Has anyone every seen a hairless sugar glider? What causes a glider to be born hairless?

I have never heard of a hairless glider.

They can be born hairless if they are premature. But they will grow hair in as they mature if they survive. could that be what you mean?

Yep, lilangels is correct. If they are young enough gliders they don't have any hair on them yet. Our joeys are usually born with hair on their back, head and tails but that's it. Then they develop fur on their tummy and legs/feet as they mature OOP. Or if they are a albino/leu/cremino glider it seem as their fur takes a lil longer to appear after being OOP since it's so light colored.

But as a full-grown glider being hairless, I've never heard of.

Very young joeys do not have hair yet. It grows in as they mature.

Stressed gliders may overgroom. That's why you often see gliders with little patches over their eyes pulled out.

In an extreme case of malnutrition, an older glider may lose hair over their entire body. This is a very serious condition.

I have a standard grey joey that was born preemie, I really didn't think it had a chance at survival. I have never had a preemie or even seen one in 'real life' ~ There we're two. One vanished, Im sure died. I couldn't believe how small they we're.

They are on a good diet, BML, fruits, veggies nightly. Boiled eggs/chicken/yogurt/meal worms often. Usually one at a time.

The baby is small, never had hair and 4 Weeks OOP. I have tried not to mess with her as she seems so fragile. Last night I took her out for the first time.

She almost looks transparent on her belly?
She is very strong, but seems very sensitive to the touch. She is trying to glide away from me, jump, She RUNS up my hand/arm. She has a great grip and just seems to be all over the place. She does not like the touch or grab but doing really well if she can hold on to me. Could she be hypersensitive? She really appears strong.

Should I hold her normally/daily? She is so little and FIESTY. What should I do with her? I want to take her to the vet but I feel like I should wait until she is a little bigger, There seems to be nothing really wrong with her besides shes small with out hair.

If she lives, I think im going to let her live with her parents. I planned on neutering her dad soon anyway.

Can you please get pictures of this baby? It is not normal for a baby at 4 weeks old to have no fur. I think it's in the best interest of the entire family that they be seen by a vet.

Yes, PLEASE do get us some pictures up. Also, do you have the lineage on mom and dad? If so, would you mind sharing that as well please?

I, too, would love a picture.

I would love to see a picture too, I am am a wee bit obsessed with naked things.

Four weeks OOP with transparent belly and no hair - just doesn't sound quite right. Agree with everyone else - pictures would make it much easier for us to give you some thoughts, but it really seems to me as if everyone should have a quick wellness exam done.

Does the glider have whiskers?

Sorry, Here is a picture. The whole belly is pretty much transparent. You can see the bloode inside, the insides. The skin does not appear thin at all, normal. Just hairless and transparent.

Tomorrow I will set up a wellness exam check although I do feel like I should wait since it is so cold/rainy out and she is so tiny. I really feel like she is very 'breakable'. It must be the hairless part, or the clear part, or the little part. =D

Her skin folds like a hairless rats. The only hair she has had is the hair in the middle of her head.

See her eyes? You can see the sockets through the skin, Basically what her belly looks like, clear skin.

Her eyes are very big and bright, They are a bit squinted here and glossy. She really doesnt like the flash.

Whoa, I have never seen that o.O

She has whiskers, you can see in the pic.

She looks like a premie. Are you keeping her warm and is the mom taking care of her?

She is cute! She looks so fragile though! Let us know what the vet says. I would also like to know her lineage if you wouldn't mind sharing it also.

Have you weighed her yet? Has she gained any color at all since she came OOP? I honestly don't even have a clue what to think!

I have never seen this. There are illnesses in humans as well as critters where there body rejects hair. She may have a health prob like this. I would deff do what your going to do and take her to a vet for a check up. Mabey have your vet consuilt another vet if they do not know whats going on.

How are the parents with her? Is this there first set of babies?

Also if you have not messed with her for 4 weeks this could be why she runs. It may not be due to sensitivity(sp) to the skin but dont rule it out.

She is a doll even nakid. Id love to just scoop her up and kiss her!

I've never seen anything like this either.

I would first look at the lineages of the parents. This is NOT normal and could be an genetic problem and if so, those parents need to stop breeding. This isn't just simply a premature joey.

Wow wow wow. I have to say that normally/usually hairless animals (that are bred to be hairless that I have had experience with) have no or very curly whiskers, omg I would scoop up a hairless glider in a heart beat!

She looks the size of a week to 10 days oop actually. I know that you said she was a preemie, but from the pic she looks like she was actually VERY early.

I have a pair that has their joeys a week early and pretty naked for the first couple of weeks while they catch up but your little girl is just WOW!

How much does she weigh and how are mom and dad doing with her? Are they keeping her warm and well fed?

Can someone please knit this little girl a fleece sweater?

OMG I've never been into hairless cats, but a hairless glider? She's something else all right.

I wonder why she's like that, though. I hope the vet can figure it out.

Put her back in the oven to finish baking! I'm with Dancing on this one, I think something is amiss with this little one. Are you positively sure about her age??? It's not impossible for a mammal to be born without hair. I've seen this in both cats and believe it or not, we have a guy at work that doesn't have a single hair on him anywhere. It's a genetic defect with him.

TOTALLY agree with Teresa here.

Can you please post the lineage of her parents? If you do not have it PLEASE get dad neutered immediately as they should not be breeding.

What exactly this is, I am not sure, but I do recommend taking the whole family in for a wellness check and have a Glider Knowledgeable vet take a look at her.

For those of you who are comparing her to a hairless cat, please keep in mind, the hairless cats are a breed. This is completely abnormal for a sugar glider.

I know that everyone thinks she is cute, but there is definitely something wrong here and it really needs to be addressed.

SuggieAddict, Kudos to you for coming forward with this and questioning it.

Definitely something we would not like to see continued in the Sugar Glider world.

I have been working with a large number of vets recently in different areas of Gliders. Would you mind if I shared this picture with them?

Also, what vet do you have there locally that you can take this family into?

I also agree with Dancing and SRLB. Please allow Peggy to share those pics with the vets. Any amount of help can never be too much. I hope you get some answers for her.

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Her skin folds like a hairless rats. The only hair she has had is the hair in the middle of her head.



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She may be a variation like the Skinny Pigs/Guinea pigs. I thought a few years ago there was a post on somebody else had one. Or maybe it was the other community I belong to. I would send photos to a vet also but would contact people that raise skinny pigs to see what they also think about your baby. The pigs have a little hair somewhere on them like a tuff or a collar around neck(the ones I saw).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinny_pig
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/guineapigs/ss/skinnypigs.htm

What ever she is or not I hope she will have a great and healthy life with lots of love and treats...
Could you e-mail this photo to my addy daddyglider@tampabay.rr.com
I can send it to a person that has experience with Skinny Pigs and ask his opinion on her.
Art

The skin looks shiney, like a scar. I had a joey come OOP with a little bit of fur missing once once his booty and that area looked just like your little girl's entire body looks.

Do you think it's possible that the parents have gone over-grooming crazy on this little one? If that's the case then once she's away from her parents she should eventually grow her fur back in.

I'll try and hunt up a picture of the little boy I had with the booty scar.

Here are some pics of my boy's scar:





See how it's shiney-looking, like your girl?