A Happy End to a Long Road!

Once Flurry was accepted by CB and Sprite, we introduced him a couple of weeks later to Foehn and Rossby. It was another easy introduction, and we're sure Foehn was happy to have another man around.  All that was left was to get Foehn and Sprite on the same page if possible. We split Foehn off into the smaller cage about two weeks ago to give the other four time to acclimate to each other. We were also hoping that Foehn's yearning to be with the guys would distract her from her issues with Sprite.  After a week we tried getting them together using the bathtub to introduce them. They would cautiously approach each other to a point, and then one of them would move suddenly or crab, and they would stay away from each other. In the bathroom Foehn appears to be interested in checking Sprite out by some sniffing, but Sprite won't let her get very close. This is in contrast to when they are in the tent when Foehn aggressively chased Sprite and they would ball up if she caught her.

To me, at least, they seemed to have a mutual fear and distrust of each other, and neither would leave their guard down enough to find out differently. At one point in the past they got along fine. I thought if they both could learn that there was nothing to fear with the other then this reintroduction would have a chance. My thought was to try a method called wet introduction. For this each glider is wet down with warm water from a spray or being wiped down. When gliders are wet their main focus is grooming and they don't pay attention to much else.  M wasn't too sure about this, but my feeling is that we had nothing to lose at this point. If this did not work then they would never be together and one of them would have to live separately from the rest (or most likely two and three).

So, on Saturday with some trepidation and a lot of hope I wet both of them down with a spray bottle of warm water. They looked miserable, but both started to groom themselves. We placed them in a small cage together along with a clean (neutral) pouch. The stayed away from each other, but more importantly neither was interested in chasing the other. Foehn took up residence in the pouch, and Sprite would occasionally stop and think about trying to enter. They both crawled up and down and across the top of the cage, once in a while sniffing at each other (without incident) but then quickly moving on.  After a few hours we added a large fleece blanket so that if one of them would not enter the pouch with the other in it, they would have a place to sleep comfortably. We decided to stay up with them to be able to intervene if there were problems. I chased M to bed sometime after midnight and stayed out with them until about 4:00 a.m. (dozing off from time to time). There were no problems whatsoever although they still weren't sharing the pouch, but that was OK. I came out about 7:30 a.m. to check on them and thought the pouch (open style) looked to be hanging a little low. It was, because there were two gliders in it!

We moved them to a larger cage on Sunday, but not in with the boys. We wanted them to get more comfortable with each other before they joined CB, Rossby, and Flurry.  Here are the two of them having their yogurt on Monday morning.

Foehn (L) and Sprite (R) 36 hours into their "reunion" enjoying yogurt.

On Monday night I had all five in the tent for play time and it was more active and relaxed than it had been for some time.  All five are now together in the big cage. More on the reunion in another post 

Next task on the list - a family (colony) photo!

Back to Square One

While things went well during the afternoon, once they were up and out later Saturday night the reintroduction didn't go very well. There was a lot of chasing around the cage and a couple of ball-ups with lots of noise. The chasing wasn't so bad, except that the chaser and the chasee threw themselves around the cage and we were concerned that someone was going to get hurt. Since Foehn, Rossby, and Sprite were in one half of the cage, it didn't leave a lot of room for the chases. After careful observation it was clear that often Sprite was the one doing the chasing after oFoehn came up to check her out.  We ended up staying up most of the night to referee things. At 3:30 a.m. or so we headed to bed. After sunrise when I came out to check on them Sprite was still up while Foehn and Rossby were in one of the pouches.

On Sunday I removed the divider in the cage. The introduction of CB and Cirrus went OK, but Sprite hesitated a long time before going in to the pouch with the others. We had removed all other options for her.  We hoped Sunday night would be better, but it was not. They were quiet for awhile, but Sprite was not amenable to letting any of the other gliders except for Rossby near her. She would jump from the wheel after anyone, except for Rossby, who came near her. There would be a chase and once in a while a lot of noise. We were really hoping they would work it out, but it wasn't going that way. The only break was when the trio and Rossby went back to their pouch for a nap. At one point M noticed something on the white plastic of the wheel and on investigation it turned out to be blood. M checked Cirrus and I checked Sprite. At that point Cirrus was stalking Sprite and that resulted in a couple of chases and ball-ups. Sprite had an abrasion on her tail and while we were concerned, it did not seem to bother her and it had stopped bleeding. We suspect it occurred during one of her leaps from the wheel, but it's hard to say.What we were concerned about was further injuries to any of them. I finally went to bed about 5:00 a.m., and M made it in about 7:00 a.m. In the two hours she was watching them Cirrus had been ganged up on once, so M removed Cirrus from the cage after some morning yogurt and Cirrus spent the morning in her robe sleeve.

