WORMS

[Carol S]

Can a hatchling be born with worms or do they have to be exposed to a tortoise that has worms? Thank you for any information.

 

[Pastel Tortie]

Interesting question. Are you thinking something like pinworms, or protozoal infections?

I read a number of papers last week, although at the moment, I'm not remembering what all I read where. I do recall one of them mentioning that possibility of vertical transmission in chelonians had not been examined, for whatever disease causing agent I was reading up on at the time. So I don't know if anyone has looked into it or not. I would be interested to find out.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hatchlings often seek out poop to eat to get their gut flora started.
So, while they aren't born with worms, they can get them very quickly.

 

[Carol S]

Hatchlings often seek out poop to eat to get their gut flora started.
So, while they aren't born with worms, they can get them very quickly.

If they are in an inside enclosure with only their baby siblings would it be possible since there would not be any worm contamination in the substrate and they would only be eating the poop of their siblings?

 

[G-stars]

I would guess no, I have nothing to back that up just my uneducated opinion on the matter. I wonder how a parasite would survive without a host. In this case their wouldn’t be a host inside the egg until the fetus starting developing.

We need a biologist to chime in on this. Anyone know of one?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I also wouldn't think so.