Now that we have two glider households living next door to each other, we're working towards making introductions between them. I have a boy (Yoda) and a girl (Winky). TwoDog has a family of five: Mrs. Frisby and Justin are the parents, and the joeys are Arrow, Aria, and Athena. All of the gliders are young (<2 years) and all males are neutered.

We started by trading stinky pouches between cages so that they'd start becoming familiar with each other's scents. The foreign pouches were easily accepted into their environments, so we moved onto the next step.

We moved my old Pocket Pets starter cage next to TwoDog's big critter nation cage. Every few days or so, I bring my pouch of two sleeping gliders next door and hang it in the starter cage next to the big cage of five gliders. We've done this in the morning just as they're settling down, and in the evening just before they're awake for the night.

Both glider households are definitely aware of each other. They have heard, smelled, and seen each other from as little as a few inches apart through cage bars. However, we haven't seen any direct interactions yet - no chatter between them, no attempts to touch, no focused attention on the foreign gliders.

This morning we had some more time in the starter cage. Winky and Yoda were both very alert for that time of day, faces poking out of the pouch with interest in whatever was happening around them. TwoDog put his pouch full of five sleepy gliders on top of the starter cage, and a couple of them crawled out slowly to investigate. They climbed all over the outside of the starter cage, but never seemed to notice those two faces peaking out of the pouch. For their part, the two faces didn't seem to notice the gliders moving around the perimeter either.

Every glider got a couple of yogurt drops with our hope of making the whole thing a positive experience, and that seemed to work. I think we'll probably keep up this routine of starter cage time (keeping the two colonies separated by bars), at least until they start directly interacting and we can be assured that there won't be all out brawling when they finally meet in closer proximity...

Have you tried letting your two spend the night in PP cage? Or does Comrade turn his loose? (Sorry, I just want "him" to know we haven't forgotten his "true" identity. Anything else is just an alias.

we just put our 7 colony with our 3 colony. You have to be careful with the gliders on cage so they don't grab threw bars of cage to fight. We do introduction in a neutral bathtub so they have no territory to defend.
In the tub they did very good, a few small spats as they worked things out.
We cleaned the big cage well.
they did great the first night, then second night gus did a little chasing in the cage of one of the three. we gave them one very large pouch and they all slept fine, on night 3 sophie woke up and had a big spat with some of the three. so we moved sophie out for rest of night and gave them a second pouch. In morning we put sophie back, 4 of seven in one pouch, and then a mix of the 3 colony with 3 of the 7 colony in second pouch and all is quite. Hopefully tonight sophie wakes up and is good. she is our sweetest glider to us humans.

keep up cage closeness and scent swapping pouches and toys for awhile if you can, so the new scent not so new. My wife is in charge of introductions has done them all and they go great. so hopefully tonight is all quite.

I haven't let my gliders spend the night in the starter cage because it's small and there isn't much in there other than a couple of branches. I think it would be a boring night for them, even if the "home team" gliders were free roaming around the outside of the cage.

Now I'm more motivated than ever to make introductions, since Comrade/TwoDog/Dave (man of many names) has started building this really awesome play space in the upper storage area of his rig. I'll let him give you the details of all that. His gliders are loving it, and I want to let mine in on the fun, too.

Wow, John! That's a lot of gliders! How many cages do you maintain for all those furry little bodies?

We're both living in RVs, so bathtubs and neutral space are in short supply. Taking it slow and easy seems to be going good so far, working with the constraints of our space.

You could use the shower. I'm sure Comerade has something to block across the door area they can't climb. That way the two of you could pop your heads in, hold hands and hope for the best.

The coolest part of this is your two Steph are so different in contrast to his. Now that his are older, can he really tell them all apart?

Oh, yeah Comerade, when/if you decide to share your new play area for your kids, be sure to send pics along...

I was showing hubby some cute things on Etsy, talking about you guys, and now he wants to build a tree house for the girls... something that can hang high with a rope or fleece ladder (thank you Terry, still haven't made one...) clear to the floor.

Now I gotta google it to see what little tykes might have...

To tell you the truth, Dawn, I'm not even convinced that he really has five gliders. I can't say that I've ever since all five at the same time...

They are all pretty much identical with their pure white fur, but Dave can sometimes tell them apart from behavioral cues. I keep guessing who's who, but all I really know is that there is a whole lotta cute and furry zipping around.

We found great inspiration for the glider playhouse by just strolling through a thrift store. All sorts of great stuff can be repurposed to entertain gliders.

Last night we finally let all seven gliders loose in the same space at the same time! Introductions went very well, with only a minimum of crabbing - no fighting, no biting. We chose a time when the gliders are still usually pretty groggy (7pm), but they perked right up with all the excitement.

