Hi All -

Cuff and Link (boxies) just had their first vet visit now that it's not too cold for the car ride. I had heard a little whistley/wheezy sound, which spurred the visit, but it turned out to be nothing. Lucky, however, that we went, because the fecal turned up a TON of parasites. The Dr. was very surprised, in fact with how many there were compared with how very healthy they seemed (good news on the healthy part, at least - I got an A+ for eyes, skin, shell, beak health!).

So he decided to treat as there were actual nemotodes (not just eggs) in the fecal. Going with Panacur.

The process: mix granules with a little water to disolve it, inject it into a worm, feed the worm to the turtle. MMMM, fun! Repeat in 3 weeks.

Here's where the questions start flowing:
Cleaning process? Dr. told me that after 24 hrs they should be mostly dewormed, so I guess I should move them into a clean hab the day AFTER I give them the meds?

Also, I'm thinking that they'll stay in the clean tank (the 40 long they used to be in) until the 3 weeks are up, giving me AMPLE time to get their new hab (which I only set up 2 weeks ago, I might add!) cleaned properly and re set up.

To clean it (it's a rubber horse trough, of the very tough kind): remove eco earth and scrub with...What kind of detergent/soap should I use? Should I just bleach it? I know not to use an anti-bacterial, but I want to make sure it has been properly dewormed before I get them back into it after THEY have been dewormed.

Suggestions? Comments? Help?

Thanks,
Anna

You can dilute bleach with water, and then rinse the habitat thoroughly until the bleach smell is gone. Just scrub it well with the bleach solution and rinse it well. You shouldn't have any nematodes after that. Of course you'll need completely new substrate, and depending on what type of decor you have, you can either replace it or wash it the same way as the rest of the habitat.

As for the turtles, if you want to be extra safe, you could always put them in a temporary temporary enclosure for the 24 hour period, since it's only 24 hours....and then after that move them to the 40 gallon. I'd keep the habitat in the 40 gal pretty basic. No substrate, paper towels at most. Change the water daily too.

I had a painted turtle I bought from a pet store and he was loaded with worms, kind of like nematodes. It's a pain in the butt, but they're curable. Easier to deal with than mites I'd say

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Thanks for the advice!

I couldn't scrounge up something good for an overnight, so I think they'll get their med worms tonight or tomorrow morning, then when I get home from work in the afternoon, they'll go into the 40gal clean tank. I think papertowel will do it, or maybe a thin later of Eco, just for comfort's sake (they LOVE digging and borrowing in)...then again, sticking to paper towel allows me to change it on a very regular basis, making sure that any infected fecal is out of the hab quickly. ugh, what a pain.

The more I htink about the breeder they came from, the more I question...

-Anna

Haha, yeah that place is probably crawling with nematodes. I wonder if they even know it.

That sounds like a good plan, but I'd definitely go with the paper towels vs the Eco Earth, for the ease of cleaning. 3 weeks isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, and they'll be back in their regular habitat with plenty of good substrate in no time

__________________
+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield