in the past month or so my gliders both stopped using their wheel as much as when i first got it. one of them runs around the cage and is active in other ways while the other is perfectly happy chilling next to the food bowls and as such has gained some weight.

my concern with getting them back on the wheel is for 2 reasons. first i want to make sure both are staying fit, second their nails have started getting a little pointy and are poking through my clothes.

any tips for addressing either of these problems would be greatly appreciated.

HI Dave!
What kind of wheel do you have? Is it big enough? Could they be using it while you sleep at night?
As for their nails, I recommend searching that topic here because Leela has posted some pretty detailed instructions on how to trim their nails yourself. I'm thrilled I can do it myself now because it saves me a tremendous amount of time and money and I'm pretty confident all of my gliders nails are always short enough/not sharp. It's easier than you think!
Fleece vines are fun for gliders and give them exercise through climbing.
What other toys do you have in their cage? I'm sorry but I don't remember if you've mentioned it before.

i have a stealth magnum wheel. they could still be using it when i sleep because it still gets filthy, i just used to see or hear them on it more.

I have a few fleece vines that they never go on, some ladders that they like to swing from, and a whole bunch of platforms at different levels they can jump to. I also gave them a few milk rings the they keep in their pouch (sadly i haven't seen them tail carry yet).

Do you give them opportunities to play out side of the cage? They can do more climbing (curtains and window blinds are a favorite here) as well as getting up high enough to jump and actually get some full body stretching to glide to you if the space is large enough.

they do get to play outside the cage. i usually open the cage when they wake up around 10, and by 11 they start coming out to play. then i let them do pretty much whatever they want for an hour or so (as long as they're not on wires or my books). and just so nobody gets worried, the room is glider safe.

they can get to the top of my desk (5.5') and cage (5'). in my apartment i have those vertical hanging blinds, i'll try wrapping some fleece around them for the gliders to climb on.

Since this isn't your first post with weight concerns I have a couple questions...

Do you weigh your gliders regularly to monitor their weight?

If not I would suggest getting a digital scale that weighs in grams. Weigh them every couple of weeks or so, at the same time every time, before treats ( I usually do weigh ins around 1 or 2 pm ) and keep a journal of each weight. That will give you more information and you can see any major fluctuations and average weights over time. It's also good info to bring with to the vet if you should ever need to.

How old are the gliders? their weight will fluctuate until they reach about a year old then they usually plateau off.

As I mentioned before, some gliders will gain a little weight in preparation of colder temps. Gliders store extra fat in their chest area, if your seeing "boobs" it is not an indication of being over weight. The chest area is a healthy place for them to store fat in preparation of torpor. They use that fat as a reserve to sustain them if they slip into torpor.

Torpor is sort of like hibernation for a bear... it can be brought on by drastic temp drops in their environment. If a glider does not have adequate fat stored up before going into torpor it can become a dangerous situation in a hurry. Torpor is not all that common, but does still happen even in captivity if the conditions are right.

Now there is a way to tell if a glider is actually "over weight" if the gliders membrane feels thick and or lumpy.... the glider is technically over weight.

The membrane is NOT a healthy place to store extra fat. If your glider is over weight or you want to provide some good exorcise climbing is good and so is using your hands as a stepping ladder. One hand higher than the other and let the glider go from the top hand to the bottom hand. Space your hands far enough apart that the glider has to streeeeetch to reach your bottom hand.


The wheel...

Are you changing the sand paper inserts on the wheel frequently ???? The sand paper absorbs urine and needs replaced pretty frequently to not only keep in more sanitary but to also keep your gliders using the wheel.

I tried using the sand paper tracks on my raptor wheel and the minute the start absorbing urine my gliders stop using the wheel as much and finally stopped using it at all. Once I took the sand paper tracks off the wheel they started using it again...

Nail trimming, I can NOT stress this enough!!! Pleaseeeeee manually trim their nails. Trim tracks are only meant to help maintain the nails between clippings they are not meant to replace nail trimming with clippers!

Believe me I know how hard people think it is I struggled with it for months! but I kept trying until I figured out a few things that were making trimming nails harder.

Get yourself a LED forehead lamp, you can find them at most hardware stores. It's hands free, can direct the light where you want it and makes seeing the tiny nails much easier.

If you can't see the nails well go get yourself some cheap reading glasses!! I can not tell you how much easier nail trimmings are once I could see what I was doing. This ONE tool has helped me be more confident when I trim nails, when I'm more confident the gliders are more mellow! When I was nervous the gliders were more stressed and would not cooperate.

Get a nice big pouch with an open top put some treats in and pick up a foot, you can tuck the top of the pouch down around the gliders face if they are biters and just trim the nails. When your done with that foot open the pouch back up n pick up another foot .. I trimmed 6 gliders nails yesterday in less than 20 minutes. It only took that long because I pull one glider out at a time, it takes longer to get them in the trimming pouch than it does to actually trim their nails...

It's not going to be that quick at first, so take your time. If the glider or YOU starts stressing just stop. You don't have to get them done all at the same time. Give yourself and the glider time to relax and then try again.

You only need to trim two nails on the back feet, the toes that look fused together are their grooming nails and they do not need trimmed.

You only want to take the tip of the nail off if you cut to far you will hit the quick. If this happens and it bleeds just dab some cornstarch on it to stop the bleeding. The glider will be fine it usually freaks us out more than them.

Not trimming the nails regularly you are running a risk of them getting snagged and injuring themselves.

thanks for the tips and pics to help illustrate where and how to cut the nails.

to answer your questions i do not weigh them, i'm just observing them and notice one seems to be getting chubbier. i do change the sand paper about once a month when i give their cage a deep clean. i guess i could be changing it more often.

hello,

I change the sandpaper every week, because after one week it is already soaked and even if it doesnt yet smell that much, it is innefficient anyway when in that state