Newbie here and I am hoping someone could help me buy the correct nail trimmer for my 3 gliders.

I did buy the exotic wheel with trimmer but am thinking that I should trim their nails before it arrives.

I am apprehensive about this as my gliders aren't bonded yet and I am afraid of doing it wrong; therefore, injuring them.

Any help is deeply appreciated

Hey, those nail trimmers that come with wheels is basically sand paper to help file the nails down. I've not had success with any of those type myself, and I tried a few different ones.

To trim their nails, it's easiest to use either slant-tip nail trimmers or cuticle trimmers, they both work well. I keep both handy, mostly using the slant-tip nail trimmers, and then use the cuticle trimmers if needed.

Most distract their gliders with treats such as yogies or whatever their favorite is. I use freeze dried vita-mealies from Camilies Mealies. My girls will just eat them from a dish while I trim all their nails, my boy will let me get away with a few, but I have to pouch him for the rest. There are videos on trimming their nails, I recommend to search trimming sugar glider nails on you tube and watch several to see the different methods used.

One thing that helped with my girls, was I served them a dish of the mealies and just gently began touching their feet, then worked up to picking up a foot, each one and then started holding and rubbing each of their feet while they ate. This helped them learn to keep eating while I handled their feet. My boy isn't with the program all the way, but has made some improvement. I did home him when he was a little older, and he apparently had some bad experiences prior to the person I got him from. I believe she was at least his 3rd human :(.

Nail clipping is pretty difficult even for experienced owners. Personally, I would wait until the are bonded. I think it's really going to hurt your bond if you do it now. The sandpaper trimmers work okay in my opinion
Depending on how much your glider uses the wheel.
Most gliders like to hop in their wheel so the sand paper isn't a huge help, but it does help file down their nails. I also think bird nail trimming perches really good. It is just like a perch with course sand paper on it. If you use a few of those and position them right by the fold so they are forced to use them, I think it does a pretty good job. Also, you could always ask an exotic vet to trim their nails.
If you do want to do it yourself, just make sure they don't see. It's not painful but if they see what you are doing they will freak out more. Treat someone like the others mentioned are good distractions. Work fast and keep in mind you probably can't do all four feet in one day. I consider 4 nails to be an accomplishment, so take Your time. Also, biggest tip is to use a tub so u r not constantly chasing them. Use the plastic curtains to keep them from climbing up. This way when they do escape you can catch them again easier. Also, please don't grab their feet if they are trying to escape. Gliders have really fragile bones and if you grab their feet when they escape, you could tear out a socket or break a bone. So be delineate and if they are struggling, let them go.
Good luck:)

CUTTING nails...
I started with the bonding pouch and treats. didnt work.
I tried the netting bag, to difficult and didn't work. glider scared looking out of bag, to hard to hold, lots of poo and pee, and getting nail out of netting was hard.
So after a few years we came up with one main way, for both bonded and NOT bonded gliders.

We took a fleece bag and cut a hold in it.

We put gliders in bag and try to get them to calm down. YOU have to really take
charge, you can work the gliders foot out of hole, or for bonded gliders you can take their legs out of large opening of bag.
But the main point is this...

You have to firmly and nicely take charge of the glider in bag, pull out and hold leg FIRMLY and STEADY for the person cutting the nails. The holder can make sure he is NOT getting bit, the cutter can concentrate on making a good cut.
If you have only one person, I would think you have to have well bonded glider, I can't imagine cutting nails by myself unless it was sophie.




We got 5 gliders in the last few months. 2 of them are very unhappy while getting their nails cut, they crab, move and even tried to bite some. one calmed down and seemed to take the cutting ok, IN THE END THE GLIDERS DID NOT HAVE ANY LASTING HATE FOR US, IN FACT, IF I COULD READ ANYTHING OUT OF IT, THE GLIDERS SEEMED TO HAVE THE OPPOSITE REACTION...like they said "wow, all that and I'm fine, these humans didn't even hurt me"

Thanks for all the helpful advice. 1st I have to buy some clippers and then I will let my son tacklet it while I hold the bag. When we bought the sugar gliders, the seller clipped one of my gliders nails with no issue and was done so fast she made it look easy.

