Thick Nail Growth?

What causes thick nail growth? I have two young females born here, 14 months and 7 months OOP, with thick nails on their back feet. Their nails are trimmed regularly. They are non-breeding cagemates. I notch them every couple of months, but it just grows back. I have seen this more often on older gliders, but these two are pretty young.

They were switched from the Blended diet to original HPW in February 2011. Their weights are low, at 53 and 62 grams tonight. They are down a few grams from their last weigh-in. Both have been to the vet recently because of their weights and my concerns with their diet, but no problems were detected and fecals were negative.

Their mom is also tiny. She is 70 grams, with twin joeys about 2-1/2 weeks OOP. She has raised two singles with no problems, but doesn't have enough milk for twins. I have been giving her extra HPW, booster milk, ensure and mealies. I have been hand-feeding these babies, who came OOP at 7.3 and 7.4 grams. They have been breeding back-to-back for a year, definitely not my choice. I had dad neutered last Thursday. The parents do a great job caring for the joeys, as long as I keep their bellies full.

Nancy, I have a couple that have thick nails no matter what I do. Sometimes, if you keep them well trimmed very regularly you can eliminate it, I hear. However, that hasn't worked here :( I just watch them. To me it seems that the ones with the thicker nails, the nails grow faster, too.

Ditto here, Shawna. :(

Ruthie came to me with VERY thick nails. It literally took me almost 8 months, but little by little I trimmed them back. They're still a little thick today, but look so much better than they used to. What I do is have a good light on the nail and look for the actual normal curve of the nail - the transluscent part. I differentiate that from the opaque thick part. I don't trim at the tip - I actually get UNDER the nail, at the underside/bottom of it and trim UP. So I trim the very tip and then trim the bottom thick part off. You should be able to see the actual regular normal nail if you hold it in good light and be able to see where the thick part starts. That's what worked for me anyway. I don't even know if I made sense on that one lol. Bottom line, even with her thick nails, you can still see her normal looking nail and the thick part that has grown UNDER the regular nail, ya know? Trim THAT.