Since we know that sugar gliders like to hide their ailments until it's really too late...or later than we would like...is it the same with cracked fur? My boys have beautiful coats. I am asking for a friend with a little girl with very cracked fur. I have already given the advice for diet and am even ordering extra on my batch tomorrow so that I can force the idea. I just want to know what kind of repurcussions you are dealing with once the fur is already cracked. OR is that something that shows up early enough that you can usually repair with diet alone?

Thank you!

Usually you can fix that with a good diet. But some gliders' fur separates funny - sometimes when they are overweight - so "cracked" fur is not always a sign of malnourishment. Brownish or coppery patches is a sign of poor diet though. In our studies on the subject, fur can look bad if they are getting too much iron or not enough protein. Try to keep the PPM of iron down in the 12 - 15 PPM range. Avoid iron-fortified baby food. Avoid iron-fortified reptile vitamins. Avoid wheat germ.

You can feed them meats to bump up the protein. Like boiled or baked turkey or chicken (no skin) and lean, cooked hamburger meat. You can mix these with other foods they are picky about. They love protein.

Thank you SO much LG!! This particular glider is a chunky monkey with 4 goobies (ADORABLE...but that's not healthy) so maybe the weight is part of the issue. She doesn't appear to be brown or coppery but there is some yellowing on the face...maybe just blonde? I will see if I can get a picture. I am certain that she is gettng too much iron because her owner is feeding almost all dried fruits and baby foods. That's probably the issue because I believe she is getting enough (maybe too much) protein.

Yellowing can be a sign of poor diet in adults as well. Sometimes gliders come out with a little yellowing on the face, but usually this is pouch staining and fades away once the joey starts to wean. In adults it can mean an issue with cleanliness. I've seen stained gliders on good diets but poorly or never cleaned "laundry", same thing. The filth will stain the body and often times through grooming the face.

And still yet there is a blonde color called "sunkissed" where they are golden on the face and over the shoulders. But this is definitely not staining and remains their whole life from OOP and on. Its not often we see this sunkissed look but I've personally seen REAL sunkissed babes and it was a natural part of their coloring.

Here is a picture of a rescue I took in who was an adult and on a poor diet (only cat food, lots of protein, fillers, and carbs). You can see severe fur cracking and also the tint of his fur overall.

This is Jasper the day I got him (06/04/2009):


And him more recently (02/22/2011) you can see the fur is less cracked and the yuckie tint is gone:

*cough* and he's also much fatter.... *blush*

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by matchmakersmagic</i>
<br />*cough* and he's also much fatter.... *blush*
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HA HA HA HA!!! Of course he is a little pudgier! You know in the first picture...his little bald spot looks sopping wet - what was that?

BTW, thank you SO much for the advice on the site to order from. We got our two batches yesterday! I got to spend time with the little girl as well and she is a STINKY porker. I am assuming diet is making her stink soooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad??? My boys combined don't have near the scent that she exuded. YIKES. She also had goobies...4 of them. Surely that is bad, right? CHUNKY MONKEY.

His bald spot, though it doesn't look like it, is actually a waxy crusty sorta feeling. Its the substance the scent glad makes, that causes it to be "bald" but he's obviously been over producing and not cleaning himself very well. He has no personal hygiene issues, but when gliders live in filth they can't help but be yuckie to an extent.

Now if your friends female has a odor I would definitely think something diet related and also hygiene. If its not a lack of cleaning the cage and items then I'd be concerned. Strong smelling urine can point to health problems. Has this little one seen a vet recently? And being over weight is not healthy to gliders just like any other animal.

And Im glad that vender worked out for you so quickly. :)