maggots in yolk sac?

[turtle10012]

My friend just called me freaking out because her tortoise just hatched, and there are maggots (and a small hole) it it's yolk sac. What do I tell her? Should she put meat on it (like drawing out bot fly larvae?). If anyone has any insight, info, I'd greatly appreciate!

By the way - I'm new, so thanks for any help to a newbie

 

[Meg90]

if this is her first tortoise hatch, she has probably never seen a newborn before, and there is a good chance that nothing is wrong at all. Tell her not to put meat on it, but to take a pic ASAP and post it here, one of the experts will tell you whats wrong.

Until then, get a clean container and put a glob of antibiotic ointment in the bottom and set the hatchling on that and then back in the incubator. The ointment fights off infection and the incubator keeps the baby warm.

We need a picture to know whats going on.

 

[Yvonne G]

Those pesky little gnat-like creatures that you get in the house occasionally are the culprit. I hatched out some babies a couple years ago and I had an incubator full of gnats. I didn't realize it until I gave two of the babies to my sister, Maggie, but one of them had maggots in what was left of the yolk sac on his plastron. I guess if you have gnats in the incubator, then maggots on the babies is a pretty common thing to happen. Just wash them off and plaster either vaseline or triple antibiotic ointment over the whole thing. That will smother any maggots that you don't get off by rinsing.

Yvonne