Pinworms

[Jay Bagley]

Hey @Jay Bagley I was scrolling through and saw this thread and was wondering how Sheldon is doing?

Hey there, he seems to be doing ok. His activity level has increased quite a bit since the first dosage. He gets a second dosage on Saturday. Thank you for asking[emoji3]

 

[Jay Bagley]

I have been having one issue while trying to deworm him. I will soak him in the morning when I get home from work right around 7:30 in the morning. He poops in his water which I wanted him to and then I go to bed. But within the 5 to 6 hours that I sleep, he still ends up pooping in his enclosure and sometimes has poop smeared on his face. So I do worry about him reinfecting himself while I am treating him.

 

[vladimir]

I have been having one issue while trying to deworm him. I will soak him in the morning when I get home from work right around 7:30 in the morning. He poops in his water which I wanted him to and then I go to bed. But within the 5 to 6 hours that I sleep, he still ends up pooping in his enclosure and sometimes has poop smeared on his face. So I do worry about him reinfecting himself while I am treating him.

Hmm, not sure what the best strategy is there. Vlad seems to mainly go in the bath when he's soaking, but recently he's had a few instances where he's gone a little bit inside his enclosure. It's usually pretty fluid, and there is not usually very much -- unlike when he goes in the tub.

I've been trying to remove any newspaper/cardboard/whatever that I notice has gotten dirty as soon as possible, but it is a concern for me as well. I'm getting ready to move him to his new enclosure in the next few weeks/months and I don't want to bring any existing issues into the new setup

 

[Jay Bagley]

Hmm, not sure what the best strategy is there. Vlad seems to mainly go in the bath when he's soaking, but recently he's had a few instances where he's gone a little bit inside his enclosure. It's usually pretty fluid, and there is not usually very much -- unlike when he goes in the tub.

I've been trying to remove any newspaper/cardboard/whatever that I notice has gotten dirty as soon as possible, but it is a concern for me as well. I'm getting ready to move him to his new enclosure in the next few weeks/months and I don't want to bring any existing issues into the new setup

I think the majority of it is coming out in his soaking water. But since I removed his substrate, he has been so active. I'm thinking the dewormer has taken effect, and also he's just mad about the changes in his enclosure. So I don't know if all the extra walking around is helping him have more bowel movements. I tried the cardboard, and he would try digging through it. And if he got one little piece tore up, he would try to eat it. So for the time being I'm going with no substrate.

 

[vladimir]

I think the majority of it is coming out in his soaking water. But since I removed his substrate, he has been so active. I'm thinking the dewormer has taken effect, and also he's just mad about the changes in his enclosure. So I don't know if all the extra walking around is helping him have more bowel movements. I tried the cardboard, and he would try digging through it. And if he got one little piece tore up, he would try to eat it. So for the time being I'm going with no substrate.

Yeah I'm not surprised. Sheldon seems to be quite the little character

I'd just try to clean it as soon as you notice it when you wake up - not sure if anyone else has any ideas.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Yeah I'm not surprised. Sheldon seems to be quite the little character

I'd just try to clean it as soon as you notice it when you wake up - not sure if anyone else has any ideas.

Definitely, been cleaning it as soon as I wake up. He has this uncanny knack for doing it right underneath one of his basking bulbs. So it is just baked on by the time I wake up LOL

 

[Kasia]

For the bedding - Old towels, t-shirts and other material scraps. He poops, pees, you put another one and throw dirty one away. Almost impossible to eat ( never say never) and easy to clean ( you don’t)

 

[vladimir]

Ugh yeah Vladimir has been going right on his red Kane heat mat lately, so it gets to maintain a nice warm temperature makes for fun cleanup.

 

[Jay Bagley]

For the bedding - Old towels, t-shirts and other material scraps. He poops, pees, you put another one and throw dirty one away. Almost impossible to eat ( never say never) and easy to clean ( you don’t)

Thank you, I do have a ton of old t-shirts laying around from my skinnier days. I will give it a try.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Ugh yeah Vladimir has been going right on his red Kane heat mat lately, so it gets to maintain a nice warm temperature makes for fun cleanup.

lol, you aren't kidding man.

