Hello,

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. Long story short I have 2 colonies right now. I have a colony of 3 (two neutered males [Yasu and Sho] who are brothers and a female [Kiba] who lost her mother 6 months ago prior to the two males) and a new colony of 2 (recently neutered male [Hai] and pregnant female [Yuki]). The colony of 3 gets along well but the alpha (Yasu) is territorial and can be defensive around food. The colony of two (plus one on the way) does well on their own, but the male has not bonded with us yet. The female, Yuki, is a sweetheart though. We have had the new ones for 3 months and the male, Hai, still lurches at us and bites. We have spent lots of tent time and pouch time and he is slowly coming along, but he is being stubborn. Our original female, Kiba, was slow to bond and bit so we are used to that process and are taking the same steps we successfully used with her. We have also tried to slowly introduce the two colonies (very slowly) but it isn't going well. We started with the cages out of sight of each other in the same room and they now sit next to each other, but out of reach. We have swapped pouches and food bowls as well. Tonight we tried to introduce the two alpha males (Yasu and Hai) and they almost instantly balled up. We separated them, but stayed in the tent with them for a bit. They didn't interact again but just did their own thing in the tent until we removed them.

I have read the forums, watched videos, etc on bonding and introductions, but I am looking to see if anyone has any further tips for us. Should we wait until the joey is born to really try introductions? Will this cause problems trying to introduce them at that point? Should I try introducing Yuki (pregnant female) to the others and leave Hai by himself for a bit? I don't want to cause too much stress to Yuki and cause any harm to the Joey.

Any words of wisdom are welcome.

Excellent. Thank you!

Sorry I'm late to help, and I agree with Karen completely.

How recent was Hai neutered? I ask because Yuki although she has a Joey now, may have embrios in stasis (can be held up to 6 months ). It may be a good idea once this Joey is weined, to wait a bit longer. If the Joey is a male, you will have to have him neutered. He may be able to move in with the other colony sooner than his parents.

That is good to know. Hai has only been neutered about a month. When we got them at the beginning of August Yuki was already pregnant from what the previous owner told us. So, the baby could be OOP soon.