Any doctor here

[WithLisa]

Mina had posted photos of stools dense will live worms. I expect safe deworming was advisable in this case.

I'm not a vet and don't have much experience with worms, but does this necessarily mean they need deworming?

I remember the last time I had pinworms, it didn't start with a few worms every now and then. Suddenly my stool was full of them, very similar to Minas picture (it was horrible ).
The amount decreased from day to day and after two or three weeks I saw no worms anymore, for many years now.

I guess I must have had them for a long time already until my body finally decided to get rid of them? In that case it would have been too late for medication, I wouldn't have needed it anymore.

 

[JoesMum]

I'm not a vet and don't have much experience with worms, but does this necessarily mean they need deworming?

I remember the last time I had pinworms, it didn't start with a few worms every now and then. Suddenly my stool was full of them, very similar to Minas picture (it was horrible ).
The amount decreased from day to day and after two or three weeks I saw no worms anymore, for many years now.

I guess I must have had them for a long time already until my body finally decided to get rid of them? In that case it would have been too late for medication, I wouldn't have needed it anymore.

You need to read back through the threads concerning these particular tortoises. There are around 20 in a very poor state of health that were/are just roaming round a flat. There are many complications in the care and health of these tortoises,

 

[WithLisa]

You need to read back through the threads concerning these particular tortoises. There are around 20 in a very poor state of health that were/are just roaming round a flat. There are many complications in the care and health of these tortoises,

I really can't give any advice in this special case, just some thoughts about deworming in general.

 

[NDevon]

Mina you have had some really good advice here. I believe you are trying to do the best for these tortoises, but I think you know it's going wrong. The fact is there really isn't any point worrying about treating conditions if you are not able to provide the right basic care.

This question needs a yes or no answer - can you provide a a large enclosure for each animal so that none are housed together? If not, you need to work out how many you can provide for, that surely is the maximum amount you can keep. As for breeding, please don't. Please keep them seperate, you don't need any baby tortoises, you can't look after the ones you have at the moment. In the UK of a dog or cat is rescued nearly every time (if it is by a reputable organisation) the animal will have surgery to ensure it can't breed. This helps to keep the numbers of unwanted animals under some sort of control. I'm not suggesting surgery, I'm suggesting not allowing them to breed. It's a shame as they are an endangered species, I dream of being able to give a home to just one Kleinmanns tortoise, in the UK they are rarely available. However there is no point breeding an animal just so it can suffer and die, that's cruelty, and in the UK we have laws to prevent that.

As many have said some of your animals will most likely die. Pearly gave some of the best advice, just concentrate on making sure the basic enclosures are as perfect as they can be. Make your animals comfortable. Forget medicine, with respect it really doesn't look like you know what you are doing and you are potentially making them more poorly. If you provide the right environment for them then they have the best chance of getting better. If they die then they were probably going to die anyway, but at least they had some comfort. The strongest may well pull through, but if they do what's the point in living if their accommodation is so inadequate that it makes them sick again?

One tortoise per enclosure, don't take on anymore animals, you are not a rescue centre, you don't have the capacity to take in more although I don't doubt you have the love and enthusiasm. I know it's sad that there are animals bein kept by others that they don't look after, but without trying to offend you the care you are providing is not really what these animals need either. And breeding is the last thing you should be attempting. You should feel proud to be able to provide quality comfortable seperate enclosures with the right food, lighting, temperature, humidity, substrate and of course water. No medicine, a vet has told you to stop, chances are you are poisoning them, and it may be that treating them isn't even necessary.

Sorry, but you need to take time to stop and think, build enclosures, and provide quality basic care. You don't need fancy gadgets and equipment to keep them, you can do it with basic skills and good quality care. I think I'm right in guessing you can't provide the space, so it's probably time to choose the one or two animals you will keep and look for the best homes for the rest.

To summarise - don't even attempt to breed them and seperate them so they can't breed, no more medication unless prescribed by a qualified vet and you are confident of the dosages, one animal per enclosure and each enclosure should be the right size with the right environment, don't take on anymore rescues, try and rehome all animals keeping maybe a couple.

In a few years if you have two healthy animals you could research breeding and try to raise a few babies, but that's a distant dream right now I feel.

Good luck