After two nights it was clear this was stressing out Sprite, and it was also stressing Cirrus. Cirrus has lost 10 grams in the past month and we are worried about her. The stress of having Sprite in the same cage is not what she needs. We decided to separate Sprite and Rossby from the trio again and they are now in two separate cages. The problem is definitely with  Sprite. She is scared of the other gliders. They come up to sniff her and she crabs at them, and then tries to stay away. I noticed that she also likes to test things with her teeth and occasionally lightly nipped one of the others. Of course, they do not like that and let her know.  It was definitely time to take a big step back with the introduction process. However, we're not sure what to do at this point.

Another Attempt at Introductions

For the last two weeks Rossby and Sprite have been living side by side with CB, Foehn, and Cirrus, but separate, in the large cage. In addition, we have been switching sides every night so that they have to live in each others "stuff". This has gone very well and none of them have had any problems sleeping in a pouch previously occupied by the others. Nights have been fairly quiet as well.

So we decided to try introductions again today. This time we introduced Sprite to Foehn, since they seemed to have the most problems last time. Into the bathtub they went. Sprite was very nervous at the start, and Foehn was nonchalant for the most part. Sprite crabbed a little as Foehn approached her, but I had my hand over her with a piece of fleece to keep her calm. For the most part they were OK with everything, but Sprite was looking for any way to get out of that tub, climbing on my arm every chance she could get. I removed all the fleece (save for one piece in case I had top break up anything) and left one pouch for them. Foehn crawled in readily - she wanted to sleep - but Sprite was hesitant. She poked her head in a few times, but would not go in. There were no fights or crabbing - she jsut did not want to get too close to Foehn.

I figured I'd wait her out. She would get tired soon enough and want to sleep, and that pouch was the only comfortable place for her. An hour later she was still running around the bathroom, having a great time climbing and jumping. At that point we figured we would bring Rossby into the picture. Perhaps Sprite would go into the pouch if he was there. I fetched Rossby from his nice warm pouch in the cage and brought him in. He readily crawled into the pouch with Foehn. Now Sprite was thinking a little more about going in. Although she briefly ventured in and then quickly out she still had no interest in settling in.

The tip of Sprite's tail is the only thing outside the pouch after
she decided to join Rossby and Foehn.

It took about 45 minutes before Sprite was visibly wearing out. She wanted to rest, and the only place was that pouch. She stood at the opening and sniffed around. Rossby poked his head out as if to reassure her, and to my surprise she crawled in and stayed. There was a little crabbing on her part, but nothing serious. It helped that Rossby was between her and Foehn. By the time I gave them mealworms a few minutes ago, they were all squished together in one corner of the pouch. We kept them in the pouch with us until I put them in the cage after mealworms.The three of them will be together in one side of the cage tonight and we'll see how it goes. If this looks like it's working, the next step will be to bring Cirrus and CB into the mix.  We're keeping our fingers crossed!

An Unexpected Setback

On Sunday morning we found CB, Foehn, and Rossby sleeping in the large Christmas tree pouch, and Sprite by herself in one of the other pouches. In and of itself this was not that unusual, but it was not something we hoped for. We figured that after another night or two they would get their differences worked out. Overnight Sunday/Monday turned out to be not much different. We were monitoring them during the night using a baby monitor and we could hear that there were still periodic problems. On Monday morning they were still in the "four and one" sleeping arrangement. We felt bad for Sprite because she and Rossby are close, and we knew she missed being with him.

On Monday night we had all five in the office for play time and things started to get a little ugly. Foehn started chasing Sprite and then they would ball up. After separating Sprite would run off to a corner away from the others, but Foehn persisted on chasing her. A ball-up on a encounter is one thing, but for Foehn to be actually chasing Sprite was something we have never seen. After three noisy and scary encounters (and Foehn clamping down on my finger), we decided to take Foehn out of the room. We put here in our small cage and figured she could chill there for the night. She had been in heat and we thought that might have be part of the reason she was behaving this way. However, before we ended play time CB started chasing Sprite, although it didn't seem to be as aggressive as Foehn. After play time ended I placed the four of them in the cage together and things seemed to be OK.

Sometime around 12:30 a.m. a loud commotion coming in over the baby monitor woke me up. I went to check out situation and at first nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. After watching for a short time CB came up to Sprite and they crabbed at each other, She took off and he followed.  She jumped into one of the wheels to run and soon CB jumped in as well. They tussled briefly and she bolted out of the wheel. She was leaping across the cage to get away from him and I was concerned she would hurt herself. It was clear we could not leave her in there for the night. I gathered her up in a pouch and placed Foehn in another pouch. I returned Foehn to the main cage, and placed Sprite in the small cage.  It was quiet the rest of the night.

The next morning we decided to move Rossby into the small cage with Sprite - she seemed lost without him. As soon as we did it was clear that it was the right thing to do. They briefly nuzzled each other, and then Sprite climbed on Rossby's back. She hung on to him even as he tried to move around the cage. It was almost heartbreaking. They both climbed into the sleeping pouch and settled in for the day.

Here you can see the divider in the cage.
The Christmas tree pouch is on the trio's side.
CB can be seen on the lower partof the divider.

We would not separate Sprite from Rossby after this, so we needed to come up with an alternate living arrangement until and if they can be reintroduced to the trio. They had been using the new "vacation" cage, but we wanted them to be close but separated and the floor arrangement wouldn't allow that. So, last night I converted the largecage into two "townhomes". I installed a divider down the middle of the cage using plastic hardware cloth (sometimes called landware). That allowed them close proximity but keeps them separate. Their first night in their respective new homes was a quiet one.

Not Quite There Yet

There were squabbles on and off all last night, but apparently nothing serious. I woke up this morning and heard one right off the bat (we had a baby monitor connected so we could monitor them). By the time I got out there only Sprite and Cirrus were still up. Cirrus was in one of the wheels, and Sprite was running around the cage. Cirrus soon turned in but Sprite kept running across the top, down the side, across the bottom and back up to the top over and over again. It reminded me of when Foehn used to do something similar when she was a little stressed. When they all finally settled down, it was four in the big Christmas Tree pouch, and Sprite by herself in a hanging honeycomb pouch. I was really hoping they would all be together.

Tonight we had all of them in the office for play time, and for the most part it was OK.  There were a few squabbles but they were minor. One of the reasons intros might be a little difficult is that Foehn is in heat and that might be causing some of the tension.

On a more upbeat note, today our son's new glider Ghost was introduced to his other glider Case her at our house, and it went without a hitch. Within a few minutes they were enthusiastically grooming each other and a little after that they were both snuggled together in the sleeping pouch sound asleep.

A Very Long Afternoon

Today is the day we decided to try introducing Rossby and Sprite to CB, Foehn, and Cirrus. Before introductions started and in hopes they were successful, I thoroughly cleaned the large cage and M added lots of stuff for them to play on, along with several pouches.

Shortly before noon we brought CB and Rossby into the bathroom to start the introduction process. M didn't stay in the room because she doesn't like it when they start to go after one another. I placed them in the bathtub (neutral territory) and let them explore. CB was pretty relaxed, and Rossby was pretty nervous. They sniffed and crabbed at each other, but mostly just kept a wary eye.  After about 10 to 15 minutes, they were tolerating each other pretty well. The next trick was to get them to join each other in a clean pouch. CB readily scrambled into the pouch and settled in, but Rossby was having too much fun. He managed to find his "jump" during this time. Up until now he has been hesitant to jump anything more than small distances. However, he had great fun jumping from me to the sink, then to the floor, then climbing up the shower curtain, and doing it all over again. A couple of times he tried jumping from the shower rod to the ceiling light which is flat against the ceiling. There was nothing for him to grab and he fell to the floor. Fortunately I was sitting below the light and was able to cushion his fall. He did get his chimes rung a time or two when he tried to jump to a wall and found nothing to grab.  I figured he would soon tire and then climb into the pouch, but it was two hours before I walked out of the bathroom with both of them in the pouch!

