I have kept up with updates on my lil melanistic glider MJ on fb, but was asked to share here as well
MJ
Was oop on or about sept 27tg weighing 15.1gs
I noticed he was different and what we call melanistic. Because the 1st 2 born in the us (from 2 different
breeders had passed at about 1 week oop , i was very observant, weighing them every day 2x a day and I charted his weight. At about day 5 oop I noticed that he had not gained any weight in a few days. So I called my
vet and he came out. He looked at momma and she had mill and no signs of mastitis but we watched the baby nurse and it seamed as if he just wasn't suckling well. So I began supplementing him. He was supplemented 4x a day and now gaining steadily at about a gram a day. Both the melanistics before him and the other twin melanistics all had the same thin, wiry looking but soft fur. And all have come from crossing bf x bf lines.
As he was growing supplementing went down to 3x a day to 2 times to 1x a day and when he was about 7-8 weeks he was fine and eating all on his own.
I had been in contact with specialists , geneticists and
breeders about him throughout his journey. Dec 20 2016 we went to tufts university where he saw a team of doctors. He saw the exotic
vet, interns, a dermatologist and a cardiologist was consulted. Everyone loves him as he is quite the ladies man
They did full body X-rays, a fur pull test, checked his nails, ran 2 skin tests and although we wanted a CBC their attempts to draw blood were not succesfull.
MJ seams to be doing quite well concidering all. He has kept most of his fur except his belly has always been false and his tail fur is thinning. He has had him manly lol bald spot since he has been about 3 weeks oop.
He will be going back to tufts I'm a few months for some more testing but for now he is ok. He weighs 91 gs and is quite attatched to me as I am to him. He has a neutered male cagemate for now till we have more testing done.