Infection could occur when the animal was fed on the common shrew (Sorex aranea); larvae of the nematode began to be excreted by the mustelid some three weeks later.
Larvae passed in the faeces of infected mustelids are ingested by slugs such as Deroceras reticulatum.
Mustelids do not usually eat molluscs, but the slugs may be eaten by a mammalian paratenic host such as Apodemus sp.
No developmental stages take place in this host and the nematode rests in the glandular zones in the head or possibly in the muscle or connective tissue.
Further development takes place when this host is eaten by a mustelid and the parasite moves into its nasal tissues.