After about a half hour we brought Foehn in for the next round. I set the pouch with CB and Rossby in the tub and then Foehn on the opposite side. CB and Rossby looked out of the pouch, Foehn cautiously approached. She sniffed a few times and then crawled right in to join the boys!  I was amazed it went without any consternation.

The last round of introductions was a little more difficult. We saved Sprite for last since she seems to be a little more scared and defensive at times. Surprisingly, Cirrus had a little difficulty with Rossby and even CB, She and Rossby got into it and when I went to intervene she locked on to my finger with her teeth and wouldn't let go. She was upset! Eventually, though, she and Rossby were OK. Poor Sprite had a tough time of it. She crabbed at everyone, and was very wary of anyone checking her out. Both Foehn and Cirrus did and both heard from her. Like Rossby, Sprite was not interested in going into the pouch with the rest of them and spent an hour or more jumping and climbing around the bathroom before she finally started to tire. She kept trying to settle down in my pant leg, but we couldn't allow that. I finally placed her in the top of the pouch and things seemed OK.

There was some crabbing back in forth in the pouch after awhile, so we decided we would put them in the cage and let them work things out. There were some tussles, but after a short period of time they settled in. CB, Rossby, Foehn and Cirrus were in one large pouch, and Sprite settled down in another.

They are awake now, and there have been periodic "outbursts" of complaining for the last hour, but I can't readily tell who is involved (although Sprite is certainly one of them). Hopefully they will be able to work things out overnight. It would be really nice to find all five of them sleeping together in the morning.

Togetherness

It's been very interesting to observe the behavior of our sugar gliders since the "merge" in late July. As I have mentioned before, Virga and Cirrus really came out of their shells and have really endeared themselves to us, especially to M. Cirrus waits up every morning for M to come in and give her a yogurt treat (and she is about the only one who does stay up), and comes to the side of the tent when M comes over and calls to her. Virga no longer crabs or bites, and will readily climb on to my hand or arm.  All four gliders are getting along well. As for sleeping arrangements, they have been all settling down in a large pouch the M made for them with only an occasional exception.  Once in  while one glider may sleep in one of the other two pouches we leave hanging in the cage, both a one or two glider pouch. About a week ago, however, all four of them decided they wanted to cram themselves into the smallest pouch in the cage. We thought it was only temporary, maybe a night or two, but just about every night since they pile in to sleep. Surprisingly, there is little hissing and fussing considering it's hard to distinguish bodies when you look in the pouch.

The large "fourplex" is on the left, the smaller pouch on the right. The large pouch is 9 inches wide.

This is what four of them in the small pouch looks like. Lots of arms, tails, and fur.

They are having a good time playing together as well. This week I have been setting up a wheel in the tent for a change of pace. Typically one or two of them will get in the wheel, and sometimes a third will hang on the outside for a ride. The other night, however, all four gliders were in the wheel at the same time and they kept at it for a good ten minutes. It almost made me dizzy just watching them, and even Cirrus seemed a little wobbly when she got off. Unfortunately I did not have the camera with me to document this first. However, last night three of them did hop in the wheel, and I was ready with the camera. A video would have been neat, but the photo will do.  The wheel was spinning at the time, and you can see two of them aren't going in the same direction! I think the one running is CB, with Cirrus and Foehn along for the ride.

CB (running), Foehn, and Cirrus in the wheel

Balls of Furry

I mentioned in my August 2 post that I would write about some of the challenges in dealing with four gliders at one time. One continuing challenge is getting a good photo of all four of them at the same time - still working on that one!

With only two gliders, it's pretty easy to tell if there are two in a pouch. With four, it's not quite as easy to see how many are there, especially if they are all tucked in sleeping. On the third night of tent time with the four of them, I had everything set up and crawled into the tent. M handed me the pouch and I began coaxing them out. "Uh, M...there are only three in here."  She quickly ran and checked the cage.  Sure enough, CB had at some point decided to settle into one of the smaller pouches. So, now when we take them out we count heads - literally. It is impossible to count bodies or tails or anything when the are all curled up asleep on the bottom of the pouch, frequently on top of each other. The only way to be sure is to count heads.

