Pinworms

[evabug1]

Hi All,

I'm a new sulcata owner. I've had the little "guy" for 5 days. My hatchling is 4 mos 3 weeks old. I had to take it to an Exotic Animal Vet today and she confirmed it had a respiratory infection. I was given antibiotics to treat it.

I asked the Vet to do a fecal, which showed my hatchling has pinworms. The Vet explained to me that it was normal in tortoises and not something they treated.

Is this correct? I'm wondering and would like to hear anyone else's thoughts. I have a 7 month old and am worried about them spreading to us and my baby too besides the fact that it might not be in my tort's best interests health wise. Also is there anything I can do to get rid of them on my own like giving him squash? The pet store I purchased him from said it's a natural dewormer, but I'm not sure it would take care of pinworms.

Thanks!

 

[Reptileguy92]

All I can tell you is that I do not recommend ever buying reptiles from a pet store. Half of the time the animal is sick which in your case is true. Also most pet stores do not know how to properly care for reptiles and this leads to an infected animal. The best place to buy reptiles is either at a well-known reptile store like East Bay Vivarium and stores of that nature or reptile expos. Hope your tort gets well soon.

 

[sammi]

I don't know much anything about pinworms, and I'm sure one of our more experienced keepers will be here soon to help you out, but as far as I know, pinworms need to be treated..You might look into going to another reptile vet, one that specializes in tortoises. There is a list of vets here on TFO for all over that you can look at. Can I ask what pet store he/she is from?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Evabug1:

to the forum!!

I know that puppies can become over-infested with worms and require a de-worming, but I'm just not sure about de-worming a hatchling tortoise. I would be afraid to try it on such a small animal. The worm medicine is actually poison. Why don't you wait until you've gotten the respiratory infection cleared up then wait a couple more months and have a fecal sample tested again. If he isn't really, really loaded with parasites, I wouldn't de-worm him.

 

[evabug1]

Thanks for telling me about the Vet list. I didn't even see it. I gave a call to a couple different Vet's offices from the TFO list and got two different answers. I decided to make an appointment with the one who thinks treating would be a good idea. I'd rather kill two birds with one stone while he's sick with the RI, then stress him out again. At least that's my thinking anyway. We'll see what happens tomorrow at the visit. I'm going to ask alot of questions. I've been doing a ton of research online, but can't seem to find anything definitive.

I would appreciate hearing other people's experience/advice. Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I recently fostered 6 small tortoises all with pin worms. The Vet treated them by putting the worm medicine Panacur in the cloaca instead of down their mouths. My Vet is young and experienced and uses new innovative treatments. She's cared for numerous tortoises I have rescued in one form or another. I haven't run into anyone who has heard of this method of treating pin worms, but with 2 treatments all the worms were gone and putting the medicine in the cloaca meant they didn't get an upset stomach, and she wasn't trying to force open a tiny mouth. Your Vet may not want to do it that way, but I sure liked it and I'd be glad to give you her name and number if your Vet wants to question her about this treatment...

 

[evabug1]

If you could give me your vet's name and number that would be super! It does sound like that method is alot nicer and works faster than the conventional treatment. I will definitely see if the vet I go to tomorrow would be willing to do it that way instead.

 

[evabug1]

Now I have just newspaper in his 55g aquarium since he's had his Panacur treatment per the Vet's instructions. We go back in 2 weeks to do a follow-up fecal. Can you give me any suggestions for how to keep the humidity up in the meantime?

Thank you!

 

[tortoisenerd]

So glad you are taking care of both the RI and the pinworms. I hope the meds are not too tough on him. How long is he supposed to be on newspaper? If it was just a few weeks (typically two doses are given with some time in between and I seem to remember 3 weeks but someone can correct me) I might feel ok with not doing anything for humidity. Otherwise you can run a humidifier near the enclosure.

 

[evabug1]

He'll be on newspaper for another 10 days unless he needs another dose of Panacur at the follow-up. I think he's doing well. After I got him home from the Vet he ate so he doesn't seem to have an upset tummy from the Panacur. It's hard to clean up the poo before he trys to eat it. He's up before the crack of dawn at 4am running around.

---

Come to think of it he has had urates 3-4 times or more per week. I read that more than twice a week meant they're getting too much protein. Is that correct? Not sure what I can do to change that. I've been feeding him organic spring mix daily along with a little organic romaine and a tiny piece of aloe vera occasionaly. Haven't found organic dark greens at the store yet. I've got tortoise seed mix on the way, but that will take a while to grow once I receive it.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I would be fine with 10 days on newspaper but if you have a humidifier already then go ahead and use it. The upset tummy from Panacur affected my tort on the third day or three for his treatments, and then for a couple days after (not immediately after getting it). So, you may still see a change in appetite or lack of activity.

Too frequent urates (3 days a week is borderline and depending on the amount may be ok) can be a sign of too much protein but I think too much oxalic acid is also a cause (in stuff like collard, dandelion, mustard greens, and spinach). The spring mix shouldn't be high in this unless it has spinach or red chard. All the other ingredients I see in it are very low in oxalic acid. How long have you had him? The urates could still be from that. Some torts are just more prone to them. Another thing about urates is you want them more like toothpaste than gritty or chunky. Chunky is a sign of dehydration. Whatever I do I can't get my tort's urates to be that soft though (he is hydrated and has a lower oxalic acid diet so unfortunately I feed him a lot of lettuces and turnip greens which are low, and limit the other stuff). Not sure how long after the food intake the urates change, but I wonder if that is a possibility. My tort had a stone maybe a month after I got him and I guessed that it was from his diet before I got him, or that he is prone to them (really hope not). Best wishes.

 

[evabug1]

I have a humidifier so I'll set that up. I'm a little worried that he's dehydrated even though I am soaking him for 10 mins every day. In the morning he has some white stuff on his head. Almost like dry skin? He's had it several mornings in a row. At first I thought he might have gotten urates on his head, but I don't think so. After his soak the scales on his head look normal again. Any idea what that is and what I can do about it?

Your right I think the Panacur is affecting him now because he is eating less and spends alot of time in his hide box. Makes me worried about giving him another dose. I hope he doesn't need it. Checked the spring mix and it did have red/green chard as well as spinach so I am picking that out now. I've only had him 10 days. In the water his urates look like scrambled egg whites. Otherwise they started out as powdery white for the first few days on the paper, but I just checked and now they look chunky.

Thanks alot everyone for your help.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I have a humidifier so I'll set that up. I'm a little worried that he's dehydrated even though I am soaking him for 10 mins every day. In the morning he has some white stuff on his head. Almost like dry skin? He's had it several mornings in a row. At first I thought he might have gotten urates on his head, but I don't think so. After his soak the scales on his head look normal again. Any idea what that is and what I can do about it?

Your right I think the Panacur is affecting him now because he is eating less and spends alot of time in his hide box. Makes me worried about giving him another dose. I hope he doesn't need it. Checked the spring mix and it did have red/green chard as well as spinach so I am picking that out now. I've only had him 10 days. In the water his urates look like scrambled egg whites. Otherwise they started out as powdery white for the first few days on the paper, but I just checked and now they look chunky.

Thanks alot everyone for your help.

It's too bad your Vet wouldn't give the Panacur like mine does, it's so much easier on their little systems. What did he say about it?

 

[evabug1]

Unfortunately, he said he would only be willing to do it if it was in the literature.