Hair loss down middle of tail

[Frodo9496]

Hello, I've have a male flying squirell who is about 1 year and a half years old. I started to notice (today) his tail is missing hair down the middle of it. Could this be molting? He doesn't seem to be missing hair anywhere else and his fur is starting to look a darkish brown color. His diet is good he eats the squirrel protein blocks, mix of veggies and fruits.

I tried to upload a picture attached to this message but I'm new to posting. If anyone has any info I would appreciate it. Thank you.

[flyer girl]

Looks like a rub pattern.. It could be from going in and out of a nest box or a branch being to close to something above it that the tail is rubbing on.. If the wheel is to small sometimes the tail could rub.. Make sure everything is spaced out enough in the cage and that the wheel is not to small...

[flyer girl]

The dark brown that most likely looks like a bruise is the hair coming back...

[pappy1264]

Normal molt, see it every year, no worries.

Do you give him any bugs? You should be giving him mealworms, waxworms or superworms nightly, live is best. Dust with calcium.

[Frodo9496]

The dark brown that most likely looks like a bruise is the hair coming back...

Looks like a rub pattern.. It could be from going in and out of a nest box or a branch being to close to something above it that the tail is rubbing on.. If the wheel is to small sometimes the tail could rub.. Make sure everything is spaced out enough in the cage and that the wheel is not to small...

Thank you! He does this thing where he likes to hang out between towels hung up in my bathroom, u think maybe the friction of running between the towels could do that to his tail? Like I said no hair loss anywhere else

[Frodo9496]

Normal molt, see it every year, no worries.

Do you give him any bugs? You should be giving him mealworms, waxworms or superworms nightly, live is best. Dust with calcium.

Thank you, I hope that's what it is, I was touching it lightly to see if I could get an reaction out of him besides the normal hey don't touch my tail girl, and no reaction out of the ordinary. I give him mealworms! Just normal calcium powder suplement? Or does it have to be pet friendly?

[pappy1264]

I have had Luna since 2007 and have seen this every year. No worries.

[flyer girl]

Could be but no worries it will grow back... My flyers rub these spots on there tails going in and out of there nest boxes...

[pappy1264]

I do not use nest boxes, I use fleece pouches and it happens to all three of them, and then grows back. Sometimes they will loose a section on the body, too, but the tail is every year, sometimes twice a year.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Although I have never seen molt (on the body) in my flyers one of my flyers did develop this same pattern on about 1 inch of the tail. It stayed like that for quite a while. It did bother me but eventually it did grow back. I was very happy because I was beginning to think it was permanent.

[Frodo9496]

Although I have never seen molt (on the body) in my flyers one of my flyers did develop this same pattern on about 1 inch of the tail. It stayed like that for quite a while. It did bother me but eventually it did grow back. I was very happy because I was beginning to think it was permanent.

Hey, I came back to my thread Bc I was worried Bc the pattern has not changed maybe even worsened a little at the end of his tail. So your saying its normal for it to last a while?? Do I need to put anything on his tail? I hate it's so exposed I'm worried about his skin getting irritated from the lack of hair... Thank you!!

[HRT4SQRLS]

I checked the date on the previous posts and it was a month ago.
I hate to use the word 'normal' because what does that really mean.
My flyer had that pattern on the tail for at least 6 months before it grew back.
I thought he had rubbed it off on the nest box but I wasn't sure. That probably wasn't correct because he still goes in the same wooden nest box and it hasn't come back.

It did eventually grow back. I was happy about that and it hasn't recurred.

Personally I wouldn't put anything on it.

[Frodo9496]

I checked the date on the previous posts and it was a month ago.
I hate to use the word 'normal' because what does that really mean.
My flyer had that pattern on the tail for at least 6 months before it grew back.
I thought he had rubbed it off on the nest box but I wasn't sure. That probably wasn't correct because he still goes in the same wooden nest box and it hasn't come back.

It did eventually grow back. I was happy about that and it hasn't recurred.

Personally I wouldn't put anything on it.

Thank you so much!