"Supervising" the gliders the first few nights of tent time was also something that was different.  They were getting along, but occasionally there were conflicts in which I decided to intervene. They have worked out their differences and the last couple of times they have had a great time together. It's harder to tell who is who in the tent since the lights are dimmed, but I have been pretty successful in telling them apart by their behavior and personalities. For example, Foehn and CB will only rarely climb on to my hand or arm. Virga, on the other hand, readily will climb on to my arm if I offer it to her.

When it's time for them to leave the tent, all four will head for the pouch once I set it down.  However, I now have to be a little quicker in getting them back to their cage. Almost every time now there is some hissing and crabbing in the pouch, probably because someone put a foot in someone's face as they try to get comfortable.

Food has not been as much of a challenge as we had thought it would be. When they were in separate cages, Foehn and CB always cleaned their plates, so to speak. There was rarely any food left in their dishes in the morning. Virga and Cirrus, on the other hand often left food uneaten, although they were getting better about it before the merge. Food plates are almost always empty now, and no one seems to be going without. Virga has gone from 80 grams when she came to us to 93 grams at the last weight check. The others are slowly gaining or holding steady We'll have to keep an eye on their weights to make sure each glider is getting the food they need.

A Transformation

We adopted Virga and Cirrus (now 7 going on 8 years old) in March. They were two very different personalities compared to CB and Foehn. For a long time they were wary of their new surroundings, naturally, and Virga in particular had her idiosyncrasies. She would crab loudly if she was disturbed in her pouch, and would frequently lunge and bite if you placed your hand in the pouch. The crabbing went on even if you weren't actually bothering her, but she sensed you might. Cirrus was not as bad, and in fact seemed at times to look at Virga as if to say "Would you give it up already?" We figured part of her noise-making may have been related to her previous home where there were cats around, and perhaps she had been scared or startled while in the pouch. Over the last few months she has improved in this regard, but the real transformation came in the past 10 days, following their introduction to CB and Foehn.

I mentioned in my last post that I had developed a soft spot for Virga, as she seemed to be the outsider in this colony and retreated to me when she got in a tussle with either Foehn or CB (usually Foehn). The first several days of the new arrangement did have its rough moments. Virga would come up to Foehn and sniff her, or try to groom her, and Foehn would take exception. This happened a few times in the tent as well as in the cage, but when all was said and done all four gliders were together in their pouch in the morning. Over the last five days we have noticed a remarkable change in Virga. She no longer crabs in the pouch, lunges, or tries to bite. She and the rest of the crew all get along well now, and it has been two or three days since she and Foehn have had a spat. In the tent she climbs and jumps with the rest of them, and will readily climb on to my hand or arm. She will sit still and let us pet her, something she didn't really like that much a month or so ago. Virga and Cirrus always seemed to have an indifferent attitude toward food. When I would come in to give them all some yogurt licks in the morning, Cirrus and Virga would take a few and then ignore further offerings. M gives them their morning yogurt now, and says Virga and Cirrus are first out for theirs and can't get enough.

The successful introduction of our four gliders was a long time in coming, but the wait was worth it. Virga and Cirrus seem to be much happier and have bonded more with us, and we think Foehn and CB like this new arrangement as well. Dealing with four gliders all at once, as opposed to one pair at a time, has presented a couple of challenges and interesting moments this past week. More on that in the next post. My next challenge is to get a good photo of all four of them together for the blog page.

Weekend Update Wrapup

Sunday morning is weigh-in time for the gliders. In the past we coaxed them out two at a time, but the new living arrangements required some adjustment. Fortunately, everyone cooperated, and after each one was weighed I put them back in the cage. They all headed back toward a sleeping pouch. Virga picked the large group pouch and settled in there, but Foehn, CB, and Cirrus went to one of the smaller pouches.

I was in the office late in the afternoon and was checking on them when Virga popped her head out of the pouch, seemingly looking for something. She slowly crawled out and climbed to the floor of the cage. Once there she was sniffing and searching on the fleece blankets, and it hit me that she was searching for the other gliders, or at least Cirrus.When she satisfied herself that no one was in the blankets, she checked the pouches and found them asleep in one. She climbed in and squiggled into position. Then. she barked once, and about 20 seconds later, barked again. They were single barks, and she kept this up for about three hours, occasionally stopping for longer periods of time. We were a little perplexed with this, as none of them had ever barked like this, and never for so long. Because there was a slight hiss at the end of the bark, we thought something was wrong, and some sort of hiccups came to mind. However, after posting on one of the glider discussion groups we were assured that this was not too unusual. Gliders communicate by barking ( we knew that), but it was the way she was barking that had us wondering what was going on. Apparently, Virga was happy to be with the rest of the gliders and was trying to let hem know that (even though they were asleep most of that time). The barking continued while they were in the tent late that evening.

