Concerned

[Jill Marie]

It has been quite a long time since I have posted on here, or even visited here (sorry 'bout that) but I wanted to reach out to all of you in the UK area.  I know some of you visit Glider Central and Laurie's Glider Gazette and some of you from there visit here as well.  So if this has been discussed and I just missed it, I do apologize.

I really only want to hear about cases in the UK.  NOT in the USA as I can read all that case history on GC or LGG.  I really want to hear only about any possible cases NOT in the USA.  Thanks.

There seems to be an unusually high number of joeys in the USA that are coming down with some sort of yeast or staph infection.  It causes yellowish staining, crinkly looking sticky or wet fur, and weight loss, and some joeys have died from it.  Have you seen anything like this in the past?  Recently?  How often?

I am trying to figure out what the common denominators are in these cases.  If you have had issues like this, what were the ages of the joeys?  Adults?  where they standard greys or were there color variations?  what diets were fed?  supplements used?  brand of honey? cleaners used on cages?  was there a recent stressful change in the gliders environment?  were they treated by a vet?  was it successful?

[Marie]

Not heard of this problem in the UK, I've seen comments on Facebook from US breeders but that's it.  Sorry 

[Jill Marie]

Thanks Marie
This is what concerns me so much.  If you guys have never seen this over on your side, but we have all over here, what is different from your end?  Genetics?  Diet?  Environment?  Just trying to narrow it down.

[munshkin]

I have only bred a few babies but have never had a yeast problem with babies or mums so far. We do recommend a much let sweet diet over here, mine only get sweet stuff or honey as a licky treat.

[Marie]

I take it swabs have been taken from females which have had joeys that are affected?

[Marie]

I have a glider friend in Italy I've asked her about this too as she is on a large Italian forum.

[lou]

No problems at this end of the country either and i have not heard it from others I help either. It could be down to a number of things tbh as our diets are drastically different to US diets as is our climate different to parts of the US and obviously a different gene pool too.

[Marie]

Jill Marie, someone in Italy is asking for more info.  Is it happening at a specific time of year, or in a particular climate?  Can you point me in the direction of one of the threads, I've had a quick look on GC but it's such a huge forum, and I'm not a member of LGG so can't see the forum. 

[Rhianna]

be interesting to know if the majority of these cases were from colour variations or not? Here in the UK aswell, we only have the greys. No colour morphs. But as mentioned, our diets are totally different aswell. Less sweet stuff, more fresh fruit and veg...

[Jill Marie]

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1195824/Strange_brown_coloring_Bad#Post1195824

http://www.glidercentral.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1198930/Re_Help_What_are_these_Joeys_R#Post1198930

these are two on GC.  The better threads are on LGG.  They have posted on LGG quite a few pics and case histories.

One member started a site to compile data to help find some common denominators.  You can view that here>
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3316046/sugar-glider-illness-pdf-november-30-2011-7-58-pm-217k?da=y

It doesnt seem as though climate is playing a large part in this.  There has been some testing done and while it SEEMS it may be a yeast/staph thing, it doesnt seem as though anything is conclusive.

[helen88uk]

Them joeys look terrible! Poor little things x

[Rhianna]

poor little things! but nope, never seen anything like that at my end!

[Usha77]

Thank you, Jill Marie, for trying to see if there is others experiencing this.  Many of you may know that I am not a breeder - all my boys are castrated, but you most likely don't know that I have been glider sitting for my best friend who is a breeder.  The joey that came oop here started developing these symptoms at right around 2 weeks oop and my best friend and I have been taking her and her parents to the vet to try to see what is wrong.  I absolutely fell in love with this little girl while she was here and I miss her now that my best friend has brought her home to treat and hand raise.  I am just hoping and praying that our little Mystery can beat this.  I have a strong feeling that this is becoming more dominant now because we have so many breeders and breeding gliders in the US now.  It's possible that some of our recent imports were carriers and I'm afraid that other countries who are importing gliders may need to worry about this in the future.  What's really sad, is that possums (of which our gliders are included) in Australia seem to be having this problem sometimes, as well.  Perhaps it is a natural thing and is just now making its presence known in the U.S.  Maybe it's just becoming more widespread and well-known because the numbers have increased and the communication is there to report it.  We really have no idea what is going on, but we have MANY glider owners and vets trying to get to the bottom of it.  My vet is worried that if it continues to spread and the cause is unknown, that gliders will be banned.  I hope and pray that you all never have to go through what some of us are dealing with. 

[Marie]

People don't tend to import gliders in to the UK due to the quarantine issue, some have been released from quarantine recently but they are not joeys and are in perfect health ( )

I hope Mystery beats whatever it is and the vets find out what it is soon.  Has an anti fungal treatment been tried? 

[Usha77]

Thank you, Marie.  So far, she's on a broad spectrum antibiotic while they continue testing.