Sanitizing outdoor enclosure after pinworms?

[FujiBaird]

My little Roma was diagnosed with pinworms yesterday (confirmed with 2 fecal tests). I am unsure how long she's had them; could have been since we got her from the pet store, or it could be something introduced from the environment. She spends ~6 days a week in outdoor enclosures, and nights indoors in a large plastic bin lined with coco coir.

I plan on keeping her in the bin for the duration of her deworming treatment, changing the substrate regularly to prevent reinfection. However, is there anything that can be done to sanitize the outdoor enclosures for when she's recovered? I've heard that the pinworm eggs are airborne and can survive many days/weeks outside the host. I don't know if the pinworms could have come from the many wild geckos/lizards that live here, and it would be nearly impossible to completely keep them out of the enclosures (or to prevent their droppings from entering the enclosures). Is that a likely way that she was infected or could be reinfected?

Is there anything we can do aside from ripping out all of the plants, soil, etc., trying to sterilize the walls, and starting again from scratch? I'd really rather not do that due to the time, effort, and cost... but I also want little Roma to be healthy, and repeated vet visits would also be time-consuming and expensive.

 

[Yvonne G]

pinworms from Wiki:

"The gravid female pinworms migrate through the colon towards the rectum at a rate of 12 to 14 cm per hour.[13] They emerge from the anus, and while moving on the skin near the anus, the female pinworms deposit eggs either through (1) contracting and expelling the eggs, (2) dying and then disintegrating, or (3) bodily rupture due to the host scratching the worm.[20] After depositing the eggs, the female becomes opaque and dies.[21] The reason the female emerges from the anus is to obtain the oxygen necessary for the maturation of the eggs.[21]

After the eggs have been initially deposited near the anus, they are readily transmitted to other surfaces through contamination.[20] The surface of the eggs is sticky when laid,[13][21] and the eggs are readily transmitted from their initial deposit near the anus to fingernails, hands, night-clothing and bed linen.[19] From here, eggs are further transmitted to food, water, furniture, toys, bathroom fixtures and other objects.[13][16][20] Household pets often carry the eggs in their fur, while not actually being infected.[23] Dust containing eggs can become airborne and widely dispersed when dislodged from surfaces, for instance when shaking out bed clothes and linen.[16][21][23] Consequently, the eggs can enter the mouth and nose through inhalation, and be swallowed later.[16][19][20][21] Although pinworms do not strictly multiply inside the body of their human host,[19] some of the pinworm larvae may hatch on the anal mucosa, and migrate up the bowel and back into thegastrointestinal tract of the original host[16][19] in a process called retroinfection.[16][21] When this retroinfection occurs, it can lead to a heavyparasitic load and ensures the pinworm infestation continues[16] or can be not clinically significant.[21] Despite the limited, 13-week lifespan of individual pinworms,[13]autoinfection (i.e., infection from the original host to itself), either through the anus-to-mouth route or through retroinfection, usually necessitates repeated treatment, at 2-week intervals, in order to remove the infection completely.[24]"

So it looks like the eggs can live in a cool, moist area for a few weeks, but it looks like mainly the eggs stay around the anus.

Are you sure it's pinworms? Roundworms can live in the soil for about 3 weeks.

 

[FujiBaird]

Hi Yvonne,

We are almost 100% certain they are pinworms -- we had the two fecal floats done by two separate people and both came back with the same diagnosis. They also let us take a look under the microscope and they looked just like the oxyurid egg photos you can find online. I've never thought so much about another creature's poop as I have since getting a tortoise!

So it sounds like 3 weeks away from the enclosure might be enough to eradicate most of the eggs? In the meantime, I will sterilize all the parts of the outdoor enclosure that I can (water dish, hides, etc.). I've read that vinegar & peroxide, sprayed one after the other, is an animal-safe and effective way of sanitizing. Do you have any experience with it or other sanitizing methods?

Thanks for all of your info!