Virga so far has been somewhat of the outsider of the group and I've developed a soft spot for her. She is trying, but tends to annoy the the younger gliders, especially Foehn who seems to have little patience with her. When she has a spat with Foehn in the tent, she runs up on to my lap or my arm and keeps her distance from the rest of the group for a few minutes. Last night she was the most active we've seen her in a long time, and for the first time she didn't nip me at all, even lightly. She is the largest and oldest of the gliders (Cirrus is the same age) and may be trying to establish her place in the group. Despite the occasional spats, in the morning they are all together sleeping in the large pouch, and that's progress.

Four groggy gliders waking up for the weekly weight check.
CB (L) and Cirrus (R) are looking out.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Occasional flashes of lightning and muffled rumbles of thunder filled the room as I brought all four gliders into the tent for their first "tent time" together.  I was a little apprehensive about how this would work out. I would have to keep track of four gliders climbing the walls of the tent, the artificial tree, and me to make sure there were no nasty encounters. Although they were all in the pouch together, they were sleeping,  and I wasn't sure how things were going to go when they were essentially up for their "day" and active. They were already stirring before we got into the tent, and they crawled out of the pouch without too much coaxing.  So far so good. This was a new experience for them, and they spent a few minutes checking things out. However, it wasn't long before the first dust-up occurred. Virga was sniffing Foehn, Foehn took exception and I had to break them up. Someone chomped down on my finger, and it hurt! No broken skin, though. There were a few more encounters, and on observation it was mostly Foehn who was taking exception to Virga (she gets along fine with Cirrus). Virga was actually jumping to my lap and arm when these happened, obviously a little scared.  I was now a little more than concerned about how the night would go. M had made a large pouch for them during the afternoon and I had washed the big cage, moved a second wheel into it, and we had set it up with the expectation all four would be living in it. Now I wasn't so sure that this was a good idea right off the bat.  As tent time wore on things calmed down some more and we decided that we'd go ahead with the cage arrangements. We also decided that we would stay up as long as we could to watch them and make sure things were under control.

There were a few more hisses and crabs between Virga and Foehn in the cage. Virga tended to stay off by herself and avoid Foehn and the others. Cirrus and CB would occasionally come over and check her out, but they were spending a lot of time on the wheels. In fact, I think Cirrus spent the first two hours almost continuously on the wheel. We thought they would all be exhausted after the serial introductions during the morning and afternoon, but apparently not. About 2:00 a.m. we decided to grab some sleep. M had put a blanket down on the family room floor, near the cage, and we went to sleep. We were close enough to intervene if needed.

M was awakened about 3:00 a.m. when she felt something on her face. It turned out it was little pieces watermelon. One of the gliders was apparently flinging their fruit outside of the cage on to her face about three feet away. I was unscathed. At that point things were quiet and decided to head for the comfort of our bed. When we woke up this morning all four of the gliders were in the large pouch. There was some hissing and crabbing at times as one of the gliders probably put a foot in the face of another as they squirmed to get comfortable, but otherwise everyone seemed to be getting along.

A Major Development

We made two previous attempts to introduce Virga and Cirrus to CB and Foehn. These attempts were made after many days of swapping pouches and blankets, and moving their cages near each other at night. Those first two attempts did not go well, with much defensiveness, crabbing, and one or two ball-ups. After that, M suggested that we try introducing them one at a time when we felt they were more acclimated to each other. Today was that day.

First up this morning were Cirrus and CB.  We introduced them in the bathroom tub since that is a neutral spot.  They tentatively approached each other and sniffed and neither seemed bothered. Cirrus complained once when CB was sniffing her, but within a few minutes they were fine and off running around the bathroom, climbing the shower curtain and gliding off.  Eventually we put a pouch on the floor and CB immediately climbed in (he wasn't too thrilled with having his sleep time disturbed), and not long after Cirrus followed.  There was some squirming around as they got comfortable, but they eventually settled in and went to sleep. Two down, two to go. 

