i have a 2 1/2 year old male named zippy and a 5 year old female named twiggles. Every night around 9 or 10 o' clock i feed them. they're always awake because it's dark by that time here... anyway... i put the food in their cage.

the problem is zippy won't let twiggles (she's pregnant i think!) eat . every time she gets close to the food dish he crabs at her and chases her off! she doesn't ever crab back... she never ever crabs...

so i put the food in two seperate dishes on opposite ends of the cage and zippy started eating. then twiggles went to the same dish that zippy was eating at (ignoring the other one) and started eating and after a few seconds he chased her off! this has been going on about a week now.

i finally just put them into two seperate cages (zippy in the smaller one) and leave them there the first half hour or so of the night to make sure they are both getting food, then put them together again. that at least makes the crabbing quite less...

also, i feed them as much and usually more than the BML diet says to feed but it's ALWAYS ALL gone by morning... should i still give them more!? thanks a ton for your help!!! and sorry that this is so long...

Having two dishes usually does the trick...and moving them for dinner time was your best option. If there is not a speck of food left in the morning, try giving a little bit more, or some more fruits and veggies along with it.
I've read about some gliders getting protective of their food. How long have these two been living together? Do they fight about anything else?

they've been together for about three months. sometimes while they're in their pouch i'll hear a crab for a short while but i usually ignore it.... thanks for responding!

Try placing the food stations in seperate areas of the cage. This way while one is at one station he more than likely will not notice the other one at the other food station.
This has helped others out with this problem in the past.
Keep us posted. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumb.gif" alt="" />

Well... last night i fed them much earlier (8:30) and separated the dishes and put twiggles in front of one and zippy in front of the other and both began eating. they ended up not fighting! i've separated the dishes before, but i've never fed them that early. i didn't think they'd be awake! but apparently they wake up at 8!
so they were probably fighting because they were starving... i don't know... just a guess! what do you all think? do any of your gliders wake up that early?

I have fifteen pairs of gliders and they get up early to eat. They are up around 6:30 pm waiting for me to feed. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I make sure to have food waiting for my boys in their cage when they wake-up and in different areas. Their BML is in one bowl in their glider kitchen and fruits and veggies get placed in a foraging unit. I always hand feed mealies though. I found that by adding a little game to getting their food and them having to move around the cage to get it, my food fighting problems are basically gone. If my big boy is in a grumpy mood when he gets up then I had feed my smaller boy some of the fruits/veggies so he doesn't get picked on because the other one woke-up on the wrong side of the pouch <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif" alt="" />

Seperate dishes and lots of food are really all you can do. Some gliders are just very determined to be a little hog and will try to guard both dishes. As long as she is not losing any weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it, as she is probably getting in there after he takes his first break from eating.