In Reply to: new info on self mutilation posted by Dawn on June 30, 2000 at 11:55:21:

: OK, I'll start by saying that I don't have the full details on this yet, but I've asked for further info and will post it as soon as I have it. I hadn't heard this info before, so I believe it's new. I'm sharing it because even this small amount of info may help save a glider.

: While chatting with my vet at a "well baby" checkup last night, she told me that she and two other exotics vets have identified the cause of glider self-mutilation -- she said that it's caused by a reptile parasite found in the wild (I believe she said it originated in New Guinea). Gliders in the wild got it by contact with the same trees that the reptiles were in. Some of those gliders were then imported to the US and were carriers of the parasite, so it's spread.

: Now, I don't know the name of the parasite; if it's the parasite that causes the problem directly (like if the glider is chewing frantically because it bothers them) or if the parasite causes a neurological disorder that leads to the mutilation; or what the treatment is, if there even is any. I have asked my vet for further info, and will share it when I get it.

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