balding spots/overgrooming, need advice

I very recently took my gliders to the vet because Pi seemed a little lethargic (not much but a teeny bit so I wasn't sure) and because he started squinting a lot. The vet said everything is fine. It was after this vet visit by maybe two weeks I noticed some balding spots.

Spots include:

• under jaw
• under left armpit (was very wet when I checked tonight)
• on right shoulder

Are these common over grooming spots?

I know that some causes of over-grooming are loneliness (he has a cage mate) boredom, malnutrition (he's on a strict critterlove diet with approved salads plus a meal worm or so a night, sometimes no meal worms), health problems, etc.

Can anyone give me advice on how to fix any/all of the above causes of bald spots or any I didn't list? I am a little lost on how to identify which of the many causes of bald spots are causing his, or how to fix them. As for boredom issues, I spend time with him every day and he has things to play with in his cage, but I can attempt to spend more time with him.

Clearly something is amiss. I will probably end up taking him to the vet... again, though money is kind of an issue, and the vet will probably have nothing for me again but what else can I do?

Edit: I forgot the pics, like always: https://goo.gl/photos/HFnsy4aQLxTVWrVm7

It's possible his mate is getting a little over zealous grooming her mate rather than his doing it to himself

I mostly see over grooming above the eyes. With it being near his mouth like that makes me think he is having issues with one or more teeth.

I would ask your vet to gas him down and check his teeth for loose teeth or infection around the teeth.

A round of antibiotics would be needed and possible extraction of the loose teeth, this would be your vets call.

You know, I did forget to mention that sometimes he has this weird behavior of dragging his teeth on the plastic shelf that's in their cage while he walks. It took me a while to figure out what that scraping noise was but I'm pretty sure that's what he's doing.

Anyway, that was all the reason I needed to make another vet appointment. Thank you Feather. I Didn't want to make another appointment just to be told there's nothing wrong again, but with something specific I can get the vet to look at I am all for it even though it's pretty expensive. I just made an appointment for next Tuesday morning. Do I need to call them back and get him in earlier than that if it's something wrong with his teeth?

I would try to get him in earlier, if there is an infection in his gums you don't want to delay.

Ok so I decided to lift his lips up to have a look myself just to see and had him bite down on the stick of a Q-tip and... the front two bottom teeth aren't supposed to move, are they? they look fine when his jaw is closed but when he bit down on the Q tip they moved apart a little. If they are loose I don't know what could be causing it because it doesn't look infected at all. The gums look healthy and there's no abnormal lumps. What if I can't get him in to the only experienced vet until Tuesday? Do I take him to someone who doesn't know as much about suggies? What could happen to him in the meantime if I can't get him in until Tuesday?

Take him to your regular vet. I would call his or her office and let them know what you found.

Vet appointment tomorrow! Thank goodness. The armpit has gotten way worse and he's really focusing on grooming there. I'm really worried about him and I hope the vet can find something this time that can be fixed.

Glad you are getting him in. Look forward to what the vet says is going on with this little one.

I finally was able to get a pic of his armpit too. Plus it happened to be a good additional pic of his mouth. I don't know where the picture caption shows up, so I'll say it here he looks kinda dead in the pic but really he was in the middle of a wiggle to try to get away because what suggie likes to be held upside-down?

It does look like he has a bump there. Please let us know what the vet says.

First the vet says that the front bottom two teeth tend to be flexible... has anyone else see this? She says she sees it a lot in sugar gliders and it's normal.

For the over-groomed spots, she took some tape and stuck it on the shoulder and armpit spots and took the tape into the back and looked at them for bacteria. She said there was a high amount of bacteria, especially in the armpit area. She thinks it's his own local bacteria but the population of them is way too high so he's going to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks and then she's going to check back in with me. She's hoping the spots will look a lot less irritated in a few days though the hair will take a while to grow back, so I need to check the spots again frequently for less redness.

Feather: I think the bump is just a combination of the angle of the camera and the way I stretched his arm out combined with his wiggles. I looked at the area closely as did the vet and we couldn't find any bumps but thank you for pointing it out because it could have been a bump that I just happened to miss and I am glad for your observations regardless.

Hopefully things will clear up on antibiotics.