that he will be caught with a towel and playtime is over when he tries to stray.

So he allows us to pet him while free, he loves to jump to us and practice gliding back to the bed, he is even allowing me to hold him when he starts to wear out.

This experience has been very different than we had with the girls at this point.

The girls have accepted him as a sleeping partner, however he's not allowed in the sleeping pouch until he is ready to sleep. He's also kicked out when he wakes up and wants to love on them. He looks so sad when he wakes up for the day... He sits in his OE pouch(open environment) and watches for the girls to come out. Then, game on!
Posted By: Ladymagyver

Re: The girls coping with Stewie - 08/05/18 03:41 PM

So I can safely say WE have a trio!!!!

However, the girls feel different about that:

Dot- :thumbd: :splash: :owell: :tant2: :yak: tant

Fiona- :ghug: :yes: :lshower: dunno mlove wave

Stewie- :hdance: :lshower: :willy: :ghug: :pointlaugh: clap cloud9 :yes: :splash:


Stewie and Dot- :hit: exclamation :pointlaugh:


And that's how our cage rocks every night... Sleep tight my little ones...
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