I have recently bought a 12 week old sugar glider from the pets store. We have had her about two weeks now and she will come climb on us but is scared to be touched or held. We were thinking of bringing her to the vet due to her nails being so long that our whole bodies are covered in scratches from her climbing on us. Would it be a good idea to bring her to the vet now to get her nails trimmed or wait till she is more calmer around human touch?

Hi and

As a joey, their nails are pretty sharp but really shouldn't need trimmed yet.

As far as scratches, since she is still growing accustomed to you and I see from another post, you're having to catch her. ( I'll get to that in your other post).

If the scratches are a bit red or inflamed, treat them with tea tree oil once you have washed the area. It works on healing the fastest that I have found.

Back to trimming. Are her nails getting caught on her bedding, or just skin scratches?

It sounds like she is pretty stressed, but a vet well check is a good idea (if you click on vet it will take you to a database where you can find a vet near you that sees gliders)

I use a file carefully I think its safer than a clipper even on my dogs I use a file

Currently her nails are not getting caught on anything , but it sure is scratching our arms up a lot. We had taken her to the vet when we first got her and he said everything was fine. She did come from a rough situation at the pet store where all the gliders were getting stressed and annoyed with each other to the point they started harming themselves. I will defiantly try the tea tree oil thing on the scratches to heal them quickly.

Thanks for the tip about tea tree oil! My two joeys also leave me with scratches if I'm not properly suited up for play time.

Have you tried giving them a nail trimmer wheel for a night or two? I've found that to be pretty effective for dulling sharp claws.