So, Zelda's "crunchy" ears are... crunching off.


Here you can sortof see the one ear, now it's a little nubby ear! It doesn't seem to be bothering her, at all. No bleeding, no swelling, and no signs of irritation.

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And here you can see (sortof) the black "crunchiness" of her ears... (this was taken inbetween crabbing, lol)

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So, yeah. Wanted to try to show you guys what was going on. Like I said, the broken off ear doesn't seem to other her. She's not trying to rub her head on anything, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain. I'm going to put some neosporin on it tonight for a few minutes and then wipe it off. I think maybe either Flynn was grooming her, and chewed it off by accident... or maybe the tips of her ears are actually dead, and have fallen off.

Eiher way, this poor girl has seen enough. When we move into Drew's brother's house, we'll have more space, so I think we're going to try to make a PVC cage. The one we have has more vertical bars than horizontal, and I think she's having trouble with it. So the mesh should work better. I think we're going to install some extra "shelves" in it, too. We love her, and she WILL live a good life, whether she loves us, or not!!

Aw how sad :( I think she's a cutie either way

aw poor thing. I have heard that their ears can get REALLY dry.. maybe they are so dry they are cracking apart

@Mammab, it's not because they are dry. It can be caused by stress. Apparently opossums get it, so it's not unlikely that gliders are likely to get it, too.

I thought some kind of earmites could cause it too. I could be wrong though.

What a sweet baby! I know she will have a wonderful life! She is super cute...and she has so much character!

I don't know her history..has she been to the vet to rule out mites or any other issue besides "natural causes"? I've personally only seen this one other time so I have no clue what causes something like this.

Poor baby! It is good at least that it isn't bothering her.

Kyro, I know is saw a post where she did go to the vet, I don't remember the treatment or whole story but I remember the diagnosis of "crunchy ear".

She is even cuter with her new earstyle! Its kind of like a battle wound showing how tough she is. I'm all about girl power!

What tests did the vet run?

I ask because this can be caused by mites, fungal infection or bacterial infection. Any of those could cause this.
Fungal infection being the least likely candidate.

A glider's ears are vascular (have blood flow), so there is the possibility of this being the only sign of a much greater issue. I really suggest you have her in to the vet and have some tests run.

You could also put some QuickDerm on them. :)

I did take her to the vet. The vet gave us some antibiotics to give her. She was free of parasites, the vet gave her a pretty good look-over. I don't think it's mites. Are they contagious, like other parasites? Flynn's ears aren't being affected.

The vet I go to is actually one of the vets that treats the animals at our local zoo, so she's not just the vet that I like, she's a vet that I TRUST with exotics and gliders. I plan on calling the vet in a few days anyway just for a follow up. But, like I said, they aren't getting any WORSE, since we were giving her the antibiotics. She told me that this can be caused by stress. And when we got her, she was ALWAYS stressed. She still is, really. She's pouch protective, and was alone for quite some time before we put her in with Flynn.

I've never heard it caused from stress but again, it's not something I'm familiar with. How would stress cause it? Did she say? I mean, how would stress physically cause ears to dry up?

She told me that opossums get it a lot. She said it's not suprising that Zelda got it, considering her temperment and her stress levels. She didn't specify, and honestly, I didn't ask. She gave me the antibiotic to give Zelda and it stopped spreading immediately. Like I said, I plan on calling the vet in a few days (three day weekend and all) and asking her about it.

You'll have to keep us posted. I'm intrigued!

those ears are cute:)