Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Glider Gossip post -- http://www.sugarglider.com/glidergossip/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28133

My gut feeling is that it is more than just "too much watermelon". I feed watermelon fairly often, especially in the warmer weather and have yet to see something like that.

Sara - the mucous-y look to it really does NOT look like "too much watermelon" to me.

But I'm afraid the owner is already getting defensive from the questioning, so I thought the best thing to do would be to encourage her to keep in contact with her vet.

That is NOT something I've ever seen. Did she say how long she's had the glider? I wonder if it is, in fact, a pulled joey - as was suggested.

When a few of my gliders eat too much watermelon, their stool is kind of reddish and sometimes softer than normal but, I have never seen anything like that picture. However, I have never given them as much watermelon as she said she did.

Looking through her past posts, I was able to find that she's had the glider since March of this year.

She hasn't been with a male. My concern is about the horrid smell she described too. I also feed watermelon quite a bit~including last night. NO difference in stool.

There is no way that is the result of watermelon. I am leaning more toward a joey as well. Remember, gliders can keep a fetus in stasis for a very long time. This means that the joey is conceived, and then development is suspended. It is speculated that this happens in the wild when food supplies are not ideal for growing new life. If this glider is newer to her, then it may have had a poor diet or otherwise stressful home life in the past and is just now feeling that conditions are optimal to allow for the joey to begin growing again. ??????? Just speculating here. Just because she does not have a male cage mate now does not mean that she did not have one in the past. I have heard of gliders getting pregnant up to 1 year after the mate is neutered. Is it possible that happened here? I read where she says the glider has been alone all her life, but I have to wonder how she verified that information. I have been told a lot of things about gliders when they come in to my home that absolutely are not true. I guess my point is that just being TOLD the glider has always been alone does not make it true (I have been told that when people did not want to admit that the cage mate just died) nor does it mean that she never had contact with a male. Again, just speculating.

If not that, then I would say this glider managed to catch herself some dinner and we are just seeing the remains.

Anything else that I can think of would be very bad for that glider. So, I'm choosing to believe one the the two above scenarios.

Those are my two guesses. It is a shame the vet did not send that sample off to the lab. I sure as heck would have had my vet do so.

I agree with you Val! I thought joey right away too. But wow, bizarre. I really do NOT think that is from watermelon. In all the years I have fed watermelon I have NEVER seen poop like that!

My vote......parasite or bacterial..mucous is the bodies way of trying to rid itself of the "irratant" in the bowel, and then the smell, that screams parasite or intestinal bacteria (thinking like c-dif or something along those lines) ..I would highly suggest a fecal being done with a gram stain too

Another thought is that the glider may have passed an ingested foreign substance like polyester stuffing - that could cause bowel irritation and the mucous/bloody discharge with the stool as well.

she claimed a fecal was done but I am not sure if it was done on the pictured 'stool' or on a fresh one the glider presented in the vet's office. (which is what I expect was done)

I once worked with a child in the hospital who after multiple admissions for sinus infections/respiratory problems finally sneezed out a very FOUL SMELLING chunk of foam rubber she had stuffed up her nose at least 2 months before.

Candy, reading her posts, I get the idea that the fecal was done on the sample that she posted a picture of. I could, of course, be wrong though. If I'm not though, and the sample posted was the one analyzed, that one had been sitting out for some time. As such, the fecal might not have been accurate.