Below is a link to a little compilation of video from the introduction. Next time, we'll put them all in the awesome new cage/palace setup together to see how they handle it.

Glad intros went so well. Always better when step-siblings get along, hehe.

Yay! Looks like it went really well! I see my pouch is holding up well! You might need bigger ones real soon!

A couple of questions:

1. Was the tent new to both families?

2. Did you use clean scent free pouches? Or just what they were carried in?

3. Have you each bonded to the other family?

Hint: There are no right or wrong answers, just asking for refrence.

I am so happy for you guys! But Comrade, I think one or two of yours were looking to explore out into the bigger world... Nice tent!

Seems like you guys dodged the bullet so far from the heat I /we are suffering... Please share!!!

Oh, and thank you for sharing your experience!!!

John
I was told that you couldn't put two alphas together. Do you think you had an alpha in one group or both. I'm trying to get 4 and 2 together. 2 girls two boys with a girl and boy. All boys fixed. One of the boys of the 4 is not nice when girls are around, but ok with the new boy alone....sort of. There is still some fighting. Anyway. What are your thoughts.

I have put together several pairs of gliders into a 10 glider colony. I had one that had been recently neutered and he didn't want to play nice.

I had my friend let him live alone for 2 weeks, as she comes up here every other weekend, when she came back up we did introductions again and he was very happy to be with other gliders.

So I put my two new babies with everyone but the alpha, bugsey. They were nice to each other, but didn't cuddle up or stay in the same bag in the tub. Once I put them back with bugsey, it was like he told them they weren't allowed to be nice and than the two girls were mean to the newbies after that. How would you approch this situation. My other male has always been nice to the newbies.

Leave the alpha by himself until the others are sleeping in the same pouch for a couple days. I would do two weeks then introduce the alpha back to the group.

Should I just move him to another room by himself. I only have a pp cage as a spare. Do you think he is ok with that.? Probably not, but maybe it’s the only way. Should I do his play time by himself, or let him play with the others. Should I still take him out, just keep him separate.....all there’s questions.
Thanks

That is up to you as far as the Dad.

What are you going to do about the male joeys? You cannot let them mate with mom or their sisters

Disregard post above

Karen
I’m confused at your post. Was that for someone else? Maybe because I called them babies. Sorry. Their all my babies. One colony has two 5 year old Boys two 4 year old girls. The ones I’m trying to add are a one and half year old female and two year old male. So really not babies. All boys fixed.

I'll bet you were confused when you read that post of mine. Yes, it was supposed to go somewhere else. Good catch (wish I had caught it).

Is okay, we keep you anyways, KarenE

So I’m starting again because mocha, who always liked the newbys was in the middle of the group. I put mocha with the new ones alone, they are all happy. How should I approach the rest. Should I remove the alpha male bugsey from his current two girls and try to get the girls with the new group? If I remove bugsey, will he not go with anyone because he is the alpha male? I’m so confused.
Should I move mocha back and forth? When I did this n the past, bugsey would be on his back and biting his neck all the time. He didn’t attack him, just holding him.
Anyone with experience and willing to answer questions, please pm me and we can figure out a good time to talk.
Thank you

It may be wise to move the alpha to his own cage and try the pair next.

Be sure the alpha has plenty to do and toys.

I haven’t moved him to his own cage yet, but he is already upset about mocha in the other cage. Could he end up getting really mean because of all this, or will he be more at peace once it’s all done. It’s stressing me out. I don’t want anyone sad......but I want them all together. Is it tough love. Lol

He needs a little time. Help him by spending time with him one on one. It will be a moment in time just for him. Maybe some bonding pouch time if he tolerates it.

Make sure he has a comfy pouch with blankies. Fleece pompoms help too (At least it did for Dot- she had to have a time out for a few days...)

We had another session in the tent with both glider colonies. Check out the video!

Well that was interesting! Looks like everyone was having fun!

You guys had me laughing.
I’m at my wits end with these alpha. Lol
So in the twosome I realize mya is the alpha and has to boss everyone. In my foursome. Bugsey is an alpha and due to the disruptions. He derags his front teeth on everything. Mocha is the most laid back and moves from cage to cage.
I was thinking of putting each of the alphas in their own cafe and move them out of the room. Than try to get the two girls with mocha and buddy
So one group. Mocha bugsey Marley and bailey. Other buddy and mya. Mocha likes everyone
Anyone try this?
Will one of the alphas ever back down?

I haven't experienced this with a colony, but with my two, Dot gets time out from time to time.

From what i have read, the colony dynamics (pecking order) do change over time. While alphas are in time out, they learn to be less aggressive if they want to join back in to the colony. Some may take longer than others.