In Reply to: Half a tail! posted by Heather on February 03, 19100 at 15:19:39:

: I had a horrible thing happen to one of my sugar gliders. I use to hang a long piece of fleece from the cage for them to play on. I have had one in my cage for 2 years now. Well, rescently I noticed that one of the sugar gliders got her tail wrapped around the fleece string. I watch her and she seemed fine. Then, a couple of days ago I noticed that half of her tail is missing. I do not know if I should do anything. She seems to be her crazy self even with half a tail. I just feel horrible. Anyone have any suggestions.
: Thanks!!!!

I had a glider that lost all but maybe 2" of his tail. It was mangled by his mate. A friend of mine has a glider that lost all but about 3" of his tail in a chain that his sleeping pouch hung by. For both it took about three weeks to a month for them to learn to balance themselves with so little tail. This wasn't just during glides but also while sitting on a perch. They also seem to use their tails for communication at times and this impeaded them there some as well, but once they learned how to balance themselves once again the rest came naturally and they were right back to being their scrappy ole selves once again. Watch for signs of infection, healing, loss of balance, and any other problems that might occur. At the first sign of a problem take your glider to a vet for a complete check up. I have heard of gliders that lost bits of their tail at a time due to an infection there that did not produce any drainage or swelling but did cause some irritation. They lost bits of their tail until they had none. I hope that like our gliders that yours recovers without any complications or problems.

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