Pinworms

[EmilyTides]

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

I was under the impression that it’s important for tortoises to have some worms in their system. My vet told me they act as “beneficial“ worms. So is it necessary to remove all the worms from a tortoise? And could it potentially make them sicker to remove all worms?

 

[ascott]

I was under the impression that it’s important for tortoises to have some worms in their system. My vet told me they act as “beneficial“ worms. So is it necessary to remove all the worms from a tortoise? And could it potentially make them sicker to remove all worms?

Worms are necessary....I know, gross right. But there is no reason to "rid" the tortoise entirely. Even us humans have critters in our system that makes us work correctly. Also, all of the meds used to rid a tortoise of parasite/critters is a poison....so while you believe you are doing good....we are actually messing with their system....the moment a tortoise eats it is exposed to the possibility of ingesting some type critter.....just as we humans are.....a few pinworms and other critters are not enough of a hazard to force ingestion of the poisons....these are tortoise and their system needs to have a balance....

 

[Stoneman]

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.

I was just reading through the comments on here to make sure I did not repeat what you just said. Thank you for saving me the time.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I was under the impression that it’s important for tortoises to have some worms in their system. My vet told me they act as “beneficial“ worms. So is it necessary to remove all the worms from a tortoise? And could it potentially make them sicker to remove all worms?

It's normal for a lot of tortoises to have some worms. And seeing them gets a knee jerk reaction many times.

A small infestation is not harmful. But it's also not beneficial as they remove nutrients from the animal.
Killing them requires poisoning them. That's never recommended unless needed.
Every case DOES NOT require treatment. Only severe cases. When the animal is otherwise weak or ill.
Since you're in Broward like I am, I'd like to suggest Dr. K. Up at Broward Avian and Exotic in Deerfield Beach
(She has a TV show)
She's rea$onable and she is one of the VERY few vets around here that actually know squat about tortoises.
And welcome to the forum....Since I didn't notice you before.
And thanks for welcoming me to the Florida Tortoise Keepers on FACEBOOK.