Young Sulcata with Worms (Intestinal Parasites)

KhairulTort

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During my daily soaking I noticed that after an initially normal defecation My young aprox. 10 month old sulcata expelled a whole bunch of what looks to me to be intestinal worms. Clear information on treating this issue doesn’t seem to be very available and unfortunately I am not able to visit the vet from where I’m located currently.
The pictures show these worms in the soaking tray, and just for reference a picture of my tortoise who seems to be just fine, eating well bright eyed, exploring.

Any clear advice would be greatly appreciated. 8221A9F9-7684-438E-8C5E-2C1AACF37CE5.jpeg
0D27D3D3-0F6A-4636-9C3D-5CBCE7E95566.jpeg
 

KhairulTort

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So I’ve continued you monitor his poop after soaks and it honestly seems as if there are no more worms.
I’m not sure if I should be relieved or not.
It seems strange that he would just eject a bunch so randomly.
Does anyone know what’s going on?
 

Rex1718

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My vet recommended panacur. It’s a broad spectrum wormer. It’s a relatively safe wormer. I dewormed my red eared slider with it. It can be purchased at most feed stores under a goat wormer.
I’m not a vet and not sure of the dosage. I understand you can’t see a vet, but that would be the best option. A fecal sample would be needed to see what type of parasite you are dealing with.
I have read that crushed pumpkin seed is a natural wormer. I am unsure now of the effectiveness or this.
On the other hand, it is not uncommon for healthy torts to have parasites. You could just keep an eye on him, if he still eating, pooping, and active, he will probably be fine.
I know this isn’t the clear answer you we hoping for, but I just wanted to try and help
 

ZEROPILOT

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They look like pin worms.
But it could also be some sort of plant fibers.
PANACUR is the most used. But do not use any until you have a positive test that those are indeed worms and a correct dosage for the weight of your tortoise.
 

zovick

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So I’ve continued you monitor his poop after soaks and it honestly seems as if there are no more worms.
I’m not sure if I should be relieved or not.
It seems strange that he would just eject a bunch so randomly.
Does anyone know what’s going on?

Those are Ascarids (roundworms) in your photo. If there are that many adults in one defecation, you would be wise to worm the tortoise. Panacur is a very good wormer as Rex1718 mentioned. It usually comes as a powder which you can sprinkle on the tortoise's food. Hint: put it on something the tortoise really loves to eat so it will all get eaten.

The best regimen for worming tortoises with Panacur is to give it for three days straight, then wait two weeks and give it again for three more days. The reason for this is that the worms lay their eggs in your tortoise's gut and the new worms which hatch from those eggs which remain in the gut after the first worming are just reaching maturity in two weeks and thus you kill them before they can lay more eggs in your tortoise's gut.

It is almost impossible to overdose a tortoise with Panacur. The dose for powdered Panacur is 1/8 teaspoon of powder per 1.5 kg of weight. If you get the liquid, the dose is 1/2 cc. of liquid per 1 kg.
 

ZEROPILOT

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My vet recommended panacur. It’s a broad spectrum wormer. It’s a relatively safe wormer. I dewormed my red eared slider with it. It can be purchased at most feed stores under a goat wormer.
I’m not a vet and not sure of the dosage. I understand you can’t see a vet, but that would be the best option. A fecal sample would be needed to see what type of parasite you are dealing with.
I have read that crushed pumpkin seed is a natural wormer. I am unsure now of the effectiveness or this.
On the other hand, it is not uncommon for healthy torts to have parasites. You could just keep an eye on him, if he still eating, pooping, and active, he will probably be fine.
I know this isn’t the clear answer you we hoping for, but I just wanted to try and help
Pumpkin seeds are a dewormer.
But in practice, it would take a whole lot of seeds to really be of any help.
So many that it is impractical.
And you are correct. Tortoises with parasites are very common. But life parasites in expelled poop is usually a sign of an out of control infestation.
 

zovick

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Is the paste considered the liquid?

