I never realized gliders had such a huge and vicious looking bottom tooth..Do they just stick it out when they are really scared?...It's scary looking!...OMG! Ya learn something new everyday...How do they hide it like that?...I'm so amazed!

I know that scared me the first time to but I only see mine when they do their yawn strech.

Their bottom teeth are very long and are normally covered by their very flexible lower lip In the wild, they use them to strip the bark off of trees in order to get to the sap they eat Also, FYI, unlike rodents, whose teeth continue to grow & grow, a glider's teeth never grow, so they should never be trimmed or floated... If you go to This Article and scroll halfway down the page, you can see a picture of two lower incisors that had to be extracted... they're amazingly long!

i was shocked the first time I saw them too!

yea me too.. it was funny, i was picking up my rescues at brenda;s house and i already had one glider for a while.. but i saw one of them crabbing and all that and then i saw one of their;s teeth!! CRAZY LONG!! but my sweet little gizzy never got scared enough to show me those long teeth.. brenda explained to me then that they have retractable gums.. hah.

On the subject of teeth, they should be examined as part of their wellness exam. Gliders can get periodontal disease. I've got one and I know Chris has 2 who have had to have teeth extracted. A change in eating habits and excessive sneezing are 2 signs of trouble. My vet just lets them bite on the scope while he checks the teeth and the incisors can be pretty intimidating.

Retractable gums!!!!.....I have never heard of such, these lil babies are so special and amazing. I love all of mine so much!..even... "Mr. I'm gonna scare you to death by showing you this TOOTH!" ( It worked too, but I didn't tell Snap)...;)

it there a preventative to help keep Periodontal disease at bay? a treat, rinse, or teath cleaning between vet visits?

Is that what monkey biscuits are for? Also can you feed monkey biscuits while on the basic BML?

Great! Ill be sure to keep that in mind!

hah.. Suz, i never even thought of it that way.. I'm going to feed the mealies in the AM forever now.

Another thing that you can do....I do this with mine since I'm totally paranoid about peridontal problems now is to actually brush their teeth. I've got a Chlorohexadine rinse (oral antibacterial rinse) that my vet gave me & I will dip a Q-Tip into it & gently brush their front teeth. This is also good for getting out any food that might be caught between the teeth.

Chris , did you just ask your vet for it or did you have to get it by special request? I would love to do my little ones teeth....Do you apply it to that evil looking bottom tooth also? and if you do how do you get it to stick out?

Yes, you have to ask your vet for it. As for using it....I mainly use it on the front teeth. The back teeth are so tiny that about the only way to get it on them is to squirt it into their mouth with a syringe & then let the glider "gargle" by shaking their head.
As for getting it onto the front teeth to brush them & get the "mealies" out from between their teeth, I just hold them like I'm giving meds. Then as I extend the Q-Tip toward their mouth the majority of them try to bite it....which isn't a bad thing in this case. If they don't bite, I just gently use the Q-Tip to push their lips out of the way so that I can reach their teeth.