Be careful with the sand paper. I used it while figuring out how to trim the nails. I had to stop using it because it caused one of my gliders to have scabs on her hands.

The method that worked best for me is the on Tjones suggested. I use baby nail clippers tho. I give them a yogurt drop, set them on my lap, and trim. I grab the little hand and put a little pressure on the palm so the fingers spread out. Then I begin clipping. I find that it's best to do this during the day while they are sleepy. I usually do it fast so I no longer have this problem, but when I first started I took a while and they would wake up. It's ok to only do a hand or two a day. Over time it gets easier.

Nail clipping never hurt the bonding process for me.

The sandpaper track hasn't worked for us, it seems it only causes nails to snag.

Thanks! I am going to take all of the advice and perhaps wait a little longer until I know they are truly comfortable with me.

Haiii

Just wanna add / maybe to help add confidence for you, my method is similar to treats + putting them in a pouch. My gliders' top favorite treat is mealies. So I ONLY give them mealies for nail cutting. So they'll be very occupied with what they only get during nail-cutting.

I started cutting my gliders' nails 5 weeks after having them. It was scary at first, and they were not very bonded. After reading lots of threads here and watching some youtube videos, the most useful advice i find is to be CALM.

I always choose a time in the day I'm most happy, and get it done pretty quickly. Even just a month ago, I was in a rush and was irritated with some stuff at home and boy, do my girls struggle and struggle and struggle during nail clipping.

It's as if they're genuinely afraid I'll cut their hands off since they detected I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I didn't finish cutting their nails that day. Only the hind 'legs'.

So yea, treats + pouch + confidence works for me. Nowadays I choose to not cut their nails that day if I'm not in a good mood

^^^ yeah that is very true! As long as you have confidence and you're in a good mood it tends to go pretty well. You don't have to be bonded to clip the nails. I clip my sister's gliders' nails and one I rescued and only had for a week at that time. That's 6 gliders who I am not bonded to and one aggressive one! The key is patience and confidence.

I believe in you! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

Thanks for the encouraging words but I am not so confident.

I have watched YouTube videos on how to hold them and despite my efforts, they still are able to wiggle away from me. I am so afraid that they will not bond to me because they know that I am the one trying to catch them (tent time) or hold them. I am such a failure.

I can hold them, pet them in the bag, feed them in the cage but no luck in holding them.

Don't feel like a failure! New gliders are always difficult, but you're doing great. No one expects perfection from you or any new glider owner. Hell, no one expects any glider owner, even people who've had them for a while, to be perfect. You're doing a good job.

When it comes to chasing them, just throw a blanket on them and pick them up with the blanket. This way they have a hard to running, you can easily pick them up, and they won't see you being the one doing. It's the best trick my brother taught me when he I just received his wild little gliders.

If you're having a hard time picking them up; try scooping them up instead. Don't try to pull them up from the ground. They tend to freak out because it's similar to a predator picking them up. Instead put your hand in front of the house and scoop from the bottom. They may try and jump over your hand or run the other direction at first, but as they bond this will become easier to do. Hopefully I explained it in a way you'd understand how to do it.

Don't worry about making mistakes as much. Have fun with the process and learn from mistakes. Learning how to deal with gliders is pretty much just trial and error until you find what works with yours. Good luck!

Thank you so much; you explained it perfectly.

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Originally posted by ptamom

Thanks for the encouraging words but I am not so confident.

I have watched YouTube videos on how to hold them and despite my efforts, they still are able to wiggle away from me. I am so afraid that they will not bond to me because they know that I am the one trying to catch them (tent time) or hold them. I am such a failure.

I can hold them, pet them in the bag, feed them in the cage but no luck in holding them.

