Bonding Adventures

As mentioned in the introduction post, our suggies Sydney and Taz came to us very recently. Although they had been well fed and had accommodations that most gliders only dream of having, they had little socialization with humans since they were fostered 7 years ago. Their foster mom warned us that Taz was quite crabby and would bite if handled. Sydney wasn't as vocal about her dislike of attention and she would sometimes come out and be a little curious during feeding time. With 10 guinea pigs, a bunny and a cat to also care for, there just wasn't a lot of time left over for the large amount of time necessary to bond with these two. We can tell though that their former family that had to give them up did spend time with them, but it's just been a while. We have now set out on the adventure to encourage Sydney and Taz to enjoy contact with us and hopefully become tame and sweet pets.

Most glider owners purchase their pets as joeys and begin bonding right away. Bruce was raised in this manner. Bonding with older gliders is a similar process, but can take longer because of ingrained habits. We are pretty sure that we can get Sydney and Taz used to humans again, but know it is going to be a long journey. A really good series of articles about bonding with gliders can be found here. It's a 6 part series from the folks at Sun Coast Sugar Gliders, one of a few reputable stores and breeders we have discovered.

So now we start the adventure. The first night Sydney and Taz were with us, we only took them out in their sleeping pouch for about 5 minutes. Taz crabbed most of the time, but Sydney was quiet. We decided on a plan of action to take them out and get them in individual bonding pouches (shown on the right) each night while we watched our TV shows. We placed a small bit of apple in each pouch as a calming and positive treat. Also, on the days I am home all day, I will carry the duo (or each individually) around for a few hours each day in the pouch. This will get them used to our scent and sound of our voice in a non-threatening way. The 2nd night Sydney and Taz were with us, we tried this technique. Taz was NOT a happy boy at first. He was very vocal and crabbed a lot. After about 15 minutes though, he calmed down and relaxed with Jay. I had Sydney and she was a sweetie. She, however, got restless after a while and was trying very hard to find a way out of the pouch. (Based on the weight difference between the two of them and the behaviors we've observed so far, she is a VERY active little gal, so we may have to do a lot of the pouch bonding with her during the day when she's sleepy.)


Last night was night two of the adventure. Taz took less time to calm down, but would still occasionally freak for a few seconds. Sydney got restless again about an hour into the attempt. Since we don't have a small tent at the moment to try tent bonding, Jay got a similar idea. Sydney and Taz have a smaller cage than Bruce, but the foster owners had set up an area of mesh walls that attached to the cage to give them more space to play. This area is large enough for one adult to sit inside and close it back up. Katie (Jay's daughter) went in first with Taz. She unzipped the pouch and he crawled out cautiously. At first he ran to one of his hutches, then ventured out for a drink of water. He saw KT still there and actually went back over to her and smelled her feet and started to climb up. He changed his mind though and went back to his hutch to stay for a bit. Jay got inside with Sydney next. She climbed around and smelled him a few times before hopping in her wheel. It was very promising to us that outside of the pouches and with us in their "territory" they seemed less frightened of us. I'm going to see if I can find our small camping tent today and try for some real tent time with both gliders tonight.

This morning, Sydney had cuddled into one of the bonding pouches to sleep, so I quietly zipped it up and now have her around my neck while she sleeps. She did wake up at first and crab a bit, but she finally relaxed and is sleeping soundly. I really hoped to have them both in the pouch for this, but Taz was sleeping up in one of the fleece hutches in their cage and he crabbed when I was getting Sydney out, so I figured he'd be a pain right now to get into the pouch with her or the other bonding pouch. Maybe after lunch I'll get him out and carry him around for a few hours too.