I rescued two ~6 year old gliders. A male and a female, they use to be a breeding pair and when they were of no longer any use the owners gave them to a rescue where I found them :). Anyway, the girl is fine, a little shy and has a broken toe but that doesn't stop her. My male on the other hand.. I don't think he ever learned how to glide. He runs, does little hops, and climbs about but never glides. He also refused to go on any cage props that weren't wood or solid plastic shelving when I first rescued him (we're past that now thankfully). I've taken slow motion videos of the both of them. The female has the "proper gliding form" on the wheel but the male... He crawls/runs the whole way and occasionally jumps which looks like an attempt at gliding but usually ends up either falling off or crawling more. I've watched him for countless hours to see if he having any mobility problems. I haven't seen any. He is a lot more bonded to me than my female so I've taken him out of the house before (always in the bonding pouch unless I know we're in a completely safe place) and he won't glide off of me or to me but the second I offer him a hand he'll crawl right on (or off to the treat). Any thoughts?

Perhaps he is vision impaired, which would explain his lack of glide or long distance jump?

I agree could be vision or even hearing impaired. Or he could just prefer not to jump or glide lol

My fat boy doesn't glide, even if I encourage him to (from my arm to the couch). He'll climb down my body every time lol. He runs on the wheel exactly as you described! His sister, who is also a bit chunky, will glide. I got them at the same exact time.
My vision impaired glider runs and leaps like bonkers on the wheel. I think it's a total blast for her! She tries to leap and glide a bit while we play, too. Usually just from a low object to me.
So...who knows! Maybe he just doesn't want to.

My 5 year old male glider never learned to glide. He was in the PP cage for his whole life, until I got him about 1/2 year ago. So he never got to glide. I've been trying to teach him, but even when he does attempt a long jump and spreads his arms.... the membranes don't open up? I don't know why he can't glide, but he can't and it's adorable and I love him for it.

Tveit

I wonder if maybe he was picked up wrong and the membranes for him to glide were broken before you got him?


And to everyone else, thanks so much for the replies! I didn't even think about a vision impairment. Or maybe he just doesn't have a preference to glide haha. Ahhh the difference in personalities is so weird and amazing at the same time :P.

could be someone may have used a harness/leash on him not knowing any better.. Hard to say really

I guess that's possible since his previous owners didn't know anything about sugar gliders, but wouldn't I notice a tear or something that looks 'off' with his membranes? I've inspected every inch of his body while I pet him just to keep an eye on things but I haven't seen or felt anything on his membranes.