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MOST gliders are NOT made for holding. We have ONE maybe TWO out of 15 that we can hold in our hands. sitting on arm - ok, sitting on shoulder - ok, going it bra (for my wife) - OK. But NOT holding in hands.

Hi!
I don't hold my gliders to clip their nails. When the vet used to clip their nails for me, he would have an assistant hold them while he clipped, but that just doesn't work for me. Plus it seemed hard on the fuzz butts.

Here's what I do (very similar to TJones);
Put selection of favorite treats in a pouch.
Put one glider in pouch with yummy treats.
Set pouch on arm of couch by light, so glider is inside pouch sitting and munching yummy treats. *cornstarch is always kept right there just in case I snip too low and it bleeds (only happened once)
Reach into pouch and pull out closest paw.Tuck pouch around the paw so only paw is showing out of the pouch and glider can't really see what you're doing.
Hold fingers or toes between pointer finger and thumb of left hand. Hold firmly because they do tug on it.
Clip quickly but safely with right hand. Tell glider good job! And pet before taking next paw.
Make sure there's a treat waiting right next to the glider so when they finish one they can immediately grab another before they realize what you're doing
Sometimes I have to scoot their butt around to the other side of the pouch with one finger so they're facing the right way for me to grab the next paw.
When one is done, bring him or her back to the cage, scoop him out and back into the cage, and usually a curious and jealous-for-treats glider is right there ready to get in the pouch (especially now that they know the routine).
I do this at about 6:30 am because they're usually settled down in the pouch for the day by then, but not too sleepy that I can't separate one glider from the quad. I actually talk to them pretty much the whole time...helps me be calm as much as them probably!

When they learn the sound of the treat jar and that there's treats in the pouch you're offering, you probably won't have any trouble getting one into the pouch. Sometimes I have trouble getting only one into the pouch! This morning I clipped Guenevere's nails while Gimli was in the pouch with her. Oh well!

You can just try one step at a time to ease into the routine until you feel comfortable enough to actually trim their nails. I use cuticle trimmers because they're easy to rotate to accommodate whichever way the foot is facing.

It's MUCH easier than I ever thought it would be after watching the struggle the vet had to clip their nails! Now that we have a routine, it's a piece of cake. I just clipped six glider's nails in about fifteen minutes.

Confidence is key, and yours will grow the more you get used to them and they get used to you.

Everyone has given you some great advice so I'll just add what I've found to be helpful.

I use a forehead LED light, magnifying glasses, small slanted clippers mealies and a pouch with a large open top my hands can fit in. I trim 11 gliders in about 14 minutes and that include a foot inspection. Gliders nails do have a quick, so do keep cornstarch or baking flower on hand, it will stop the bleeding quickly if you accidentally trim to far back. It's more traumatic for the human than it is the glider so if it happens try not to panic.

The back feet only need 2 nails trimmed, as shown on one of the pics below. The toes that looked fused together are their grooming nails and typically do not need trimmed even if they get quit long.








You do not need to be bonded to trim nails, tho it does make it a little easier. I've trimmed nails on gliders I've never met before for local owners n really only had trouble with one because she's crazy fast but her nails got done regardless.

the video below Is real time, me trimming Amy's nails and that's about how long it takes for me to do all my gliders nails. But please keep in mind, it's not always been this easy for me, I struggled for a good a year with nail trimmings mostly because I couldn't see the nails well. Once I got the light and glasses I could see what I was doing, and my confidence grew quickly! Once I was confident the gliders calmed down and were confident IN me. That is why confidence is key, gliders feed off your energy and emotions fear, nervousness AND your calmness and confidence, it works both ways. Take your time, try different methods, and you will figure out what works best for you

Everyone and I mean everyone struggles in the beginning with nail trimmings but it's a necessary procedure if your going to own gliders.

I can't "thank you" enough for the helpful advice. I need to get more confident and realize that Rome wasn't built in a day.