I have 2 sweet mommies raising 2 babies that are 3 weeks oop both babies are from "Sophie" but her sister "Alli" stepped into the roll as dad. My husband noticed that baby lilly was completely missing her whole arm which seems to be a birth defect. These are our first joeys and I am wondering what we can do to help her? We are keeping both babies to complete our little glider family of 4. I am also wondering if I need to separate the male baby glider at a certain age? I would love any input you have to share! Thank you!

Hi! First of all, congratulations on your new babies! You'd be surprised at how special needs gliders bounce back and are able to adapt.

This is definitely not my area of expertise. I HIGHLY recommend getting in touch with Val (Jackie_Chans_Mom). She is a wealth of knowledge and experience with special needs gliders and I know will help you as much as she can!

As for the male - you will want to get him neutered as soon as you're able as otherwise he will try to mate with the females.

Thank you so much! I am excited to be part of this site, it has so much information and support.

You're very welcome - glad to have you!!! So much to learn but oh, the rewards are endless! I wish you the best of luck with your little babies. Remember that if you have specific questions about the joeys themselves, to post in Breeding & Babies - you'll get loads of help there!

If she was born that way, she should do just fine! She won't know she's missing an arm. To her, that will be perfectly normal. You might hang some hammocks at different levels, in case she falls while learning how to adapt. You can have the male joey neutered around 12 weeks. Your vet will help you determine when he's ready. After neutering, he can stay in the family.

Am I correct in assuming there is no dad in the picture?

Here is a list of vets in your state, in case you need one.

All About Pets Animal Hospital
4732 Highland Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84117
801-272-5557
http://www.aapah.com/
No email address

Amor Animal Hospital & Pet Resort &
Training Center
8576 Redwood Road
West Jordan, Utah 84088
801-561-9595
No website or email address

Bird & Exotic
1050 Fort Union Boulevard
Midvale, Utah 84047
801-565-1263
No website or email address

Brickyard Animal Hospital
1213 East 300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106
801-486-01223
www.brickyardanimal.com
No email address

Clearfield Veterinary Clinic
428 North Main
Clearfield, Utah 84015
801-776-4372
http://clearfieldveterinaryclinic.com/

Creekside Animal Hospital (Bird and exotic Pet hospital)
12720 S. Pony Express Road
(west frontage road on I-15)
Draper, Utah 84020
801-565-1263
http://www.cahdraper.com/
No email address

Cottonwood Animal Hospital Pet ER
6360 Highland Drive
Holladay, Utah 84121
801-278-0505
Emergency 24Hrs.
801-278-3367
http://www.cottonwoodanimalhospital.com/
No email address

Foothills Animal Clinic
2675 Parleys Way
Salt Lake City, Utah 84109
801-485-4736
No website or email address

Parish Creek vet Clinic Inc.
86 N. 70 W
Centerville, Utah 84014
801-298-2014
http://parrishcreekvet.com/
No email address

Pet Stop Veterinary Clinic
44 North 800 West
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
801-531-0662
http://www.petstopvet.com/index.html
No email address

Riverwoods Pet Hospital
3820 North University Avenue
Provo, Utah 84604
801-224-2233
www.riverwoodspethospital.com
No email address

Wasatch Exotic Pet Care Inc.
1892 East Fort Union Boulevard
Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121
801-943-4736
http://www.wasatchexotic.com/
No email address

If your vet is not glider experienced, or needs help, these are experienced sugar glider vets, who will consult with your vet by phone. They will speak only to other vets.


Dr.Tim Tristan
OSO Creek Animal Hospital
361-994-1145

Dr. Bradley Walsh
Village vet Animal Clinic/All Creatures Veterinary Hospital
918-258-0040

Dr. Andrew Grzanowski
Canton Center Animal Hospital
734-459-1400

Dr. Kate Zimmerman
TriCounty Animal Hospital
(Has 24hr emergency contact info on her office answering machine)
423-391-0303

Dr. Paul Welch
Forest Trails Animal Hospital
918-299-8448

Dr. Teresa Bradley
Belton Animal Clinic
816-331-3120

Dr. Kristen West
Mandel Veterinary Hospital
216-321-6040

Yep...Connie, two mommies are raising these babies.

