Shell Emergency

[Denali]

Hi, I left my desert tortoise in his habitat last night, and an unexpected sight of rain hit. The ground is wet, and I discovered his shelter was also wet. I took him inside, but I noticed an abundance of worms after the rain in his shelter. I fear there may be some worms in his shell If so, what do I do, as I'm extremely nervous right now. (first time tortoise owner)

 

[Rue]

Earthworms? Won't hurt anything. If you see one catch it and put it back in the garden.

 

[MPRC]

Can you maybe show us a photo? Earthworms aren't a threat. What makes you suspect they are IN his shell?

The only time they get 'in' my redfoot is when shes voraciously tackling them and slurping them down like spaghetti.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Worms are wonderful! That you even have them in your gardens is a very good thing.

If you think they crawled on to and in to your tortoise, probably not. A little eye ball by you, to be sure. My guess no harm, no foul. Remember tho, wet and cold is not a good combination for a desert tortoise.

The rain hit us in Orange County too and today was crispy, clean and bee-autiful!
El Nino, all February, was little El Nono no show!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

A photo or a drawing if you didn't take a photo would be most useful.
Earthworms will come out of the ground after a rain. The live and feed in the soil and will not "enter" a tortoise as a parasite. Many tortoises eat them, but they represent no harm to a tortoise.
However, if these worms came OUT of your tortoise, it would represent a serious problem. Earthworms and say, hookworms do not look the same.