We adopted a neutered male glider from a rescue about 6 months ago. Now when I read about how to tell if a male is neutered or not if they were neutered pom on it's hard to tell. I have also read that the bald spot should go away. Now since we got him from a rescue I haven't seen any paper work on him being neutered or do I know how long it has been. The question I have is well does the bald spot really go away? We have only experienced female suggies up until this point, and well we do not want to have babies. We were sure that a rescue wouldn't lie to us, but then we started seeing some posturing behavior and the girls kicking him out of the nest etc etc. Now I know they could be in heat, and he's just interested in them because they will still have the urge. So then my fiance explains to me well maybe he isn't neutered. Apparently the rescue that my boy came from the woman had been going through a lot of medical treatments and was on tons of medications and could of gotten mixed up...So now we are unsure. With this uncertainty we decided to kind of feel him up. Well when you lightly feel around on his pom it feels like he has testicles. So anyways, to sum this up is there any sure way to find out? I really do not want joeys. We are not ready for any type of babies human or suggies. Sorry for the long choppy explanation, but I've been trying to do my research and cannot find anything. By the way this is a photo of him showing his bald spot.

i would make a trip to the vet for an answer

Yeah that's what it is coming down to. We have just never had a male before, and I really don't want joeys. To be honest though he has been living with two females for 5 months now, and none of them have joeys in pouch.

even if he was neutered late his bald spot could still be there but it would be small, very small. i was told that from a breeder

If he is neutered it was late. I believe he was used for mating which could explain the stronger urges if he does turn out to be neutered. I read that some place else too, but his bald spot to me doesn't look really small. Of course I really don't have much to compare, but it just seems large to me.

A vet would be able to tell you for sure, but if his pom doesn't feel empty, I would say he is still intact.

He is a cutie though!

~Michelle~

Thanks Michelle, and everyone else for your quick responses. He really is a beautiful glider, and one of the sweetest ones too. I was hoping there would be a cheaper way to distinguish lol, but I will have to go to the vet. It's just a shame that a supposed rescue doesn't have their facts straight.

That looks like a full bald spot to me, I had my boys nuetered a few months ago and they already don't have a spot on their heads and were both over a year old and used for breeding before I got them. Their pom also shrunck a lot, like from a pea size to just barely telling they have one. Take him to the vet and if he says he isn't nuetered ask if he can count that as his surgical consult and not charge u. Its worth a shot.

Thanks Dragonfly. I will try that.

Hi:)
I have to agree, his bald spot looks pretty big - also, check his pom. Un-neutered they are really full, fluffy and round - after the neuter they do shrink down to the size of a shrivled pea.
I know it can be the lighting in the pics, but he looks very brown to me - can I ask what diet you are feeding?
I don't mean to sound offensive by anymeans - just figured it couldn't hurt to ask:)

He is brown. He's a cinnamon :P. We feed all of our gliders on the BML diet. His pom is definitely bigger than a pea. Like I said we have never experienced a male before. My fiance got him for me as a surprise. We got him free due to him being retired or something like that, and was told he had been neutered. We didn't think anything of it until recently. We figured well it must be true because it's a rescue! Then he started to explain to me that the woman has cancer and has been on tons of medications, and could of possibly gotten it mixed up on which glider was which etc etc. So that's when our little experiments with checking out his pom, and doing research started. When we got him we had a fecal and everything, and didn't even think to bring up anything to the vet.

pretty sure he is intact just wondering why is the fur around his gland so brown?

Sorry:(
Mine were very brown when i first got them cuz they were on pellets, so i hesitated but wanted to check with you:)
Certainly sounds like there is no way to get around a vet check - ugghh!!!

No worries. I completely understand. I try to be the best glider mama I can to these little guys. Yet again JJmurph he's a cinnamon colored glider. He was always brown, and will always be brown. There are other color variations instead of standard grey. Here is a link to check them out Error, missing URL. m

We know about cinnamons, mill breeders often lie and say they sell cinni's but very often they aren't - it's just from the crappy diet:)
JJ must have been snoozing like I do while other posts were being made - lol!!!
Kidding!!!!!

That's a shame. He's definietly on a good diet, and has still remained brown lol so I'm pretty sure he's a cinnamon. Like I said I was surprised with him. I have no idea who or where my fiance got him from. I just know it's a rescue in St. Pete/Clearwater, Florida, and we got him for free because she was retiring some of her breeding males. I would hope that she isn't a mill breeding, but do most rescues breed gliders? I mean I would think that they would want to limit the over population of unwanted gliders, but then on the other hand if they aren't getting enough donations..selling joeys to good families could provide some extra income. I just don't know.

On a side note after hounding my fiance with questions he can't remember the name of the rescue just what city it was in. Makes me wish I would of asked the day he adopted him. Instead I just asked if he was neutered and fell in love with him immediately.

Well, you said you feed BML (which is great) and if he wasn't a cin his fur would have changed to normal grey by now - 6 months is quite a while:)
My glider's fur started to change within the first month. I am def not saying she was a breeder - but like I said I know for a fact PP was trying to pass off standard greys as cini's -
Most rescues (true rescues) wouldn't breed (especially without lineage). But the fact is he's in a good home now and has a family:)

Very true. I was kind of making a joke Renee. I would assume by now his fur would of changed if it was going to hehe. I really do hope he likes his family life. He doesn't have to worry about being a stud, and being bothered with little babies fussing! He gets to just relax, be loved, petted, and played with. He really is a beautiful glider. He has beautiful colors, and a good temperament. Within a week he was warmed up to us, and when he was introduced to his new womens he fit right in with them. Now that we have pretty much figured out that he is in tact I would like some opinions on if I should separate him from his colony until we get him fixed or is that too stressful because I know he seems to have a close connection with them, and if one of them gets out of the pouch and he still wants to cuddle with them he barks for them until they come back. I don't want to do anything that would upset him.

