Day Eleven (July 3rd)

     Success! Around 6:10 A.M. I checked on Arie and Willy. They were in the same spots where they settled last night and there were no signs of a fight. When they woke up and became more active. There were nothing more than friendly interactions! So far today, they have remained unsupervised. I've checked in a few times throughout the day and the boys still seem fine with the permanent socialization.

Best wishes to Arie and Willy on their new life together at Jungle Friends!

Day Ten (July 2nd)

     The first thing the Munchkins did today was switch and scent mark habitats. Once again, the boys groomed each other, ate from the same food bowl, and enjoyed each other's company. There was an instance where Willy chattered at Arie while he was eating, but nothing developed from the chatter. Around 7:30 P.M. they settled down. Willy rested in the cube bedding in one habitat, while Arie rested in the other habitat's indoor area. We planned to check on them early tomorrow morning to determine whether or not they had moved overnight or if there seemed to have been a fight. However, everything I witnessed this week pointed towards a successful socialization.

The boys sharing their food!

Day Nine (July 1st)

     Today's socialization lasted a little over four hours.Like before, we saw that the boys were sharing a food bowl. However, we saw some new and very positive things today! Arie initiated grooming with Willy! I don't believe I had even seen Arie groom Willy at all before today. Also, the two munchkins shared one of the cube shaped bedding areas we have in their habitats. These are great signs that Arie and Willy have a mutually positive relationship with one another. We chose to separate the boys on a good note today. However, we plan on wrapping up the socialization tomorrow by removing the forks once and for all! Mimi and I will be watching the boys all day tomorrow and, if there are no problems, into the night.

Willy and Arie's favorite spot: the "cave" area that we have in each outdoor habitat.

Day Eight (June 30)

     Once the forks were pulled, Willy and Arie switched habitats. For the first few minutes, it seemed as though Arie was Avoiding Willy. However, the boys then had another grooming standoff and Willy initiated grooming. I still have not seen Arie initiate grooming. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever seen Arie grooming Willy! Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll see Arie initiate grooming. It would be a great sign that the boys are getting along mutually well. Kari and I discussed the possibility that Willy may be trying to mount Arie to establish dominance. If this is the case, hopefully after some time Willy will stop pursuing Arie around the habitats. Arie's reactions have usually been moving to another portion of the habitat, or even hanging upside down on the ropes inside the habitat. Today's socialization lasted five hours, which is what we'll shoot for tomorrow. The socialization was ended by Vicky, an apprentice here at Jungle Friends, because she heard Arie make a noise that is used to threaten, show stress, and is all around bad. We believe that Arie made this noise because there was a storm rolling in. Sure enough, not long after we replaced the forks, rain began to pour down. The two Munchkins were given access to their indoor habitats and we looked forward to tomorrow.

Did Arie have food stuck between his teeth or what?

Day Seven (June 29th)

Today we socialized Willy and Arie for about an hour and a half. Although we have seen Willy try to mount Arie multiple times over the past week, there were never any actions beyond that. However, when the forks were pulled today, Willy immediately mounted Arie and began to hump him. Yes, these are two males, from two different species groups. Nonetheless, if they're happy, we're happy (until we can find them some females to be paired with). The goal of this socialization was to observe Willy and Arie and decide whether or not placing them in the same habitat would be safe. Throughout the week, no fights were witnessed, so the socialization periods will continue until we have seen them through an entire day together. We have planned on allowing the socialization to last the majority of tomorrow. If no problems occur then, we will plan for an entire day of socialization. 

Arie and Willy have enjoyed each other's company so far this week.

Day Six (June 28th)

     Today I was back for the socialization process! After we took away the forks, Willy immediately began to follow Arie around the habitat.  However, not much later, the boys swapped habitats and stayed apart for the next half of the hour.  We were glad to see that the Munchkins ended the  socialization period on a good note with a grooming session.  Later this week, we are planning on allowing the boys to have access to both habitats for the majority of the day. This will allow us to see how they act with each other after an extended period of time and give us a better look at whether or not they will be able to live with each other permanently. 

Another standoff.

Day Five (June 27th)

     Mimi observed today's socialization and reported that Willy made fewer attempts to mount Arie. They also groomed each other quite a bit during their hour together. Also, while Willy has always been the one to follow Arie around, today Mimi saw Arie following Willy around the habitat. We hope that these positive signs were suggesting that Willy and Arie would be able to live with each other in peace.

They boys liked to race through the "runways" between the habitats.