Russian Tortoise Pinworms

[MichaelL]

Hey everyone, I am new to the forum. I have a question about my male russian tortoise I bought from Petsmart. So I bought him in November, and when I got home and he first pooped I noticed he had tons of pinworms. I didnt want to return him because I wanted to save him and i liked him. I went to the vet and they recomended panacur 10% paste form for horses, giving him a dosage of .5 mL daily for three to five days, then again two weeks later.
So this worked initially, I saw dead worms and it seemed to have ridded him of them. Then a few weeks after the last dose I notice the pinworms in his poop again. I repeated the doses the vet told me and they just are not disapearing. Can the pinworms grow resistant to panacur? please help, i want him rid of the worms but the panacur just wont kill all of them. Is there a problem with the dosage or something? He weighs four hundred grams.

 

[Markw84]

@MichaelL

Your tortoise is simply reinfecting himself as pinworms are a direct lifecycle parasite. Eggs in the feces are ingested as the tortoise drinks water where he has pooped or from food the picks up contamination from substrate or the food dish. I like to see a 3 treatment regimine or even 4 when the load is heavy and until you get a clean fecal test. The worms in your tortoise will lay eggs and those eggs can be present and take up to 2-3 weeks to hatch. So an initial treatment of Panacur will kill the adult and larval worms, but not the eggs present. They may then hatch just after a second treatment 2 weeks later - so you will have a new batch of worms going!

I recommend treating with Panacur and then cleaning the enclosure and changing the substrate completely. Keep really good hygine and soak the tortoise daily to encourage as much poop in the bath and much less in the enclosure. Be sure to pick up any that does happen in the enclosure, and wash food an water dishes well before feeding each day. Be real careful for especially the next 3-4 weeks. Some vets prescribe weekly doses of Panacur for up to 4 weeks. I like 3 treatments 2 week apart. Panacur is quite safe and has a proven extremely wide safety margin.

 

[Kelly.324]

Hi I second what Markw84 has said .

Mine was also full of a heavy load of pinworms when I got him. It was treated by the vet but they, and members on here, also recommended the following which I think really helped to shift them (he got the all clear only yesterday so it took about 2 months altogether to be totally rid of them).
Keep him on newspaper and change it daily. I also used a reptile safe disinfectant to clean his table everyday.
Long warm soaks once or twice every day.
Basically just keep everything really really clean, make sure you clean any poo away ASAP and I also disinfected his hide and rocks in the table.
Rinse any and all food before feeding it and make sure to clean any and all old food out of the table (made easier when you’re cleaning and replacing the newspaper each day). And wash the water and food dishes very thoroughly, I soaked them in boiling water for each use.

Hope that helps

 

[MichaelL]

Alright. Thanks a ton, you both had great info and i can't wait to finally have them gone as I follow the two week apart dosage now. I will keep everything clewan and do more soaks as well. Thanks a ton!

 

[Melissacoop]

@MichaelL

Your tortoise is simply reinfecting himself as pinworms are a direct lifecycle parasite. Eggs in the feces are ingested as the tortoise drinks water where he has pooped or from food the picks up contamination from substrate or the food dish. I like to see a 3 treatment regimine or even 4 when the load is heavy and until you get a clean fecal test. The worms in your tortoise will lay eggs and those eggs can be present and take up to 2-3 weeks to hatch. So an initial treatment of Panacur will kill the adult and larval worms, but not the eggs present. They may then hatch just after a second treatment 2 weeks later - so you will have a new batch of worms going!

I recommend treating with Panacur and then cleaning the enclosure and changing the substrate completely. Keep really good hygine and soak the tortoise daily to encourage as much poop in the bath and much less in the enclosure. Be sure to pick up any that does happen in the enclosure, and wash food an water dishes well before feeding each day. Be real careful for especially the next 3-4 weeks. Some vets prescribe weekly doses of Panacur for up to 4 weeks. I like 3 treatments 2 week apart. Panacur is quite safe and has a proven extremely wide safety margin.

What is the best way to administer the Panacur at home?

 

[Markw84]

What is the best way to administer the Panacur at home?

Put the dose of Panacur in a small amount of Mazuri - perhaps a single pellet of soaked Mazuri. Then watch to be sure your tortoise eats the entire amount. Most tortoises will really attack Mazuri - and this is a great way to easily administer the liquid or paste Panacur.

