In Reply to: Teeth continueing to grow??? posted by Bourbon on June 25, 2000 at 11:26:56:

: Again this is to open the discussion about this again..
: As Kim had told Grasshopper, Gliders are not rodents, their teeth as a general rule DOES NOT continue to grow, there have been some very rare instances that they have..
: now due to the fact that they have skin that covers their teeth and when they need their teeth they pull the skin down to expose their teeth, could it be possible that if those muscles are weakened, that the skin may not be held up there in the proper place? could it also be possible that the gliders whose teeth seemed to be longer could have been calcium defienct or something similar and their teeth were softened to see that maybe they had started to curve in?
: There is so much outdated info out there, that we must remember at the time that most of the books and the info out there was written BEFORE the calcium ratios were worked out?
: In the past 3 or 4 years I have only heard of one case where the gliders teeth had to be trimmed because of the overgrowth of it's teeth, and that glider came from very unfavorable conditions, which included an awful diet, overcrowding in a cage, the other gliders picking on her, and just downright a stressful situation..
: If it were true that gliders teeth continue to grow, they would chew on everything and anything as a way to keep them trimmed down. We haven't seen this, we have wood in our cages and the only thing they chew on is the live branches we add, and then they only pierce them and strip the bark, in one cage we have the fruit flavored block toys for parrots, they only chew on that a little bit, but if it were lets say my daughters rat, she chews EVERYTHING, plastic, wood, you name it.. but they have too, gliders don't.

I feel very strongly that the teeth issue is diet and health realated. When a glider (or human) become malnurished or dehydrated the turger of the muscle and skin are compromised. This could at least be the cause of "long teeth" especially if the poor diet continues. It will take a while for the turger to return. During that time I would think the glider would have to compensate for the elongated teeth.
Would they be healty enought to chew on wood? I would think not as with the gums retracting the teeth would be looseer than normal. It would perpetuate the condition untill the glider is nourished and rehaped.

Follow Ups: