Safe guard dewormer

[pacific chelonians]

I have had quite a few tortoises for years now and I dewormed them last year but I have gotten more and I keep them outside last year i dewormed with the safe guard horse dewormer I had a dosing chart for tortoises anyone know how the dosage per gram

 

[Tom]

I would recommend not doing it unless you've had a fecal performed by a reptile vet, and they've confirmed that you have a parasitic worm species, and an over abundance of them in an individual animal. There is some evidence that some worms, some of the time, are commensal, aiding in digestion.

 

[pacific chelonians]

Ok I felt that I might just do it to be safe because I have a large group of redfoots and and other groups of cherry heads and yellow foots it would be super expensive and time consuming to bring them all to the vet but if you think I don’t need to I will take your word for it but do you know the dosage just so I can have it on hand

 

[Yvonne G]

Because the de-wormers come in different strengths, it's not a good idea to post dosages here. Someone might unwittingly use the wrong dosage for the strength of the de-wormer they have.

 

[Markw84]

Ok I felt that I might just do it to be safe because I have a large group of redfoots and and other groups of cherry heads and yellow foots it would be super expensive and time consuming to bring them all to the vet but if you think I don’t need to I will take your word for it but do you know the dosage just so I can have it on hand

You normally can tell a good vet you are dealing with a large group and want "herd" treatment. Just like with livestock, the vet would need to see a representative animal or two and can then prescribe for the herd. A vet will need that initial visit to develop the relationship with you and the "herd". After that, fecals can be done by simply dropping of some samples with no need to see the animal.

I agree with @Tom in that I would get some fecals done first and see what is present and in what loads. I don't like prophylactic worming as it does upset the gut microbiome of the tortoise.

 

[Tom]

Ok I felt that I might just do it to be safe because I have a large group of redfoots and and other groups of cherry heads and yellow foots it would be super expensive and time consuming to bring them all to the vet but if you think I don’t need to I will take your word for it but do you know the dosage just so I can have it on hand

What I do is periodically select an individual or two at random and take in a fecal sample for testing. This should be relatively inexpensive and there is no stress at all to the animal. What I kept finding over and over, was that they were all clean. No need for poisons.

Understand that wormer is poison. Its poisonous enough to kill the worms, but not so poisonous that it kills the host. Better to not use it unless it is really needed. And if it is needed, you need the correct dosage of the correct wormer for the parasite you are dealing with.