Oh, goodness, I sure hope your babies recover quickly. It's amazing - we go with the diets that are "proven" and try to watch every little thing that goes into our babies, only to find out later that it might be bad. It's frightening. Hang in there - Praying for the wee ones.

Cyndie, I could have told that your babies are spoiled and I would not have charged you anything.:)

I am glad you found out what was wrong with your babies and they can be treated. I sincerly hope the source of this can be found soon. I can't imagine how stressful not knowing where this came from has been.

You need anything you call me, I am always here for you.

Cyndi what sort of fluke is it? I am currently studying parasites in wildlife as part of a larger course and am very interested in this. Thanks!

I didn't thing to ask that. I will try to remember to call an ask I will be on the road tomorrow so not sure I wont forget.

KB how is Stormy and her family doing today?

How did your vet test for the parasites fecal float or fecal smear? I am just wondering because upon talking to the vets office here and talking to the lab I am getting 2 different answers for testing for Trichs. I figured since it is time for my gliders wellness exams I might as well have them look for those also as a precaution and learning more just in case.

Although they didn't test the worm, when Petey was sick (we believe it was Roo that passed it, as his cloaca had swelled shut), a live worm was passed. It was a round worm. Roo came to me after living on birdseed for over 2 1/2 years. I have wormed them both now and I am taking in a sample to be tested. The worm was about 3/4" long, thin, and white and MOVING!

KB I hope everyone is doing ok. Please let me know if you need anything.

Thank you for the update, Cyndie. Hope Stormy is over all of this quickly!

Always learning something new and interesting when visiting the vets office that is for sure.

I havent had a chance to talk to Cyndie yet, CALL ME GIRL, so will only tell you a bit of what Tristan stated today.

I asked him about the pollen in the stool. He said it doesnt mean anything bad, just that the body didnt digest that portion of it. Not a bad thing or anything to worry about.

I asked him about freezing the bee pollen. He said he has never seen a need to before.

I asked him the chances of the bee pollen being the host to the flukes. He said is it possible? ANYTHING is possible. Is it probable, more than likely not.

He then got to thinking....he was trying to figure out how parasites of ANY kind could be associated with the bee pollen. Here is what he says...

He starts off with "You are probably going to laugh at this, but it is true"
"Bee farmers are very concerned about parasites getting into their bee farms. Parasites come in, they get on the bees, in the honeycomb and can also have an effect of the production of the honey, so bee farmers always keep an eye on their bees to make sure to keep all parasites out."

This is another reason why RAW honey should not be fed. So by freezing the bee pollen you are killing off anything that could create a *possiblity* of infecting your pollen.

Ok, so that makes sense...and yes, it does sound funny when you think of a bee getting a parasite, who would of thunk it. But those bee farmers more than likely love their bees, like we love our gliders.

So even though he does think the possiblity of any parasites came from the pollen, knowing what I know now, I will from now on Freeze my pollen, just so the *chance* is not there.

We also discussed the meds, and that part I want to wait until I talk to Cyndie before I say anything on that issue.

He also stated that there are two different types of parasites that look just like flukes....and he said it is very very rare for a glider to have flukes, but once again, not impossible. he wanted to know the host of the flukes, normally that would be snails, frogs, etc...and would like to be able to talk with Cyndies vet on this. He said he always wants to know of something new, so they can track it the best as possible incase it becomes wide spread.

I forgot to ask him about the mealies though....but sending him off an email as soon as I get cyndies vets name.

And that is the lesson for today folks.

So for all of you with bee pollen, dont take any chances, go throw it in your freezer. (but you dont have to wait two weeks to use it. ;))

Pollen does not need to come just from Bees.

About 4 1/2 years ago... I had a fecal done on Sesamie and Shy Baby. I had a fecal smear done with the dye. Bradley found Pollen in the stool along with elevated amount of bacteria.

Since I do not feed anything but the BML diet plan... either the pollen was in the honey itself, perhaps the fruit or it had been airborne and contaminated their food.

However, my gliders were not sick from parasites. Seems at that time Sesamie was very sick from a bacterial illness from stress of having new babies because Shy Baby was too young to know he was to babysit the little ones. Baytril was used to treat the infection. It took about a month for Sesamie to get well. I had to have weekly fecals done on her till she was well.

I still feed Honey from the Bee Farm in the BML. But rarely do I feed mealies.

Panacure is usually given for flukes or unknown parasites and usually given 1 x week for total of 3 doses.

Is the glider named Stormy... a BEW female that was orig. named Sprite?

After reading this thread I just went and tossed my bee pollen in the freezer. I guess from now on it's going to stay there!

This also makes me glad I've been out of mealies for quite awhile (months). I used to order from Grubco...till their prices went up.

if the source was the meal worms, is it just live worms? what if you freeze them?

Judie I also have a BEW named Sprite from Kris (one of your babies). This was Stormy. I got her from Sheila about 2 years ago (Sheila was the first person I called because Stormy is her baby too) In VA right now but checking in. The gliders are at home and my mom and James are giving meds till I get home. The gliders HATE the flavor so I need to ask what he mixed so I don't get that one again.