A few weeks ago I rescued a sugar glider from a friend of mine. He over grooms the top of his head. He has big bold spots over his eyes and behind his ears. He moves too fast for me to get a clear picture. He was living in a small cage, alone, with a hamster wheel, a bad diet, and not enough attention. I did change his diet.

He was living in a little cage. I think I posted a picture of it. There is a ruler next to it so you can see how tiny it was.



I upgraded him to my small cage. I also have a picture of that with the same ruler by it.



I want his hair to grow back a bit before I try and put a cage mate with him. I just want to know how else to help him regain his hair and sanity. I already have the cage mate for him I just want to wait a little bit before putting them together. I do have them in the same room so they can smell each other and possibly communicate.

How do I fix the over grooming?
How long will it take for the hair to grow back?
Other than a buddy what else can I do to help him?
Does having him in the same room as the glider I plan to pair him with cause him too much stress?

I'm feeling a bit helpless on this one, but here are a few ideas. First of all, it's great that you rescued this little glider and it sounds like you're giving him great care and doing the right things (bigger cage, lots of love and attention, better diet, etc.). I've heard that overgrooming can be caused by boredom and/or loneliness so you could spend more time with him and make sure he has enough toys and a good exercise wheel. It's possible that this is just temporary during this period of transition and he just needs time to adjust. You could try moving him to another room and see if that makes a difference, but in time I would think having a glider companion would be beneficial to both of them. Best of luck to you and please keep us posted.

I managed to get two photos so you can kind of see it. I got him when he was already bald above his eyes and ears. I just want to know how to make sure he stops over grooming and let's the hair grow back.

Good morning!
Alright, I'll speak to this a bit. I am not an expert in this, and if another member reads my post and corrects me it won't bother me a bit! Since there's been so few replies maybe my answer will get the ball rolling. Plus, I know there's lots of members with varied experiences and different perspectives so I'm ok if someone posts something different from what I say because I know we all have a common purpose: to help fellow glider owners.
Anyway (lol I ramble) ...
I have three completely different experiences with over grooming.
The first was my lone glider over groomed her tail. I suspected she was lonely, got her cagemates, and she stopped.
The second was another lone glider who I was trying to integrate into my colony. She also over groomed her tail, and I suspected this time it was the stress from my colony because they were not accepting her. I moved her to a different room, got her a different cagemate, and she stopped over grooming.
The third is my Gimli. He overgrooms above both eyes. To this day. I've tried everything! More toys, less toys. More out of cage, less out of cage. Different diet. Change the cage more frequently. Change it less frequently. Frankly, I think it started when I got Luna (glider in different room) but honestly I'm not sure. In that case...I'm not getting rid of her soooooo...
I've done research on it because I know most people think it means the glider is sick or stressed. But here's the thing. I think he's a happy glider. His cage is huge. He has a solid colony, lots of toys, and a good diet. I'll try one more thing: a humidifier. I'm buying one this week. But I don't think it'll change anything. At this point I think it's just a habit for him. Maybe it started with stress, but I believe now it's just habit.
For your guy...yeah, maybe he's had stress. But now you're helping him: bigger cage, better diet, more toys, better care overall, right? So, maybe he'll stop. I hope he stops! But if he doesn't, then maybe it's just habit.
Having said that, it's always a great idea to get your new glider vet checked as well.
Hopefully that helps!
Cheers!

Kferg hit all the reasons or causes of overgrooming that I'm aware of.

Some suggestions that you could try:

1. More interaction with you.
2. Forage toys, add pellets (Happy Glider is a great brand), or use some of their f/v in the forage toys (I prefer pellets because my gliders like them and they don't require cleaning the forage cup daily).
3. A larger, glider-safe wheel.
4. Maybe prepare for intros, and a bonus if he moves to bigger cage.
5. Move to another room if not preparing for intros.

Please keep us posted on the situation.

Thank you!

New questions. How long does it take for his hair to grow back when he does stop?

I don't have any toys in his cage other than a wheel because I'm afraid he may destroy it. I don't have the money to keep buying toys and his previous owner said he destroys everything. In my care (2 weeks) he hasn't destroyed anything. Do you think he's stopped or could it start up again?

Today I finally cut his nails. Much easier than the previous owner said it would be. I also managed to weigh him. He is around 7-8 months old. He weighs 50g. Compared to my gliders that's really small. At 6 months old Kiwii was 70g and she's our smallest. Quinn who is 4 months old is 70g. He's the smallest one in the house.

Is he under weight or do I just have big gliders?

Good news! He is finally starting to show improvement when it comes to his fear of hands. When ever we got a hand near him he would run away. Today he just sat there letting me pet him. He's also not as much of a spaz after I got him a bigger cage.

If he stops completely, then I would say you may be able to see fur starting to return (grow in) within 2 weeks, not fully back to normal, but you should see a difference.

Making toys is a fun and inexpensive way to decorate your gliders cage:

You can find a plastic basket, bowl, or small bin. You can fill this with hard, plastic toys like the army men, animals, or other small, hard plastics (not small enough to fit totally inside mouth); plastic balls, pom poms (fleece are best) and various small toys. Many items can be found at dollar stores. You can be as extravagant or simple as you choose. Here is link for images of samples Ball pit, Toy bin


You can also braid fleece and create ropes, my gliders prefer braided fleece ropes (vines) over the fringy ones.

Check local thrift stores or yard shop for plastic toddler toys. I found a few at thrift stores, I have a tree house that I modified I use alternately with a Noah's Arc toy, my gliders love them. These are great for cage floors.

As for hanging toys, you can create some using craft lace (rex lace) with pony beads and attach treasure chests, small plastic shot glasses, plastic Easter eggs (great time of year to find those), silk flowers, fleece strips, straws (use a pencil sharpener on straws to create spirals).

Examples I have made:













You also may want to invest in some toys made by vendors. I enjoy making toys, but there are some I cannot create, I like to purchase from vendors now and then.

Those toys look like fun. For my gliders (not the new one because I don't want him to destroy them) I use my old toys. I had a ball pit, but I had issues with them trying to eat pom poms. I use the ball pit when they play outside of the cage.

I'm going to have to try and make some of those hanging toys though. Thank you :)

To answer your other question, I believe a full grown male glider would usually be about 90g to 140g....but I'm just saying that from memory. Check the gliderpedia on this site for a more precise range. Having said that, one of my boys is about 85g at two years old. So, he's very small. But he's healthy! And a total spaz. Your boy is still young, so as long as he's eating, playing, and gets a clean bill of health from a vet, then nothing to worry about with him being small.
As for toys, TJones had great ideas. I know you're worried about your new boy destroying his toys, but maybe he's a chewer and needs to chew his toys. Maybe you could just do cheap floor toys like TJones suggested, and straws for him to chew. I put yogurt in a straw and then stick it into one of the toys in the cage like a plastic chain or a whiffle ball and then my gliders have to work to get at the straw and the yogurt. I have one boy who loves to chew and will crush that straw and chew all over it! But I do think he needs things to play with, especially while he's still alone.
Cheers!

Thank you. I'll see about getting him toys that he can destroy. :)