I received a phone call this afternoon from a young lady who had just lost
               her male glider. I will try to tell her story.

               This morning early I heard my gliders fussing in their nest box. When I
               opened it my male glider was chewing on himself. It looked like
               something was coming out of his rear and was thin and red. I called the
               vet and the receptionest told me I would have to wait till mid afternoon till
               there was an opening in the vet's schedule. I wraped my little guy up and
               held him close to me all morning and most of the afternoon. Did not
               know what else to do. He just looked so sad. Never once crabbed and he
               did not want to leave me. I held him so he would not
               chew on himself anymore. Just as we arrived at the vets he stoped
               breathing. Everything after that seems unreal. The vet tried frantically to
               call a couple of other vets in the area as to why my little one had chewed
               himself. I lost my glider and I do not know why. The vet said it was
               something rare but didn't know what. He did an autopsy. I could not bare
               to bring my little one home. Now I must cope with the loss and so will his
               mate who is about to have a little one come out of pouch any day now.

               The young lady called me after the ordeal was over. She did not realize
               that her glider was in very serious trouble when she called the vet. This
               explains why they were not concerned with an emergency.

               Her glider was housed in a very large cage and was made of galvanized
               wire. It was cleaned weekly with the garden hose outside.

               From the information she gave me it sounds like her little one died from a
               bacterial infection and self mutalated himself to rid himself of the pain.
               The red thin strings she saw him chewing on were his penile
               appendages and he also had chewed into the surounding abdominal area
               too. He was only 1 1/2 years oop.

               I am writing this story so that perhaps someone else may read this and if
               by chance they have a galvanized cage please be sure to clean it once a
               week with hot water and bleach and then rinse with clean water.

               This bacterial infection as to my knowledge has only been seen in young
               males that were housed in galvanized cages. Young males spend more
               time scent marking their cages than older males. With the urine and
               bacteria on the wire it enters through the gliders penis. And the stage is
               now set. There are no apparent warnings until it is too late.

               May this story save a young male gliders life if he resides in a glavanized
               cage. May his owner clean it with hot water and bleach to rid it of
               bacteria so he does not become ill. If only the owner of the above story
               knew.