hello! My name is Allison, I am 21 and an owner of 2 female gliders around the age of 2/3 each.

My one glider Petree has had CONSISTENT issues with her cloaca, and I cannot figure out what it is that's causing it. It will bubble up and she will start to prolapse a little and then I need to go to the vet to which they express her glands, put her on stool softener, antiinflamatory and a antibacterial medicine and then she's usually fine for a good while. The vet said sometimes gliders just have common issues like this, but I want to know why!

I am concerned that this may be a product of my other glider overgrooming her cloaca but I'm not entirely sure. I've tried to get down to what the issue is, I have tried cleaning the cage more often, taking out certain items in the cage that could be causing possible problems, changing diet (currently on the HPW diet from Exotic Nutrition, with exotic nutrition pellets as well as general fruits and vegetables specifically Broccoli often as well as Bell Peppers and proteins like eggs) and I haven't been able to pin point why this happens. The last time this happened I believe my other glider Momo wound up BITING her swollen cloaca and making it bleed (not sure if on purpose or not but expected that she was trying to groom it or figure it out).

Currently Petree has an extremely swollen cloaca. It seemed as though it blew up overnight, in fact this problem happened not too long ago and the vet just called to see how shes doing and I told them she was fine because she was, it usually blows up in one night. Her cloaca is red, its like a bubble. She hisses when she goes to the bathroom, however, every time her cloaca has puffed up like this she has seemed pretty fine with her behavior as in she still runs around at night.

i've quarantined her in my travel sized cage so that the other glider cannot interfere with it any more and gave her some of the stool softeners I still had (dont worry I checked the expiration). My vet told me that the best bet is to do warm compresses and to keep it moist with a lubricant like coconut oil until I can get their help so that is what I'll be doing today.

My vet is closed on Sunday, (today) and I'm not really sure what to do.

Can anyone help me figure this out or does anyone have any advice for me?

Can I get some advice from someone else who's glider also has or has had consistent cloaca swelling issues and what your solution is/was?

Her hair isnt being overgroomed or thinning anywhere so it would JUST be overgrooming specifically of the cloaca but if this WERE a product of overgrooming from my other glider, how would I try and stop this from happening without them having to stay apart from each other?

Please help a young worried glider mom out!! I am so worried for her

I do not have personal experience with swollen cloatia, so I'll leave that to the experts.

But I do have experience with helping others on diets. Please don't be offended, we have learned that EN diets are not safe. The ingredients on the labels do not coincide with what is actually in the package and the nutritional % have been tested and are way out of proportion. Especially the protein. EN has said they have improved their diet, but it has been tested within the last 6 months and still not fixed.

Like with any mammal, gut health is critical in survival. Click on the word diet and it will take you to the data base of the different diets out there. I have fed BML, OHPW, and critterlove, and currently feeding critterlove. I have never had any gut or cloatia issues.
Critterlove website: https://www.critterlove.com/


Another factor is giving your gliders healthy fruits and vegetables with the correct calcium to phosphorus ratio (2:1). I use the critterlove diet because the creator has done all the testing and figured out the proper ratio as well as variety. These salads are fed along side her staple. Critterlove salad recipes link:

https://www.critterlove.com/salad-mixtures

Soluble fiber VS insoluble fiber: when gliders eat, they suck on and spit out the insoluble fiber material in the staple and in fruits and vegetables. It's important not to put fruits and vegetables in a blender, but rather chop them up into 1/2 - 3/4" cubes so they can separate the the 2 types of fiber in their mouth and get the benefit of the nutrition. Insoluble fiber is difficult for gliders to pass and causes colon irritation and can cause blockage. I'm not saying this the only reason, as I'm not a vet, but we hear about this countless times.

I hope this has been helpful, and please keep us posted on how your glider is doing.


Disclosure: I am not a spokesperson for Critterlove. Nor do I receive or are compensated in any way by Critterlove for mentioning their diet.

Dawn handled the rest, I will answer on the swollen cloaca.

Sugar glider anal glands should never be expressed. They should be surgically removed. My vet said they were like a ferrets anal glands as they are very intricate, they are also very small and he wasn't comfortable doing surgery on something that small and referred me to the veterinary college.

Talk to your vet about this.