Worms!

[AlbusB]

Hi everyone. My little Herbert has worms. He was wormed last week and I hadn't noticed any worms however bathed him today and there were loads!! Is this normal, does the wormer force the worms out? Or should he go to the vets again?? He's eating fine (if not a little too well, he's a bit of a chubber) and he seems his usual self. I'm just a bit worried by how many I saw today. I lost my first tortoise so I'm super paranoid... Be nice lol ..

Here's Herbert

 

[AlbusB]

Hi guys,

My little Herbert (5yr old horsefield) had worms. I took him to the vets last week and she confirmed this and wormed him via a stomach tube. Today I gave him his soak and noticed ALOT of worms in both urine and feces... Is this ok, I don't know how the stuff works, does it just force them to be expelled from his tummy or does he need to go back???

I'm worried coz I lost my first baby to uri and I am scared when anything unusual happens!! He's still eating and seems his usual self...

 

[HLogic]

That would be a question best answered by the vet. In many cases, vermifuges need to be repeated, sometimes multiple times.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yes, what you're seeing is normal. The stuff the vet tubed into your tortoise killed the parasites, so they are expelled from the body. However, there are parasite eggs floating around inside the tortoise that aren't affected by the de-wormer, so you need to go back in about 10 days and have it done again after those eggs have hatched out.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

From my disgusting home research, I've concluded and confirm that a healthy dose of worms will only show in eggs passing in the poo.
If you see non moving worms in the poo, it's a good thing. They only pass when they're dead.
The tiny eggs are how they pass the worm infestation on so easily.
You can only really see them with a microscope.
Everything seems great and then you find that your new tortoise just infected all of your pets!

 

[FujiBaird]

My tortoise just went through her first round of dewormer and the same thing happened about a week after the first treatment -- lots of (dead) worms in her feces, then a little less the next day. From all I've read, it's completely normal...just the dead worms being expelled from the body like Yvonne said. Kinda gross/sad to think that all of those were living inside your tortoise up until a few days ago, isn't it?