Hello, this is my first post, though I've been lurking for quite a while. Hopefully this is the right place to post this.

I am the happy mom of two suggies, a black beauty, Bianca, and another, Cordelia, that we're not sure - all white, but little black spots on her ears. I got them two years back on Christmas Eve. When I got them they were already about two years old, or so that was the guess, and a strongly bonded pair. Cordelia had a bit of a kink in her tail, but as the owners that I bought them from were not the first owners they didn't know where it came from. It didn't seem to bother her so we just let it go. I had fallen in love and quickly got them home.

They've been great ever since, playful, fun, well behaved, (well, as well behaved as a couple of mischievous suggies can be!) and so sweet. They bonded wonderfully with me, I've been working on making them more comfortable with being handled as they hadn't really been hand held much, and they've been brilliant.

A few weeks ago I noticed Cordelia's tail looking a bit strange. It almost looked like someone had wrapped something around the tail and it was cutting off circulation right where the kink was. I took a look at it as best I could and couldn't find anything on it. She also didn't seem bothered by people handling or touching it, didn't try to pull it away, didn't make any sounds, nothing. It seemed as if it wasn't causing her any pain. Still, I was nervous, so I took her in to the vet. The doctor told me that he thought perhaps she had broken her tail in the past and some scar tissue had built up and was now tightening around the tail. He said she was clearly not in pain, after he spent a good amount of time messing with her tail, and told me to watch it closely. It could either get better, or perhaps fall off. I asked about having it removed and he said it was an option, but he didn't think it was necessary at this point, but would be a consideration for the future if it did not get better. I, admittedly, thought it was odd that he wouldn't suggest going ahead and having it removed, but figured as a vet who has experience with sugar gliders he would know better. That was about a week and a half ago. Since then her tail hasn't changed much, though it does look like it may be inclined to fall off. Throughout all of this Bianca has had no interest in Cordelia's tail and leaves it alone, not seeming to care or notice.

Last night I had the girls out in the bathroom, like I do often, to play and bond and whatnot. They were great for about 45 minutes, no issues, they played, had some food, etc. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bianca rounded on Cordie and began to attack her. She made a sound similar to crabbing and tried to grab at Cordelia. Cordie ran away and up onto me, but Bianca followed. Confused, I put Cordie in a bonding bag and took her out of the bathroom, trying to get her to calm down. A bit later I brought her back in, and Bianca was good for a few minutes, before starting in on it again. I was at a loss for what to do, and decided it would be best to just separate them. I put up a travel cage beside the big one that they are normally in and put Bianca in there for the night. They were curious and sniffed at one another through the cages, but didn't make any threatening noises.

I'm not sure where this aggression came from. Is it possible that Bianca suddenly became aware of the injury to Cordelia's tail and took off on her for it? Is it something else? I'm not sure where it came from, but it's frightening me. My little ladies have always been just that, ladies, and out of nowhere this happened.

I know that all of my choices for the well being of her tail may be questionable, but I promise I just want what is best for my fur-babies and will do whatever I need to for them. I never meant any harm to any of them, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

If the end of the tail is necrotic, turning dark and looking like it may fall off, it probably should be done surgically by the vet to make sure there is good closure of the skin over the bone and that no infection remains.

The portion of the tail that looks like it might fall off probably has an awful odor to it that is setting the other glider off - in the wild a glider with such an injury would be drive out of the colony because it would attract predators.

Our gliders are only a short step from their wild ancestors and do many things on instinct.

So far it's not necrotic, no dark color or anything like that. I think I'm still going to bring her in to the vet and have it removed for my own peace of mind if nothing else. I just wasn't sure if the other glider would change so suddenly as up till now she hasn't taken any notice of the injury.

Just an update, if anyone is reading :)

I did take Cordelia in and had the surgery done, it went very well. She's resting now and will be closely watched for a while to be sure she's all right, but so far seems great. Thank you for the support that I got, I really appreciate it, and hopefully will be out of the woods with my little dear from here on.