is deworming common?

[Jodie]

sadly i cannot take my turtle poop in for $25. The nearest vet who sees reptiles wants a $125 fee to come in first. Just for the initial visit. i know this b/c i had called about my Dart frogs about 1.5 yrs ago. They won't do a fecal without an overall exam first which is pretty pricey if you ask me. I guess i can afford it, but it makes me angry to have to pay such a high price for an initial exam.

That stinks. I would check around. My close vet doesn't do exotics at all, but will do a fecal for me. They send them out anyway. My tortoise vet is a long way away, and dog and cat vet is very close.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Just a thought.
I printed out photos of parasite eggs as well as worms common in my tortoises and for $30 scored a very high quality Japanese high powered microscope at a yard sale.
Another $20 for a box of glass slides and I was ready to do my own diagnosis. (before calling the vet)
There are a lot of things in tortoise poop that can look like eggs, but only worms look like worms and not everything is dangerous, as previously posted.
I'm anxious to take one of my diagnosis to the vet and see if she agrees next time. However, all test so far have been clear. I check maybe one random poop every 2-3 months.
Eventually I'm hoping to be able to self diagnose my own tortoises and treat by weight. (Clearly, I'm NOT at that point yet.) And thankfully, it seems as though worm infestations may be in my past.
I'm not planning on adding any other tortoises to my small herd.
B.T.W. I also spent over $2,000 nursing a sick tortoise back to health.
You can only do what you can do.