Took Donatello to the vet...

[Donatello]

I took my russian tortoise to the vet today. He said he found 2 worm eggs in his poop and a MITE. Which he said was weird... he gave me a medicine to give him once a week for 3 weeks called...panaccen also known as fenbendozole. I asked what he was given for the mite and he told me not to worry about it... which i thot was weird. I didnt know a tortoise could get internal mites? If so do you think he should be treated and i should go somwhere else? He also asked if i was giving my tort calcium i told him yes. He reccomended "Nek-ton Rep" calcium. He said what i was using is fine but this stuff was better. He ALSO said it was fine to give my tort fruit all the time which i thot was insane. I told him it makes them fat. He was like a strawberry once a week wouldnt hurt as a treat. My tortoise weighs 427 grams. Which he said was fine in weight. But the vet couldnt even give me a estimated age. What do you guys think? Also i asked since he has worms if i should throw his substrate out and add new before or after the medicine. He said if i scoop his poop everyday i shouldnt worry about it ???

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

You might want to find another vet. Sugars in fruit benefit internal parasites. They can also cause loose stools which isn't good. I'd change the substrate. Worm eggs will be in the substrate waiting…then BAMM, another vet trip for worms. When a person or vet says one type of calcium is better, they need to substantiate in what way it is better. If it's a product containing minerals, again, it needs to be justified.
I can remember when dog food was ok for tortoises. It isn't now and it never was.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

The parasite medicine is called Panacur. They can also use one called Ivermectin that is toxic to tortoises so don't ever let a Vet use that. And that's also a good reason not to let Donatello eat dog poop. The Ivermectin will kill him. My Vet puts Panacur up the cloaca and that's supposedly not so hard on the tortoise and kills the parasites anyway...

 

[Donatello]

So the worm medicine he gave was good then? I gave him a dose just now on a leaf. He took a huge bite then was like what is this! Haha. 3 tiny little doses doesnt seem like much but if it does the job then good. So do i change the dirt after treatment or durring treatment? And should i worry about the mite. He showed it to me under the scope. Their was only one and two worm eggs. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Ashes]

I would change the substrate now, but that's just me. And panacur is fine - just NOT ivermectin. I'm not sure about the mite.... Maybe the dewormer will take care of that? You could always get a second opinion. We have people call me at the vet I work at all the time for second opinions. Lol.

 

[Donatello]

This was him at the vet...he was in his carrying box. He wasnt happy. But did a good job!

 

[Ashes]

What a doll!!! I almost named my little guy Raphael!

 

[Donatello]

My name is April so i thot it would be neat to have a tortoise named Donatello. Got a gecko named splinter too

 

[Donatello]

I did some research online. It said tortoises can only get mites externally. So no wonder why the vet said "i dont understand why its in his poop". So either the vet had a dirty slide, hand, or the mite ran off the shell into the poo lol. I dunno. But i guess they are very hard to see on the shell. Dont see anything on Donatello. But good news it says online some extra warm soaks will kill any mites if on them.

 

[Ashes]

I did some research online. It said tortoises can only get mites externally. So no wonder why the vet said "i dont understand why its in his poop". So either the vet had a dirty slide, hand, or the mite ran off the shell into the poo lol. I dunno. But i guess they are very hard to see on the shell. Dont see anything on Donatello. But good news it says online some extra warm soaks will kill any mites if on them.

That makes sense. yay, nothing to worry about!

 

[Ashes]

Just keep checking him for mites later, just in case.

 

[biochemnerd808]

The panacur will be good for treating for worms. Take out ALL the substrate, and until 6 days after the final treatment is over, put down newspaper and switch it out daily. You can shred some for the hide spot, for your tortoise to burrow in.

I wouldn't worry about the mite. Tortoises don't generally get them, unless they come into contact with a heavily infested area. There can be other creepy crawly critters in their enclosures that live in the soil that might occasionally crawl across them... but generally belong to the clean-up crew. Check around your tortoise's eyes and in the neck folds right when you turn on the light. If you don't see mites crawling away quickly, it was probably just some soil-dwelling critter that hitchhiked on some weeds.

As you already know, don't give your tortoise fruit - a lot of vets don't differentiate between box turtles and Russian tortoises when it comes to diet info.

 

[Donatello]

Thanks guys. Since his first dose which was last week he didnt get all the medicine in him it was more on his beak. I decided to clean his cage and disinfect everything today. Gave him a fresh dose of medicine on a green today. The vet told me just to give him one extra dose but obviously wait a week, since he didnt get all of the first dose in him. Ive been looking him over for mites i see nothing. But he seems to be happy enjoying a fresh substrate