Preventative Worming?

[Tom]

Does anyone have a captive raised tort that has actually been diagnosed, by a vet, with intestinal parasites?

Does anyone use any preventative wormers?

Do I need to worry about feeding wild grown weeds and stuff? I make 100% sure there are no fertilizers, weed killers or pesticides in all the areas where I collect, but what about parasites?

 

[Yvonne G]

Way back in the dark ages, when I first became interested in tortoises, it was standard practice to de-worm tortoises twice a year, spring and fall, whether you thought they had worms or not.

Now, in my opinion, they should only be de-wormed after a fecal examination has shown them to have worms. In that case, Panacur is the de-wormer of choice.

I also used to think that we had to use Flagyll for the amoeba-type parasites, but I recently read a post here that said Panacur also kills those types.

 

[Yvonne G]

I forgot to mention, birds pooping on your tortoise's graze might get exposed to worms.

 

[GBtortoises]

I've never believed in "preventative" de-worming.
The only tortoises I have ever treated for any internal parasites were newly acquired ones and then only if they showed symptoms of needing it. As far as I can recall, they were all wild caught animals. I don't ever remember having to treat a captive born animal. But that also relies heavily on how and what they were kept with prior to me getting them.

I still believe in and practice quarrantine for all new tortoises, wild caught, long term captives and captive born animals.

If the tortoise is healthy and active, leave it alone. Those parasites do perform a beneficial function in a healthy animal.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the replies. Just making sure, I'm still doing it right.