Hello! Today I clipped my gliders nails, this was the first time I've done it for either of them. My boy had his nails trimmed the day I brought him home at the pet store, and I was waiting until my girl tolerated me petting her before clipping hers. I'm assuming she never had her nails clipped before because they were so horribly long and starting to curl under her foot, and the quick was almost at the edge of her nail. Anyway, she allowed me to clip her nails with minimal fussing, but when I opened her pouch to treat her for being good I noticed she messed herself and it was smeared all over! It was all over her pouch, her tail and face.

I grabbed a paper towel and wiped it all off her face, and what I could from her tail. I changed her into a clean pouch too. So I have 2 questions, is it normal for a glider to mess themselves like that during nail trimming or was this just a reaction because she hadn't been through this before(I didn't knick her quick at all either)? And, will she clean the poop off of herself the rest of the way, or do I need to help her? I figured since gliders are so clean she'd clean up the rest of the way, but I want to make sure. She's normally very clean and this hasn't happened to her at all since I've had her. Thanks!

It is normal.

Fiona is my pooper...
Dot pees...Everywhere...
I put mine in an old pouch or burrito them in a hankie sized piece of fleece.

Just be prepared with tissue.

Wipe them down with water only.

And yes they will clean themselves up the rest of the way.

Oh thank God! I was scared she would get pink eye or something, so I cleaned up her face with a paper towel. I mean it was seriously mushed in her face, covering her nose and on one of her eyes. She was all balled up because she was scared, but she let me clip her nails without even trying to pull her hand back in the pouch. I just checked on her, and her face looks really clean and back to normal, but I didn't take her out of the pouch because I figured she'd been stressed enough for one day. I'm staying up extra late waiting for her to come out, so I can make sure she cleaned up her body. Well, at least I know to use an older pouch, or make one out of my tester fleece (remnants mostly), so I'm not letting her mess good fabric lol.

On a side note, do you know how often I can clip her nails to get the quick down? I was only able to very barely clip anything because her nails were so bad. I want the quick to recede without hurting her, and give her back healthy feet. I'm figuring out little by little why her old cagemate passed away (the whole reason why I adopted her), she wasn't kept in the best environment even though I was led to believe she was 😔

I would check her weekly, every 2 weeks at the most.

Fiona had a long quick and I started clipping her nails every 2 weeks. Within 4 weeks, her quick had backed up. Now I clip both girls nails every 2 or 3 weeks. I judge that by how sticky they are on my bare arm.

That sounds good, every 2 weeks is doable. Thanks again!

Yes, it is normal. It is kind of a defense mechanism in my opinion. "if I poop on her she will leave me alone". Little boys like to whip out the tool, like your going to drop him when he whips it out.

Oh my...

Lol. Thank God that didn't happen