Orange/Pink Urates and Worm

brittjoslyn211

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Hello everyone. So for the past couple of days my Russian has has strange colored urates. The first time it was a slight pink. Which was a few days ago. Today it has an orange tint. He has a very varied diet and nothing has changed drastically from what he's used to. He has been high energy, eating very well and overall very healthy. He's been loving his cactus pads. Although today I took a close look at his poop and he had a worm in it... I only found one. His poop is also normal, not watery. Can anyone let me know what is going on? Or what I should do? Should he see a vet? Thank you!
 

dmmj

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lots of dandelions will tint the urates pink
 

G-stars

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Take a fresh stool sample to your vet. So that they can examine it to see if it's a small load or a large load of parasites. Then look into your options of treating it or not. That's what I would do anyways.
 

dmmj

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Yep that happened to winky (my russian tortoise) and he eats a lot of dandelion leaves. I've never taken Winky to the vet before... is that a bad thing?
I always recommend taking a wild-card tortoise to the vet even if just for a fecal to be done.
 

ZEROPILOT

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First of all, are you sure that it was a worm?
In a healthy tortoise that has worms...and a lot of them do, only worm eggs pass in the poo. A lot of things in poo also look like worms.
Whole, live worms would indicate two things: Either something has happened and some worms are dying or that there is a very large amount of them and medicating is required.
A vet would have no problem identifying a worm if you have one to bring in. And could then prescribe a treatment for that type of parasite and the size of your tortoise, etc. (If needed)
Most tortoises can handle some parasites forever with no issues and a lot of vets "discover" worm eggs in poo samples. That alone wouldn't scare me into immediate action. The poison to kill the parasites may be rougher than just living with a few worms.
 

Tidgy's Dad

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Once, Tidgy ate an earthworm. (must have found it in the garden and 'Gobble')
I saw it in her pooh and panicked but when I'd examined it properly realized what it was.
It had passed through her protected by it's tough outer skin and, apart from a loss of colour and a bite mark on the saddle, was complete.
Perhaps your tortoise had just swallowed something that's also passed through.
I wouldn't worry unless you see more of them, or eggs.
 
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