GliderCENTRAL

Warning about Drift Wood inside of Caged Area

Posted By: Anonymous

Warning about Drift Wood inside of Caged Area - 03/29/01 05:20 AM

This is an account of an email received from a client about his three month oop. baby Sugar Glider named Pip. Pip suddenly became ill with vimiting and dirreah. After several days and one vet trip to an experienced DVM, Pip's owner contacted me for the second time.<P>Chris, This is ver difficult watching Pip being so sick. Wish you had taken him to Dr. Bradley DVM. I know she is far but she is very good.<P>Judie, I took Pip into see Dr. Bradley yesterday around 2:00pm. She is very good, and I could tell right away that she knew what she was doing. She ordered alot of tests. She asked if it was ok to put him under so she could draw blood and such, which would be less stressfull on him. I told her it was fine. I called back around 6:30 pm to check in, and she said that he came out of the anthestic ok. However, he choked on some fluids that he coughed up, and they were unable to revive him. She had ordered an x-ray because he had alot of pain in his abdomen. Looking at the intestinal walls, she says they were barely visible, and she believes that he had a puncture/rupture. She believes it may have been caused by something he ate (piece of wood shaving). I had purchased a block of driftwood a few weeks ago, I thought it was something he would enjoy climbing on, as it had holes in it and places to hide/explore. I believe he may have chewed a piece off. I did check the message board on sugarglider.net first though, to see if anybody had problems with the driftwood. I didn't see anything there, so I introduced it to his envoroment. I believe that may have been what caused all the problems.<P>Well, I just wanted to let you know what has happened and to thank you for all of your help. Maybe someday I'll decide to try again, but right now, it's just a little too hard.<P>Thanks again for your help,<P>Chris<P>*Please be very carefull about wood pieces introduced to the caged area of your Glider.<BR>Be sure to use safe toys and if in doubt, then do not use them. Judie Hausmann<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Judie (edited 03-29-2001).]
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Warning about Drift Wood inside of Caged Area - 04/04/01 01:55 PM

Thanks for the warning and the post. I'm wondering if it was 'real' driftwood or simulated through an artificial process. I'm curious because I've had bamboo and a wood 'bird house' in with my gliders, and for two years used a plywood nest box for them. They've shredded the bamboo, peeled the bark from the birdhouse, chewed the ends off the supports, and scraped at the inside of the boxes(both varnished and unvarnished), bedded on aspen shavings and have never come to harm. Until recently I didn't know there was a danger. They have a plastic nest and cloth bedding, now, but still have the bird house to play on, and hardwood perches. Natural driftwood is imbedded with tiny sea creatures, many of which contain toxins that remain even when the organism dies. I'm wondering if the glider may have been accidently poisoned, rather than punctured by a splinter. In any case, I wouldn't use driftwood.
© 2024 GliderCENTRAL