A Long Road?

We are still working on getting the two pairs together.  After some consultation with another glider owner who has a lot of experience with intros, we tried some new tactics.  This first was to put them all in the same sleeping pouch during the day and let them work it out. M had made a large pouch for them, so when they were sleepy we put CB, Foehn, and Rossby in the pouch and then added Sprite. Yes, there was crabbing and fussing and jockeying for position, but for all of that they did settle down the rest of the day without incident. The pouch was zippered so they could not get out, and one of us had them at all times just in case. We were starting to get hopeful about the situation. They seemed to sleep OK, although most of the time CB was at one end of the pouch and Sprite at the other (yes, it was that big).

After a couple of days of this, we put them all into the large cage to see how they would get along.  CB was again the odd man out, and some of the chasing got rather loud at night. They were going full tilt and we were concerned one of them was going to get hurt flinging themselves across the cage. This couldn't continue so we removed Sprite and put her in a cage by herself.

CB keeping an eye out for Sprite from atop
the tree in the tent.

Our latest tactic was to go back to using a tent for play time for Sprite and CB. That has the advantages of a smaller space forcing them to be in proximity, and it allows me to easily intervene if something gets started. In the office they could be under the desk or bookcase and I would have a hard time getting to them without getting bit. The first two nights with Sprite and CB alone were as
expected. He tried to avoid her, and she would chase him if the opportunity was there. Most of the time it didn't end up as anything but crabbing. After two nights of this, we thought it might help if all four were in the tent. Sometimes Foehn goes after Sprite (but most of the time she does not), so we figured if Sprite was distracted watching for Foehn and enjoying time with Rossby things might settle down. They actually did for a couple of nights. In fact, on the second night of all four in the tent during mealworm handout, CB and Sprite actually sniffed each other (cautiously) without incident.  That didn't last, but each night seemed to be getting a little better. There is not quite as much chasing, and when they did it wasn't to the point they were balling up or anything.  The new complication is that now Rossby and Foehn are a "couple"! They end up crawling under a blanket or in one of the toys to sleep so they aren't the distraction we were hoping for.

We're going to keep up the tent sessions in the hope that consistency and continual "moderated" exposure to one another will help them settle down and get used to each other.