Is it a must to deworm all tortise

[TortBrain]

Hi all,

I'm curious, as the above title, is it a must to do so for every tortise even though they are all eating well and active?
What's the pros and cons?
Once a year for deworming? Pumpkin seeds will do the trick too?
My local vet will prescribe Panacur, is it ok?

Thanks in advance and cheers!

 

[Scooter]

I knew a guy who had about 8-10 different species of tortoise that were all housed outside in Florida. He never had them dewormed unless they had an overload of parasites. He took all his tortoises to the UF vet school and always told them that he did not want them dewormed. His idea behind this was that in the wild they would have parasites in their intestinal tract naturally, so to keep them as naturally as possible he never dewormed.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

We have never dewormed any of our aldabras.

 

[Laura]

If it aint broke....

do fecals.. if needed, then de worm.. no sense giving them something they dont need...

 

[dmarcus]

I agree with Laura, i wouldn't give it unless it was needed..

 

[TortBrain]

Hiya all,

Much much appreciated for your kind respond.
Keep it coming
Would like to hear more from you guys.

Many thanks.

 

[Jacob]

What are symptoms of worms?

 

[dmarcus]

What are symptoms of worms?

Check there poop and if you see worms in it then you will know.

 

[exoticsdr]

Great advice by the members of TFO....I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Madkins007]

Chopped or pureed pumpkin seeds (and some other items) are considered to be good organic de-wormers that would be reasonably safe to offer annually 'just in case', but there is no clinical evidence they work.

 

[onarock]

In my 20+ years of keeping tortoises Ive visited a vet probably 10 times. Ive taken my tortoises to the vet for not gaining weight, perceived loss of apetite, lethargy and R.I. syptoms. 9 times out of 10 the issue was parasite related. I decided instead of spending $1000+ dollars at the vet, I would have been better off buying a $20 tube of panacur and treating once a year or so.

 

[Jacob]

so basicaly the same,as dogs
to check for thanks!

 

[TortBrain]

In my 20+ years of keeping tortoises Ive visited a vet probably 10 times. Ive taken my tortoises to the vet for not gaining weight, perceived loss of apetite, lethargy and R.I. syptoms. 9 times out of 10 the issue was parasite related. I decided instead of spending $1000+ dollars at the vet, I would have been better off buying a $20 tube of panacur and treating once a year or so.

Am i right to say that "better be safe then sorry?"
Have them deworm?

 

[dmmj]

At my tortoise club every year we have a deworming clinic a vet comes in weighs the animals and then sends home the medications, we have the same people almost every year show up and do this, so I can't say it is good or bad, I think getting them dewomred once won't hurt. My non pro advice.

 

[onarock]

It's only what I do. There are many different parasites that can be picked up or passed on to other torts in many different ways. The problem for me when we discuss the "natural" way is that in the wild tortoises range and therefore can escape infested areas. And, even though they themselves can carry parasites they are not confined to the same 20x20 or what ever size your enclosure is thus preventing them from injesting even more. Any stress brought on by poor husbandry can compound the issue as well, something torts in the wild dont have to worry about. I'm not sure weather or not some of these parasites can survive when its cold or freezing, but I live in a place that never gets cold or freezes. I also keep a few different species, not together, but I dont want to chance it.

In my 20+ years of keeping tortoises Ive visited a vet probably 10 times. Ive taken my tortoises to the vet for not gaining weight, perceived loss of apetite, lethargy and R.I. syptoms. 9 times out of 10 the issue was parasite related. I decided instead of spending $1000+ dollars at the vet, I would have been better off buying a $20 tube of panacur and treating once a year or so.

Am i right to say that "better be safe then sorry?"
Have them deworm?

 

[Paige Lewis]

What are symptoms of worms?

I know symptoms can vary a little but weirdly when mine had worms when i first got him, he was eating like a little pig but was losing weight and respiratory issues accompanied this, no worms at this point were showing in his stools but when the vet checked under microscope he found a very heavy worm load, so in my opinion you wouldn't want to wait until you actually saw worms in the stool to take action. On the other hand, i took my tort for a general check up and he was fit as a fiddle even though the vet found worms when doing a stool sample but it was a very very small amount, the vet wormed him anyway and i gave him probiotics for a while. In the first case he had come with the worms (he was reptile shop bought) but in the second case he actually wasn't living outside as it was too cold at the time but i was feeding him a weed diet from outside.

When my tort got a parasitic load(flagellate and something else), i found the symptoms very obvious, loose, foul smelling stools, losing weight, loss of appetite, lethargy, dehydration and respiratory symptoms.

Sorry for the little essay.
I personally would not treat my tort unless i know he actually has parasites of some sort but what i would definitely do is have a stool sample checked at least twice a year and then take action if necessary.

 

[Badgemash]

Our vet recommended doing a fecal to determine whether parasites were present and in what quantities first. De-worming can be pretty stressful (especially for young torts), so I personally feel it shouldn't be done unless there is a demonstrated need for it.

-Devon