Few minutes ago went to spray my baby panther, and I have a drip rubber maid that fills up. well I found a white worm swimming around in the water. I don't know how it got there and from what but it is there. I have Tokays Leopard and Crested geckos and Veiled chameleons all within the same room. All eat healthy have regular active behavior. That drip tub was just sitting on the shelf and was filled with water already from panthers cage. I do tend to share tubs as feeder cups and drips catches usually wash and bleach them though. It was full as I said So I had to empty it before I placed it in panthers cage while I went to empty I noticed the worm. Thin as super thin fishing line almost whiteish with little black vein going through at end looks like. I think I noticed one of these in my female crested gecko poop about a week ago. I have been monitoring her everyday and havent seen any ill behavior signs or any more of this worm until now. I swear everyday something new comes up. I really have no ideal where this worm came from and how it can spread. I sleep in the same room and Have 3 cats I don't want the house infested with anymore critters especially tiny worms. Every animals seems to be doing fine and eating well beside this mysterious worm issue. Should I be alarmed ? Or what actions do some recommend. I was thinking of taking the worm to vet but I feel that is going to be worthless and just cost me for nothing to maybe stress out all my animals. I try take photo but I dont have good cam and its tiny. Any ideals be appreciated.
Worms?
- Thread starter JackP308
- Start date
Yep, sounds like it's time to get fecals on everyone! The worm came from someone...
I do check all my animals poops daily as I clean them daily I don't dig around but I can tell when I can see a worm. Which as I stated the Female crested I have had one of these so called worms it was more like dec 24th or so. I look everyday. Nothing again. I really cant believe I caught it in the water swimming that just shows how much I do look. Which im angry that I dont remember where the cup has been like was it just washed did I accidentally grab feeder cup that had crickets, I really have to much going on. Meaning I know It was used as a drip catch but that dont make sense to the worm being in it. All the cresteds are across the room away from the warmer animals. I don't know if I can get a fecal on all my animals. Cost me $500-1000 Just to tell me I have a worm that I already know I have.I will if it could really be worth it. Wonder If I should take in the worm to get opinion on how to treat.I dont even go to the drs for myself I usually just get taken advantage of and fork out loads of money when everything was just fine.
You usually won't see worms in feces, or shouldn't. The fecal tests for the eggs, which are microscopic, and that's usually all that is passed. The fact that whole worms are being passed means the parasite burden is high, which could quickly correlate into health problems. I would test your most likely culprits first then maybe you will only have to do a few to find who has them. And the vet won't just tell you that worms are present, they'll will tell you what kind it is so you can treat it effectively. It doesn't do any good to treat for the wrong worm! If you have a regular vet for any of your animals they will probably be able to just do the fecal (usually around $20 I think) and give you the right meds without having to bring the animal in or anything.
I know it came from something just seems like a lot of fecals for a worm I know is around when I could just start treatments instead of the diagnosis. But really i dont know anything so maybe 20 fecals is not out of the ordinary?
Are worms fine if everything seems well and they are not out of control? By no means do I want worm infested animals. Just seems all my reptiles have regular routines and eat drink sleep poo on regular basis as nothing is effecting them to my open eye. I actually log each reptile daily from Basking Temp To Avg Temps to spot cleans and full disinfecting days. I know when Odd behavior happens as noted on side notes on the logs. This way I can tell if their is a slightest change in personality due to humidity temps ect... I just reference the back logs of the charts I make on the computer for easy veiwing.
Going Back I found the worm was in Female Crested gecko the morning of Dec 24th.
I have the worm in my cup I dont need him to treat the wrong Kind if he can id it. It is the same kind I found in Female Crested. It sounds like the vet is a racket to me. Like a dentist you cant just go in and say I have a cavity fill it. You need to pay them to tell you have a cavity then pay again to fill it. I know If anyone has worms Its her. Now I dont know about this panther cham which maybe Ill have tested. Seems so tiny for any treatment of any sort though. I think they are not going down hill I just get grossed out thinking about worms.
Can live plants bring these kind of worm? I had issue with pothos from home depot not to long ago. Rapid breeding of dirt wood mites of some sort and centipede looking worms had to replant a 7 month old planted terrarium from adding one plant. All is well and no buggers anymore. Ill never buy home depot again.
The worms are tiny for you, but not necessarily for something with a tiny digestive tract. They can be a pretty big problem if there are enough to block the digestive tract or absorb enough nutrients that your reptiles don't get enough. Also they're gross. Worms may cause problems gradually over time or your animal may compensate until it's too off balance to be able to compensate any more and it just crashes. Happens both ways in dogs all the time. But reptiles will hide health problems for as long as they possibly can since they're prey animals.
If you have the worm you can try that first but sometimes it's easier to identify the species based on the eggs. If you take the worm don't let it dry out too much. Make sure your vet has reptile experience. Dog-and-cat-only vets can be scared off by reptile problems because they're so different. If it were me I would definitely test the gecko and probably your panther, especially if it's wc, eats bugs from outside or has never been tested before.
There may have been parasite eggs in the soil of a plant that your reptiles ate and then got infested with, but I don't know how often that actually happens.
Worms may cause problems gradually over time or your animal may compensate until it's too off balance to be able to compensate any more and it just crashes. Happens both ways in dogs all the time. But reptiles will hide health problems for as long as they possibly can since they're prey animals.If you have the worm you can try that first but sometimes it's easier to identify the species based on the eggs. If you take the worm don't let it dry out too much. Make sure your vet has reptile experience. Dog-and-cat-only vets can be scared off by reptile problems because they're so different. If it were me I would definitely test the gecko and probably your panther, especially if it's wc, eats bugs from outside or has never been tested before.
There may have been parasite eggs in the soil of a plant that your reptiles ate and then got infested with, but I don't know how often that actually happens.
And it's not wise to treat worms if you don't know what kind they are or what dose to use. You may inadvertently cause the worms to become resistant to some dewormers, making it much, much more difficult to treat them later.
thanks for replies and advice. Im going to have to think this one over. Im going to deal with it just dont know how yet. Nothing is WC its Baby Ambilobe from LLL reptile got on wed before christmas and it's still probably only id say 1-3 months old. The female crested has been healthy producing babies for months now. She is one of my healthiest looking nice thick full long tail. Only one that will eat a whole thing of diet food as well.Not to mention the only one I dont feed crickets too. All my other crested are wild and like to hurt themselves nip tails rub nose dive at screens and glass. They are bonkers some days.
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