Sugar Glider Bonding - How to Help them Bond With Other Pets

Once your baby sugar gliders start to bond to you and your family, one of the most rewarding things about having them is watching them form lifelong bonds with the OTHER pets in your home. It’s many ways it’s kinda like having a pet FOR your pet – in that once they’ve bonded, they’ll end up hanging around on each other and going everywhere together….

Generally speaking, sugar gliders will bond to almost any pet you have in your home – except reptiles like snakes (for obvious reasons)… They can also be very afraid of some species of large birds in the beginning – since in the wild they are commonly preyed upon by large birds.

In any event, when you bring them home, your other pets will usually be VERY curious about these new little ‘additions’ – and sometimes even aggressive towards them at first. This is completely NORMAL and to be expected…

While it’s true that sugar bears don’t instinctually smell like ‘food’ to a cat or dog (since they are marsupials and not rodents), the fact is that if you just brought them home and “dumped” them out on the floor in front of an aggressive cat or dog, they would almost certainly try to pounce on it just because of the ‘movement’. Therefore, it’s always important to INTRODUCE your sugar bears to your other pets gradually until they become “best buddies”.

Basically, this ‘introduction’ process is very simple – and is pretty much common sense.

As you begin this “pet-to-pet” bonding process, always keep in mind that the MOST important thing is for your sugar bear(s) bond to YOU and your family members FIRST. In other words, the sooner your new baby(ies) learn to trust YOU, the more they will trust whatever other animals you have in your family. Therefore, since at this point you are probably still in the very early stages of the human-to-sugar bear bonding “process” – it’s usually best to hold off on proactively trying to get them bonded to your other pets – and just follow all the “bonding guidelines” laid out in the Quick-start Audio CD that came in your Start-R-Kit. You can also get this same information from the special report entitled “Bonding” on our website…

Now, assuming that you right in the middle of following the human-to-sugar bear bonding instructions in the CD, the best way to PASSIVELY get your household pets and new sugar gliders to bond with EACH OTHER is to simply let them smell each other as much as possible – without having the opportunity to actually “touch”.. This is usually as simple as putting their cage down on the floor where the cats/dogs can easily get to the cage – but not hurt the sugar bears. Like we outline in the Quick-start audio CD, sugar bears really have no natural defenses – except to ACT really tough – so don’t be surprised if they actually startle your other pets a little bit in the beginning with their ‘chattering’ noise and aggressive movements. It’s all a part of establishing ‘respect’ for each other in the “animal kingdom”… :-)

Now, in the event that your other pets should be PARTICULARLY aggressive and just try to tear the cage apart the first time you set it in front of them, here’s what you do…

Remember, since almost all pets operate largely on “smell” – the MOST important thing to do is to start getting your pet(s) used to the smell of the new baby sugar bear(s) – and VICE VERSA. In the rare case where one or more of your current pets is SUPER aggressive towards your new addition(s), here’s how you start getting them used to each others scent without risking the health or well-being of either of them…

First, switch out the piece of blanket that you put on the sugar bear’s heat rock (see purple “Quick Start” audio cd) – every day. Before you put that clothing into the cage, just rub it around really good on your aggressive pet FIRST. Remember, baby sugar bears bond almost purely by smell in the beginning, so this way even when your baby is sleeping it will be surrounded by both your smell – AND the scent of your aggressive pet…

THEN, the next day when you take that piece of clothing out to switch it, give the (now sugar bear-scented) clothing to your aggressive pet. Rub it on them playfully, and have fun with them with it so they know you “approve”…. Now, don’t be surprised at first if your pet goes nuts when you do this, because the whole smell is just something new to them. They can SMELL the baby(ies) – but can’t FIND them in the clothing – so it may make them a little crazy at first. THAT’S why you rub it on them and play with them with it :-)

Now, in the rare case your pet is SO aggressive that it tries to tear your clothing to shreds in the process – then do this… Just WAIT to give them the blanket…until they are ASLEEP…

Just put it right next to their head, so that their nose is right on it…. This way they will ALSO be getting used to the baby’s smell when they are sleeping – and they will wake up surrounded by it.

Now, it only takes a couple minutes to go through this little “switcheroo” exercise each day – and if you keep it up consistently, within a couple weeks at MOST – you will notice that your super aggressive pet will start to calm down a LOT.

All during this time, if you are actually concerned about your baby’s safety, just keep your sugar bear’s cage in a room where you can shut the door and keep everybody fairly separated while you aren’t around.

Now, remember, at the same time you are doing this, you should ALSO be wearing your new baby around the house in it’s pouch – INSIDE your shirt – as much as possible. You see, in most cases, a hyper-sensitive dog or cat is REALLY just more curious – or protective – than anything else. In other words, they just don’t know what the heck this new thing IS – or if it’s even SUPPOSED to be in the house. Therefore, the more it sees YOU with the baby(ies)…rubbing on them and loving on them through your shirt/pouch – the faster they will understand that they are not ‘intruders’ in your home…

Now, again, none of the tips in this email are designed to be an “instant” fix. Sometimes, this whole process can take a couple months or more for the two of them to really begin developing a tolerance of…and then a respect for….and then a friendship with… each other.

The most important thing here is that you take it slowly – and are consistent :-)

With all this in mind, as soon as you feel that your pets are ready to actually get BETTER acquainted (without the cage), the next step is simply to let your dogs or cats SMELL the sugar gliders in your hands THROUGH THE POUCH…

Once they pass THIS stage (usually a few days), the next step is to simply introduce them to each other (without the pouch) through your hands. Again, common sense will tell you when this is appropriate, and it all depends on the individual personalities of the pets involved. In many cases, pets will bond to sugar bears in just a few days – but in other cases where the pets are either extremely aggressive – or sometimes jealous – it can take a month or two of slowly introducing them to each other before they become ‘buds”. Once you feel comfortable that your pets can handle ‘each other’ – the next step is just to let them actually touch each other and slowly start playing together. In the beginning of this process, ALWAYS make sure you are right there and can ‘jump in’ if the playing gets a little out of hand….and after a few of these ‘play sessions’, you should be ALL SET! The main thing throughout this whole process is just to use your own common sense when determining how fast to introduce the animals. Generally speaking, slower is better – or in other words – there’s no need to “rush” the process along. Increasing their contact with each other a LITTLE bit each day is usually the best route to follow – and once they get fully used to each other, they’ll have a lifetime of fun together!… If however after a while, they still don’t seem to want to bond you may have to resign to the fact that sometimes, as the saying goes, ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’ If that is the case, don’t force the issue, just use common sense to make sure that your sugar bears are safe. One more thing, we know that it’s VERY tempting in the beginning to want to snap a few pics of your new babies sitting on the back of your longtime pets – but unless they just INSTANTLY bond – don’t “rush it”… There will be PLENTY of time for hundreds of ADORABLE little photos in the coming years – and WE want you to send us every one of them! :-) Well, that’s about it for now!… As always, if you have any other questions on this topic – or anything else – make SURE to log-in to the “Family Circle” Section of our website and check out ALL the other Special Reports & Video Clips that are waiting there for you 24 hours a day :-)