How often do you worm your tortoises?

[piglet]

This is my point tortoises will rein fest them selves pretty quickly if allowed access to a particular pen over and over .
Worm eggs become concentrated in the ground and any tortoise especially grubbers as you put them Sue are very likely to reload the gut quite quickly.
Now every one is going to panic about there tortoises getting a worm burden WELL don't tortoises have evolved over millions of years to be able to cope with a worm burden. But of course its nicer to no your animals are at least relieved of this burden now and again.
Another reason for worming in my opinion is breeding animals in particular randy male tortoises are so tuned to the mating process they can exert them selves terribly if this tortoise was to also carry a worm burden or one that hasn't been kept in check there is a likely hood his system could become run down quickly as the worms draw on his reserves making him susceptible to infections etc .
One reason so many imported tortoises perish within a few months of entering the UK is the huge worm burdens they carry depleting the little tortoises reserves so leaving the stressed body open to attack from various virus's and bacteria’s RNS being the commonest .
Sue i have only learnt about pumpkin this year so will be using it as said .
I also have a strange story referring to pumpkin when its in season i feed it regularly to my red foots they have never had a worm count within any faeces being examined pumpkin i suspect ,
Darren

darren

how much pumkin and how often for red babies please

would this be classed as their fruit ration?

thanks linda

Hi Darren
Usually when I mention this people tend to think I am mad - glad someone has noticed similar reactions to pumpkin. My vet is also very much for natural cures if at all possible for most complaints, believing that the observation of a vigilant owner can often give the answer to a question. A case of making sure you can see the wood through the trees so to speak before barging in with the most invasive and traumatic measures.
To the person who posted the question about how much to give - I would personally give nothing else for a few days, to make sure the gut is clear. Obviously this is just an observation and I have no way of knowing exactly what is left in the gut, and what the difference would be if you fed it alongside other foods. I would make sure it is not too close to hibernation either. Make sure they have a more normal gut load before commencing wind down to be on the safe side.
Sue

[piglet]

Sue
We try natural remmendies at work if we think it can be of use and has a wide safety margin .
One use for instance grapefruit seed oil is added to water as a natural wormer for birds it has the same effect as pumpkin , of course its not relied on exclusively but for poultry it does the job quite well but it tastes vile .

Pumpkin Linda is loved by redfoots but i wouldn't use it exclusively but as part of the fruit veg diet feed as avaiable or instead of papaya for instance i only really use it for adult reds to be honest not for any reason just do
.
Linda as Sue has stated for it to have any real effect you need to feed on its own and nothing else for a day or so this enables the digestive tract to empty the contents including the worms .

Darren

im going to try the pumpkin thing this yr ive a few growing in the garden
they spred alot though.........a warning if you have a small garden and plann on growing them
my dads going mad asking me hoiw much more will they grow!!!!

LOL - I grew pumpkins one year too. Never again - I now buy two in October and make lanterns for the kids and the torts have the finely shredded insides. Lantern making can get quite addictive and now the kids want a different one each year<g> I also tried growing echinacea for the torts too, but they ate it before it grew to full size - raised beds next year methinks

so

have i got it right ?

for red babies pumkin 2 times per year then no food for a couple of days after the pumkin?

ohhhh i've got to let them go hungry

but i am sure this is a good thing

do not want to sound thick BUT where r the worms coming from in the 1st place plants or meat ?

r these worms like what peolpe might get from undercooked meat or fish ?

if substrate is totally cleaned every 4 weeks will this reduce the possibility of torts getting worms

thanks linda x

[piglet]

Hi Linda
Worms are usually contracted from the ground there eggs are littered every where ,
The main two distibuters are wild birds starlings in particular and earth worms .

No they are not the same that can be contracted from uncooked meats these are called tapeworms but tortoise can contract tape worms but its rare .
The worms most tortoises pick up are called round worms there are various types and feeding natural graze i'm affraid is the usual way they are ingested as eggs theythen hatch inside the tortoise and produce eggs themselves which in turn are passed out in the tortoises faeces hence redistrubuting more eggs for reingestion.

I believe for best results as a natural wormer pumpkin should be fed as Sue recommends but redfoots are able to cope with this vegatable as a main part of there diet so feel free to how often its used , but if you do use it more frequently and as a mixed oart of the diet it doesn't mean the worm load if they ever get any will be killed of completely but it will certainly help keep it under control
Darren

[rodneypig]

You should come to my house at Halloween - I had 22 pumpkins last year Thats enough for everyone!!!!!

[sandy]

Well we know where to come for a pumkin then<g> do they change into coaches<vbg>.