Hmm because I can't seem to edit my post here is a continuation...

On a side note, we have been glider owners for going on four years now. Our oldest girl is five and was adopted from an old boss of mine who well just didn't know about gliders. I had been researching them for awhile about pets, and told her I'd be more than willing to adopt her. When we first got her my boss was feeding her some pellet food along with canned fruits and veggies (sigh), and like you said her color was off too and she looked a little rugged. Within two months she had a beautiful coat and a beautiful color to it. She's my little bra glider. She would sleep all day in my bra if I would let her. I've been lurking on these forums for about two years now. I normally just like to read topics and responses it's a great way to learn different information. I decided to make an account a couple months or so ago because I found something I wanted to link about the Glider Society of Sarasota because I dunno where you are from, but at least once a week there are post on craigslist about someone wanting to sell a glider or give one away. There were also pet stores around here selling gliders, flea markets, and malls. They all would give people misinformed information about gliders, and it makes me sick. So I just thought it was a nice little link to post for people around this area to see! :)

A rescue that does not neuter incoming males? It's a best practice of legitimate rescues to neuter all incoming males so they don't procreate when they are adopted out. Like they said up above you may have to go to the vet to have your new one checked out. If you are feeding BML please consider taking out the Herptivite vitamins because they are packed with iron and too much iron is not good for gliders. Same with the wheat germ.

The bald spot can take as long as a year or more to dissipate after neutering.

Thanks so much Lucky! From my understanding he was used for breeding then retired at said rescued and was then supposedly neutered. I will definitely look into your suggestions about changing up the BML. Your point is the point I tried to make to my fiance when we started questioning if he is truly neutered or not. What rescue wants someone to breed their adoptive glider or accidentally breed them. Especially from the way he tells it that she asked about his glider experience, and how many gliders we have now. Then he said that she told him she was going through some medical problems and was on a ton of medicine. So we would like to think that we weren't blatantly lied to, but that she may of gotten her gliders mixed up?

sorry i was replying same time as you didn't see yours

haha - I do it all the time JJ!!! Sometimes I walk away or get on the phone with the reply screen up, so when I finally come back and finish my post...the whole thread has changed!! UGH!

Lol

I'd really love more info on who he came from.. That's really close to me and the only breeder I know of in St Pete is Suncoast..

But again, he's either 'retired' and they're a breeder or he's a rescue and should've A: been neutered and B: Never bred.. There usually isn't any confusing the two as most don't do BOTH.

fzystr8..If You have seen your Vet in the last 6 months? They will usually see a pet for a short visit (like yours would be), as a re-check appointment..In fact, if it was the Vet I work for?..We wouldn't charge a fee, at all, for something like sexing..And our Vets would trust a Tech to check sex..We don't do gliders (unfortunately), but I check kittens all the time...I also remove ticks for free, as they seem to really gross some peeps out, and it is the perfect opportunity to offer flea & tick control.
And as Dragonfly noted..It could be beneficial to their practice, because he may need to be neutered, in the near future.
Good luck..I, for one, will be interested in what they find.

That doesn't look like he's a cinnamon. In the last pic, you can see the top layer of his fur is orange, but underneath it's gray. He looks very stained. Not to mention the fur looks sort of 'chunky.' Also, his underbelly is yellow as well. Cinnies have white underbellies.

Feel his pom, and if it feels like an empty skin flap, he's been neutered. If you want to be extra sure, just take him in and have a vet check him out.

I've seen some neutered males with quite large bald spots. Sometimes when they shrink, they shrink a tiny bit.

I was gona say what diet is he on? He's awful brown but he's cinnamon. That makes sense. We wanted cinnamons but got standard greys. We love them just the same. <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fzystr8jakit</i>
<br />He is brown. He's a cinnamon :P. We feed all of our gliders on the BML diet. His pom is definitely bigger than a pea. Like I said we have never experienced a male before. My fiance got him for me as a surprise. We got him free due to him being retired or something like that, and was told he had been neutered. We didn't think anything of it until recently. We figured well it must be true because it's a rescue! Then he started to explain to me that the woman has cancer and has been on tons of medications, and could of possibly gotten it mixed up on which glider was which etc etc. So that's when our little experiments with checking out his pom, and doing research started. When we got him we had a fecal and everything, and didn't even think to bring up anything to the vet.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I have to agree with Konotashi...he definitely doesn't look like a cinny. I have 3 and the color is very distinctive. You can see where the gray glider is pulling back the fur on the cinny that the color on a cinny goes all the way to the skin. There is no gray at all on them.

This is a look at the actual color difference in a cinny and a gray. Food CAN and does contribute to color change but being kept in a dirty pouch or without a pouch at all (as some breeders do in order to make cleaning easier and not needed as often) is a much more likely contributor.
I've found that the quickest way to get colors to go back to normal is to change the pouch every other day and to change out all the fleece at least every week. When you wash the fleece wash it in hot water with a 1/2 cup of white vinegar per normal load of laundry.
This is what Konotashi means by the belly not being cinnamon colored. It's still white. Although I must have missed a photo of your boy's belly. The "gray" stripes on this girl are shadows from the cage bars.

Just a heads up we took him to the vet today, and found out he has not been neutered. He has a clean bill of health, and for clarity he is a cinni. Thanks for all the concern, but it was not needed. Now to get him neutered ><