I found this image on a Malaysian web site from 2010. I think the poster said they found it on Facebook. I am asking for opinions on what you think has happened here. The poor thing looks like it is or soon will be in distress.

As weird as it sounds it kind of looks as if blood isn't flowing there.
I know that's stupid-just looks like your finger would look if you tied a string around it.

Unless that is somehow normal coloring? I have to agree..His nose looks almost blue, and that usually means lack of circulation..That would make it possible to be a symptom of heart disease..I'm curious about other/wiser opinions?

it looks like dead flesh. when Chloe had to have her tail partially amputated, the tip died and turned black like this, eventually it came off (yuck! i know) but thats what it looks like to me.

I wonder if there is a way to track this and find out what it was.

Facebook Malaysia. Good luck!

...And you know me, I couldnt help but search some more and found this tidbit:

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hi guys.........I'm not under anybody's side what so ever just want to correct the situations about the glider ONLY....I have seen and even hold the sugar glider and the sugar glider is a female and she's actually has a black patch nose on it's face also on it's chest too and she's in healthy conditions. I have been to this fellar's place before ever since there's were a lot of commotions about him in this thread before and I brave myself to go and visit him. Well...... I have seen his place and his gliders......<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

It does look like no circulation. I wonder if it got a thread or something wrapped around it.

It's a gorilla glider!

If it was bad circulation you would think the ears would be the same, but they are pink. Maybe the lord decided to make that one special. I would like to think this because I don't want to think there was something wrong with it.

I am not experienced enough to know for sure...but it's it possible that is just a color mutation? I mean... we have mosaics with white patches etc and we have those patchwork gliders with colored patches - WHICH I know is all a matter of what is expressed where. But, maybe that is what is going on here? Domesticated breeding is still "somewhat" in it's infancy compared to say dogs/cats. I just assume we are going to see anomalies more and more as the breeding continues. The body is complex...and genetics even moreso.

It's eyes are bright and it's ears are perky.. and it's coat looks nice. I'm thinking it might just be an anomaly and not something too serious.

DoubleBogey-that is what I was thinking when I first saw the picture. There are color mutations in other species which could also possibly be present in gliders. It could just be that a lot of melanin is being produced in that area and that the nose is black instead of pink like some dogs who have pink noses with black spots.

However, I took another look at it and something is wrong with it. See how the fur around the nose seems to be missing (compare it to the other gliders in the picture). That and the fact that the nose is an almost translucent gray instead of black (which is usually the case in the mutations I've seen) makes me think that it is a circulation problem. It really does look like the fur has all fallen out and that the skin might possibly be decaying from lack of blood. If anyone talks to the owners-please advice them to see a vet immediately!

As others have said, he looks healthy otherwise. It could just be an anomoly. Anyway, that's what I'm hoping.

I was at the exotic bird show today and there was a parrot breeder telling me about a friend of hers that breeds sugar gliders. She said that this woman ordered 50 from a US company that had them shipped in. The gliders were very sick and they had a "rotting" disease. She said that their jaws...literally rotted off of their faces. I tried to get as much information as possible like who the breeder was, where she got them, what the ailment was labelled. She said that all of that was a mystery and didn't share her "friends" name.

It was confusing to say the least. My humble guess is that she ordered from S&S. I have NO idea though.

Everything else looks good with this glider I am thinking that it is natural. Rare but normal?

My first thought is it photo shopped? Second was a "birth defect"? Interesting. Hope the lil one is okay.

looks like photoshop to me

Wow.... Photoshop never even occured to me, but now that you mention it.

Although, I do want to point out the glider in the back looks like his nose is mostly black with just a hint of pink. So I'm still thinking this glider (if not Photoshopped) is an anomaly. Especially since it looks like a healthy bunch of gliders otherwise.