Awwwwwwwww, how sweet!

I agree with Connie - she shouldn't have any issues at all. Even amputee gliders adapt very well and most often don't require any special accomodations at all.

You are welcome to call me any time.

she will graduly find ways around and think its perfectly natural, im sure her brother and parents will help her out they are naturally pack animals, and family on top of that, so im sure they will bring her food correct me if im wrong

I am so grateful for all the reply's. My husband and I love these little guys. Our date night includes bringing them in out bed and cuddling with them while we watch movies. We have 5 human children (all girls- preteens and teens) and our gliders are what gives us the peace we love in a sometimes crazy household. We won't have empty nest syndrome when the kids move out Two of the girls share a room and sometimes wonder why our gliders get their own room. I joke and say because they think the kids stink.

Aww, your suggie baby reminded me of my dog Buddy. He was born with one straight back leg and gets around just as good as dogs with 4 good legs. I'm sure she'll do just fine . There was a beagle in my area that was born without its front legs and actually walked on its hind legs to get around! And I'm a dork and watch "weird, true and freaky," on Animal Planet.. I saw a bear that lost part of it's front leg and would walk on it's hind legs. Normally bears can only do this for short spurts.. this bear was walking around for 10-15 mins at a time. It was a momma bear too!

But definitely do the hammocks and such in different places. Maybe some sort of padding for the bottom of the cage that could be washed.. fleece maybe?? My dog took a while to adjust to his leg so we had to accommodate him in ways that other dogs wouldn't need. But now his other legs are stronger and he even developed a joint in the leg that he didn't have before. Weird huh? He was proud of himself the first time he stood on his "peg" leg to pee on a mailbox LOL.

my hamster tripod had a price of hair or umbilical cord wrapped around one of her front paws when she was born.it eventually fell off from circulation being cut off. she did fine. she didnt know she was different from mom cause it happened when she was a few weeks old. I bet you suggie will do great with only 3 legs.

I would like to see a picture of this baby!

reading this helped a lot for me too. I just had a Mosaic boy 2 weeks ago and he is missing an eye. I don't know what happened but he is so sweet and I hope he does fine as he grows.
I hope your glider family does great, sounds like they have great human parents
good luck

I'd love to see a picture too! Since you said arm and not leg, I'm assuming that means one of the front ones?!

Good luck with her! I'm sure she'll do great!

Cosmo is missing left front leg and right rear leg. He does fine without them. He sometimes forgets he doesn't have front paw and drops mealies but quickly grabs with other paw. He came to us a very crabby, pouch pertective, shy little boy. He now let's me pet him in pouch, takes things very gently from my hand and will ride on my chest in his pouch all day. I can hammer, saw with skill saw, drill, bounce him around and when I look into check on him he is out cold. I have seen him upside down sond to sleep and pulled on his feet and he is dead to world, as long as he's on daddy chest.
We have put pet netting on the floor of his cage and hung hammocks around for him. You want to protect her from falling to far and breaking leg. Cosmo really surprised us when we put him in higher cage. He climbed around and got up and down surprisingly well. His climbing was deliberite and slow. He would grab with one paw then not let go until his other one was in a good spot. So she will be fine.

How's this little one doing?!

can we see some pictures???

This thread was started over a year ago. Doesn't even look like the OP is still an active member..???

If you really want to see pictures of gliders missing arms/legs for some reason, then there is a photo library in the amputation section of TSS:
http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/t1757-photo-library-amputation-and-amputee-gliders

Didn't see it has been going so long! Would have loved to see its sweet face!

Btw... Have done many surveys! I hope I can help

There's got so much to consider here!

I have a female with 3 legs as well due to an accident at 5 weeks oop. Within a week, she learned how to adapt and she's really fast around the cage and doesn't even know she's handicapped. Baby will do fine.

This is such a very sweet story! Please keep us updated!