I was feeding my sugar gliders and watching them eat. I was watching one of my sugar gliders eating, and noticed that one of her front paws is swollen and bleeding. I took her out to examine it and 3 of it's toes were torn! The meaty end of the toes were hanging and I could see the nails that are inside the toes. The sharp end of each nails were gone. And the paw was swollen and reddish. I think it happened the night before tonight. She has two joeys in her pouch currently so she doesn't use the wheel with the sandy inserts. Maybe her paw was stuck to her nesting pouch and possibly forced her paw and ripped her toes. I am really worried. The place I live at doesn't have vets that treats sugar gliders, and I need my parents to drive me to the nearest vet, and they can only do it on weekends. What should I do for the next few days before going to the vet? Oh and I washed her paw with a medical saline water that has 0.9% sodium chloride, it's sterile and non-pyrogenic. Any advice is much appreciated !

Honestly, the best thing to do would be to figure out a way to get her to the vet ASAP. infections occur and spread rapidly, not to mention the amount of pain she must be experiencing. You need to convince your parents to take you. Please try and keep us posted. Good luck.

My sugar gliders just woke up. I checked on her hand and it looks like the wound on the toes have stopped bleeding and is already covered up but paw is still swollen. I applied some aloe vera gel on each toe yesterday morning before she went to sleep. Looks pretty fine now but I will still keep a close look on her paw. She looks fine, moving here and there in the cage, active. She also licks the injured paw every now then, which I think she is cleaning it. She is also getting help from my other gliders in taking care of her two joeys, that are already OOP, when she comes out to eat, really happy about that. Will wash her toes later.

Put a small amount of neosporin on the foot, covering all the wound areas but no extra. Get her to the vet NOW. Find someone to take you, take a taxi, ask a friend, beg your parents. Call the vet you would go to and say you need to speak with the vet and explain, see what they would do for you and see what you can do in the mean time. Put neosporin on it once a day, I don't recommend the other stuff like aloe. If you could wrap her foot in something that would be good but I don't know what would be safe and actually stay. It's likely her nail got stuck and she ripped her foot away, or maybe she got bitten, or chewed it up herself because it hurt... When you go to the vet get a bottle of pain medicine (such as metacam, but if they have a better one get it) so you have it. They last 6 months and I have one just in case. We also have subq injections of pain medicine that will make them drowsy. These are for emergencies like yours where they may be in a lot of pain and there's a risk of them chewing themselves to death. Good luck... call the vet and explain and ask what they would do to her and what you can do.

Your glider's nails are overgrown. Even if your glider(s) may only use the wheel with inserts, they still need a nail trimming ever 2 to 3 weeks. Also, glider nails are dirty and very germy. That may have caused an infection. I highly recommend taking your glider to the vet ASAP, so the problem(s) can be treated. Ask your vet for nail trimming tips, and hopefully all your gliders will then be in excellent health. Have fun with the soon-to-be-born joeys!

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