 

[J.P.]

if you not mind killing other organisms in your outdoor enclosure, maybe you can look at diatomaceous earth. it is non-toxic, but it kills worms and other invertebrates, good or bad.
was it a new tort? routine fecal? or you had her checked due to symptoms? the reason i ask is parasites are more common than we think and healthy animals can tolerate a normal parasite load, but stress/weak immune system can lead to parasite blooms. i have resigned the fact that short of making a sealed greenhouse, i can't ensure a parasite free outdoor enclosure. everything from birds, geckos, toads, cats, insects, snails etc. visit the garden and they probably leave behind some micro/macro parasites with their poop. so all i can do is keep the tortoises healthy so parasites do not affect them much.

 

[Tom]

if you not mind killing other organisms in your outdoor enclosure, maybe you can look at diatomaceous earth. it is non-toxic, but it kills worms and other invertebrates, good or bad.
was it a new tort? routine fecal? or you had her checked due to symptoms? the reason i ask is parasites are more common than we think and healthy animals can tolerate a normal parasite load, but stress/weak immune system can lead to parasite blooms. i have resigned the fact that short of making a sealed greenhouse, i can't ensure a parasite free outdoor enclosure. everything from birds, geckos, toads, cats, insects, snails etc. visit the garden and they probably leave behind some micro/macro parasites with their poop. so all i can do is keep the tortoises healthy so parasites do not affect them much.

Good post J.P. I've read the debates from both sides on this issue and I really don't lean one way or the other. I have lots of other local critters visiting my outdoor enclosures too. I don't worry about it.

FujiBaird, since these eggs are literally carried in on the wind and you don't know where they came fro in the first place, I think treating the great outdoors will be futile. If the pinworm numbers in your tortoises are very high, perhaps your vet could recommend a course of regular treatment to keep the numbers down.

 

[FujiBaird]

I've had Roma for 2 months but we didn't get her tested at first, naively thinking that a captive-bred tortoise would surely be clean. I became concerned because she didn't seem to be putting on weight or growing despite a hearty appetite, so we asked a vet tech friend to do a fecal for us to put our minds at ease. Well, she found the eggs! So much for peace of mind. She wasn't 100% sure what they were (her practice only does dogs & cats) so we were referred to another vet who repeated the test and seemed to think there were quite a lot of them, so we started treatment.

Thanks for your perspectives, @Tom and @J.P. ! I was shocked to read this that said that 90% of Hermann's tortoises in the study (captive bred) had pinworm! More than half the lizards in the study had it too. There's just so many wild lizards here that I'm sure Roma will be reinfected at some point... so you're right, sterilizing the outdoors just isn't practical. I've ordered some DE, Roma will be in her bin until the treatments are done, and I'll get periodic (annual?) follow up tests/treatments, but otherwise let nature take its course.

 

[Tom]

I've had Roma for 2 months but we didn't get her tested at first, naively thinking that a captive-bred tortoise would surely be clean. I became concerned because she didn't seem to be putting on weight or growing despite a hearty appetite, so we asked a vet tech friend to do a fecal for us to put our minds at ease. Well, she found the eggs! So much for peace of mind. She wasn't 100% sure what they were (her practice only does dogs & cats) so we were referred to another vet who repeated the test and seemed to think there were quite a lot of them, so we started treatment.

Thanks for your perspectives, @Tom and @J.P. ! I was shocked to read this that said that 90% of Hermann's tortoises in the study (captive bred) had pinworm! More than half the lizards in the study had it too. There's just so many wild lizards here that I'm sure Roma will be reinfected at some point... so you're right, sterilizing the outdoors just isn't practical. I've ordered some DE, Roma will be in her bin until the treatments are done, and I'll get periodic (annual?) follow up tests/treatments, but otherwise let nature take its course.

I would make a plan with your local vet. Maybe something like a preventative worming 2 or 4 times a year? Your vet will know your area better and hopefully have a good plan for you.

 

[J.P.]

Depending on how she was started and the diet/husbandry you are now providing, parasites may not be the only cause of slow development.
Ensure a proper diet and environment, and your pet will eventually to grow. Tortoises do take their time in everything, and some tend to grow in spurts with long periods of no gain to having new growth rings almost overnight. Just keep doing what is right.