 

[Melissacoop]

Ok. Thank you. My tortoise is 10 months old. Growing nicely. Firm stools but tested 3+ on the fecal for the pinworms. My dog vet looked up the dose of panacur and advised three treatments two weeks apart. My tort usually never poops in his enclosure but I think I should disinfect and change the substrate anyway. He’s not symptomatic but don’t you think I should still treat?? The other thing I found interesting that I hadn’t heard was that the heavy load of parasites can lead to a cloacal prolapse. The lab actually typed that on the fecal report. Does everybody know that?

 

[Markw84]

Ok. Thank you. My tortoise is 10 months old. Growing nicely. Firm stools but tested 3+ on the fecal for the pinworms. My dog vet looked up the dose of panacur and advised three treatments two weeks apart. My tort usually never poops in his enclosure but I think I should disinfect and change the substrate anyway. He’s not symptomatic but don’t you think I should still treat?? The other thing I found interesting that I hadn’t heard was that the heavy load of parasites can lead to a cloacal prolapse. The lab actually typed that on the fecal report. Does everybody know that?

Pinworms are extremely common and many reptile vets consider them a benign and potentially beneficial part of the gut flora. The problem is that in captivity the load can easily become high. It is a direct life-cycle parasite, needing no intermediate host. So if enclosure hygiene - particularly cleaning the water and food dish - the totoise will constantly re-infect itself with the eggs in their own poop! We all know how our tortoises love to poop on their own food and in their water dish!!

With a larger number of tortoises in a colony this can be particularly problematic. With a single tortoise much easier to control. So since Panacur is very effective with this parasite and has an extremely wide safety dose margin, it is often wise to treat for the pinworms especially if you see loads getting high.

 

[peanut20]

Hi I second what Markw84 has said .

Mine was also full of a heavy load of pinworms when I got him. It was treated by the vet but they, and members on here, also recommended the following which I think really helped to shift them (he got the all clear only yesterday so it took about 2 months altogether to be totally rid of them).
Keep him on newspaper and change it daily. I also used a reptile safe disinfectant to clean his table everyday.
Long warm soaks once or twice every day.
Basically just keep everything really really clean, make sure you clean any poo away ASAP and I also disinfected his hide and rocks in the table.
Rinse any and all food before feeding it and make sure to clean any and all old food out of the table (made easier when you’re cleaning and replacing the newspaper each day). And wash the water and food dishes very thoroughly, I soaked them in boiling water for each use.

Hope that helps

What is considered to be a reptile safe disinfectant? I'd like to clean his table with something more than hot water, but I'm hesitant to use soap or other detergent.

 

[zovick]

What is considered to be a reptile safe disinfectant? I'd like to clean his table with something more than hot water, but I'm hesitant to use soap or other detergent.

You can disinfect very effectively with a bleach and water solution. Put 1 cup to 1.5 cups of bleach into 1 gallon of water. Then wash the surfaces with the solution and leave the solution on the surfaces for about 10 minutes. After that, rinse off all surfaces with plain water once or twice and you are good to go.

Notes: wear gloves when using bleach as it is a skin irritant. A mask and safety glasses are also handy as it can also irritate the eyes, nose, and sinuses. It is OK to use hot water with the bleach in spite of some incorrect info I have seen on the internet saying that hot water deactivates bleach. Bleach should be STORED at room temperature to prolong its life, but when in use, heat helps to activate the sodium hypochlorite and make it more effective.

 

[Melissacoop]

Sounds good! I’m not looking forward to putting him on newspaper and the daily cleaning but will do it!!
Thank you all for the input!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Sounds good! I’m not looking forward to putting him on newspaper and the daily cleaning but will do it!!
Thank you all for the input!

Do you have Mazuri?
I live nearby in Sunrise.
I buy mine from Griffs in Davie and I have about 40 pounds of it if you need some.
It's fantastic for helping to administer PANACUR

 

[Melissacoop]

That’s so nice of you! Yes, I have Mazuri. He loves it! I will put it in that and hopefully he’ll gobble it up!

 

[hcl113083]

Can people/dog get the pinworms or is it reptile specific?