All three forms have slightly different concentrations of the active ingredient. I haven't used the paste, so am not certain of the paste dosage for tortoises. Personally, I think the dose would be more like that for powder than the liquid. Since you are located in the US, you could check with a vet to be certain, though.

There are good reptile vets at both Univ. of FL and UGA vet schools, and there is a very knowledgeable private vet in NC. I will see what I can find out and post the results here if/when I learn something.
 

KhairulTort

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My vet recommended panacur. It’s a broad spectrum wormer. It’s a relatively safe wormer. I dewormed my red eared slider with it. It can be purchased at most feed stores under a goat wormer.
I’m not a vet and not sure of the dosage. I understand you can’t see a vet, but that would be the best option. A fecal sample would be needed to see what type of parasite you are dealing with.
I have read that crushed pumpkin seed is a natural wormer. I am unsure now of the effectiveness or this.
On the other hand, it is not uncommon for healthy torts to have parasites. You could just keep an eye on him, if he still eating, pooping, and active, he will probably be fine.
I know this isn’t the clear answer you we hoping for, but I just wanted to try and help
Thank you! I think I feel much better knowing that it’s not of huge concern. As far as I can tell there aren’t anymore more worms in his poop. I’ve done a couple of stinky dissections on the stuff to be sure. And if there are more parasites I haven’t seen them. Still a great appetite etc, but I’m going to be picking up a panacur paste for him to have with his food as per the advice.
 

KhairulTort

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All three forms have slightly different concentrations of the active ingredient. I haven't used the paste, so am not certain of the paste dosage for tortoises. Personally, I think the dose would be more like that for powder than the liquid. Since you are located in the US, you could check with a vet to be certain, though.

There are good reptile vets at both Univ. of FL and UGA vet schools, and there is a very knowledgeable private vet in NC. I will see what I can find out and post the results here if/when I learn something.
I’m going to be following the recommended dosage for panacur based on weight. Does anyone see that being an issue?
I’m surprised there’s not more info to be found on worming
 

KhairulTort

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Pumpkin seeds are a dewormer.
But in practice, it would take a whole lot of seeds to really be of any help.
So many that it is impractical.
And you are correct. Tortoises with parasites are very common. But life parasites in expelled poop is usually a sign of an out of control infestation.
Have you ever dealt with visible worms like the ones I’m seeing in your young tortoises?

I should clarify a little bit that when the worms cane out they came out in a puff of expelled liquid while I was watching the tortoise soak followed by a poop very shortly after. It’s almost like he was getting the worms out by themselves. I’m a little confused to be honest though because I would’ve expected there to be more following that incident. I assumed it must have been quite an infestation too like you mentioned, but honestly there’s been nothing to be found since then.
 

zovick

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Have you ever dealt with visible worms like the ones I’m seeing in your young tortoises?

I should clarify a little bit that when the worms cane out they came out in a puff of expelled liquid while I was watching the tortoise soak followed by a poop very shortly after. It’s almost like he was getting the worms out by themselves. I’m a little confused to be honest though because I would’ve expected there to be more following that incident. I assumed it must have been quite an infestation too like you mentioned, but honestly there’s been nothing to be found since then.

Tortoises cannot expel worms from their systems at will. Plus, if you see that many adults in one discharge, there are certainly more inside the tortoise. If you re-read the middle paragraph of my post #5, you will need to worm TWICE. The first time to eliminate any other adult worms and the second time is to eliminate new nearly-adult worms which have hatched from the eggs the adults laid in your tortoise's gut before they were killed.
 

zovick

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Another note: for worming of smaller tortoises, the liquid is probably the easiest to use.
 

KhairulTort

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I’ve read that although pumpkin seeds contain something which is often sited to be helpful as a ‘natural’ wormer, there’s very little evidence to show that it is effective.
 
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