 

[Markw84]

I have been having one issue while trying to deworm him. I will soak him in the morning when I get home from work right around 7:30 in the morning. He poops in his water which I wanted him to and then I go to bed. But within the 5 to 6 hours that I sleep, he still ends up pooping in his enclosure and sometimes has poop smeared on his face. So I do worry about him reinfecting himself while I am treating him.

The main concern is breaking the cycle of worm - egg - worm. That cycle takes about up to 4 weeks. Eggs are viable for up to 3 weeks in the environment. So, if you kill off all the adult (egg producing) worms with the first treatment, the second treatment is to kill off any eggs that were present and subsequently developed into worms and kill them before they become egg producers. A third treatment at 4 weeks also is to ensure any left over eggs that could be found by the tortoise are also killed off as by then any of the last eggs that could have survived would have become worms.

So once the adult worms have been killed, the window for eggs surviving is normally up to 3 weeks. IN our nice, perfect, incubation type chambers, that could be a bit longer. But with fresh substrate at about a week or two after first treatment, there should be no more new eggs being produced. At that point, you are trying to kill off the new young worms from any left-over eggs contracted during the first few weeks of treatment. So a complete substrate change and cleaning at about 2 weeks is what you should be looking at.

 

[Jay Bagley]

The main concern is breaking the cycle of worm - egg - worm. That cycle takes about up to 4 weeks. Eggs are viable for up to 3 weeks in the environment. So, if you kill off all the adult (egg producing) worms with the first treatment, the second treatment is to kill off any eggs that were present and subsequently developed into worms and kill them before they become egg producers. A third treatment at 4 weeks also is to ensure any left over eggs that could be found by the tortoise are also killed off as by then any of the last eggs that could have survived would have become worms.

So once the adult worms have been killed, the window for eggs surviving is normally up to 3 weeks. IN our nice, perfect, incubation type chambers, that could be a bit longer. But with fresh substrate at about a week or two after first treatment, there should be no more new eggs being produced. At that point, you are trying to kill off the new young worms from any left-over eggs contracted during the first few weeks of treatment. So a complete substrate change and cleaning at about 2 weeks is what you should be looking at.

Thankyou Mark for taking the time to shed a little more light on a life cycle of this parasite. Your advice is very much appreciated and will be followed.

 

[Jay Bagley]

I just got a phone call from the vet, the second time around for deworming worked. His fecal came back negative.

 

[vladimir]

I just got a phone call from the vet, the second time around for deworming worked. His fecal came back negative.

Hooray!!! Congrats to you and Sheldon.

I actually got a sample last night from Vlad - on my way to take it for testing in a little while. Hoping for good news.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Hooray!!! Congrats to you and Sheldon.

I actually got a sample last night from Vlad - on my way to take it for testing in a little while. Hoping for good news.

Thanks man!! Since the first time didn't go very well, I was dreading the worst. His activity level has increased dramatically. And so has his appetite. Good luck with Vlad's sample, definitely let us know how it turns out.[emoji16]

 

[vladimir]

Thanks man!! Since the first time didn't go very well, I was dreading the worst. His activity level has increased dramatically. And so has his appetite. Good luck with Vlad's sample, definitely let us know how it turns out.[emoji16]

It's must be the day for negative results! Vlad got the okay from the sample I brought down today, so we're hoping to get him moved into his new enclosure this weekend.

I'll probably do another sample in a few months to see how things are then, but I'm glad this came back negative.

 

[Jay Bagley]

It's must be the day for negative results! Vlad got the okay from the sample I brought down today, so we're hoping to get him moved into his new enclosure this weekend.

I'll probably do another sample in a few months to see how things are then, but I'm glad this came back negative.

That's awesome!! Congratulations to the both of you. Looking forward to seeing pictures of him in his new enclosure.

 

[Jay Bagley]

Lucky guy[emoji4]

 

[vladimir]

Thanks!



He got out in the yard to celebrate

 

[Jay Bagley]

Thanks!

View attachment 237391

He got out in the yard to celebrate

He is looking good, what a happy tort.