After about an hour we roused Foehn from her pouch into the bathtub. We then turned Cirrus and CB into the tub along with Foehn. There was a little tension as they noticed each other. Cirrus cautiously approached Foehn and started sniffing, but Foehn, a little skittish, went after her and they ended up in a ball for a few seconds until I broke them up. Cirrus managed to chomp on my finger pretty good, but otherwise no harm was done. After they calmed down a bit I put my hands over both of them as they started sniffing each other out. They all are pretty familiar with my handling them from tent time, so having something familiar and secure seemed to help calm them down. After a couple of minutes of sniffing each other with one under each hand, Cirrus and Foehn jumped out of the tub and ran around the bathroom, both of them getting few glides from the shower rod, while CB crawled under the rug to get some rest. When they started to slow down we laid the pouch down again, and CB and Cirrus crawled in. Foehn followed, but then came out, not quite sure what to make of everything. After a few more minutes of running around she crawled in the pouch. Three down, one to go.

Foehn, CB, and Cirrus were hiding under the rug.

We waited several hours before introducing Virga, following the same routine as before. Last time we tried to introduce her she immediately assumed the defensive "ninja" position and that ended that. Today was better, Cirrus came out and went to her, with Foehn and CB close behind. Before they got to close to each other I placed my hand over Virga and Foehn to keep them calm, and it seemed to help. There was one brief tussle but it was pretty minor. All four of them were anxious to get out of the tub and play in the bathroom. Foehn and Virga had another encounter on the shower rod, but M was able to keep that from escalating. When it was time to wind things up, we put the pouch on the floor. CB, Cirrus, and Foehn crawled in. Virga tentatively followed. They were quiet for a minute or two, but then there was crabbing and hissing and I reached in to fish them all out. About five minutes later we tried again and they all crawled in the pouch. There was a lot of squirming, an occasional crab and hiss. As long as I kept my hand in the pouch things were calm - a security blanket, of sorts?  Right now all are all sound asleep in a large bonding pouch. The next step is tent time tonight. although after all of today's activity I don't think they will have much energy.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

M has been switching pouches between cages and blankets between pouches for a couple of weeks now. This is to get each pair used to the others scent. That has gone well, as none of the gliders are hesitating about sleeping a pouch the other pair has been in. We also move their cages close together at night so they get used to each other. We tried an introduction a couple of weeks ago, but that didn't go well, mostly because we didn't make it "neutral" enough.  We decided to take it slower and not rush things.

Today M was giving them all their regular afternoon snack (meal worms with a side of Kefir). She usually does this on my desk in the office. Virga and Cirrus had theirs and M had them in a zippered bonding pouch around her neck. (The bonding pouch has a screen window in the front). Normally, they don't pay much attention to each other. Cirrus was pawing at the pouch trying to get out. CB and Foehn were munching on their meal worms when Cirrus noticed them and finally stopped clawing at the pouch.  She and Virga just stared at CB and Foehn. CB then decided to check out the pouch. BIG mistake. Cirrus wanted to get at CB through the pouch in a major way.  Virga decided to come to the aid of her sister and she tried to get at him, too. At that point CB had grabbed the pouch, and Foehn decide to come to his assistance. There was a lot of noise from Cirrus and Virga, and M got bit hard several times by CB as she tried to get him off of the pouch. It sounded like a pretty wild minute or two. She did get CB and Foehn separated from the pouch and everyone back in their respective cages. CB and Foehn were scared and shaking for awhile afterward, but did calm down. All four of the gliders were otherwise OK - they were physically separated by the pouch and couldn't get at each other. However, it was not a great sign.

Foehn and CB seem to be more curious than anything else. Both in the first intro attempt and today's incident, they were more interested in sniffing and checking things out. Cirrus and Virga seem to be more defensive or aggressive and don't appreciate being "checked out". They still crab some when you bother them while they are in their pouch, so something is going on (although the crabbing has been less and less).  Maybe some of this is the age difference - the young kids vs. seasoned adults. Whatever is the reason, it looks like it will be some time before we'll know if they can all live together in the same cage.