Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I did another fecal check on Moxie today, and he is still showing a few hookworm eggs, so we are doing another course of Panacur. I know hookworm has a direct life cycle, and reinfection is a possibility, so what is the best setup for his indoor enclosure to help prevent this? I guess I'll go back to daily cleanings and disinfecting everything again. Should I keep him indoors for now? And how do I keep him from getting reinfected from the dirt in his pen? I honestly don't know if he poops out there, but I'm assuming he does.

I'm hoping to get this licked this time, as it does seem to be depressing his appetite. He ate very well for about a week after the last treatment, but now he's back to nibbling. I'm guessing the treatment knocked out enough of the hookworm that he was feeling pretty good, and now they're making a comeback. Dang.
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Sohni
(aka Jeannie, but other people have similar names, too confusing, so I switched)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Esther & Isaiah)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (George)
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise (Moxie)
2.0 Adopted DSH Cats (Amos & Silas)
1.0 Rescued English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
and...
2.0 Kids (Riley & Noah) w/ 0.0.1 California King
Snake (Rex), 1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas), 0.1
Leopard Gecko (Geico)
1.0 Husband (no pets, just us, lol)

Well, I've heard it recommended in certain circles that you remove the first 12 inches of soil in it's entire enclosure... Seriously, there are experts out there that actually recommend this.
I suggest you keep up with the fecals and the panacur and eventually you have to wipe it out. I'm wrestling with the same problem and really don't know what to do. It's a pretty complex issue.
Ed

How long can the eggs or whatever live in soil? It's getting chilly enough here that I would have to keep him indoors soon anyway, so he wouldn't be going outside until March or so. It doesn't get cold enough here to really freeze the soil (Sonoma County), so that won't do it.

He doesn't have a big enough load to give him any symptoms other than depressed appetite (no diarrhea, etc.), so I guess that's good. The problem is that he's a little guy, and he needs to eat more than he's been eating lately.
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Sohni
(aka Jeannie, but other people have similar names, too confusing, so I switched)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Esther & Isaiah)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (George)
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise (Moxie)
2.0 Adopted DSH Cats (Amos & Silas)
1.0 Rescued English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
and...
2.0 Kids (Riley & Noah) w/ 0.0.1 California King
Snake (Rex), 1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas), 0.1
Leopard Gecko (Geico)
1.0 Husband (no pets, just us, lol)

I did a little research, and I found a couple things that might be of interest to you. First, I found this site:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/W5367E/w5367e04.htm

It says that at temps between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius hookworm survives less than 90 days in soil--although I looked it over quickly and I'm not sure what species of hookworm was studied, if that makes any difference.

On another site, it said to treat dog/cat hookworms by spraying soil with a 1% sodium hypochlorite solution. Don't know exactly what that is, so I'd have to do further research.

I'm really hoping that keeping him out of his pen and letting the soil alone for a few months will eradicate anything in the soil.
-----
Sohni
(aka Jeannie, but other people have similar names, too confusing, so I switched)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Esther & Isaiah)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (George)
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise (Moxie)
2.0 Adopted DSH Cats (Amos & Silas)
1.0 Rescued English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
and...
2.0 Kids (Riley & Noah) w/ 0.0.1 California King
Snake (Rex), 1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas), 0.1
Leopard Gecko (Geico)
1.0 Husband (no pets, just us, lol)

Sodium hypochlorite is bleach, so I wouldn't spray that in his enclosure and then put him back in it. Also, if he's eating plants that grow in the soil I'm not sure that it wouldn't either kill the grasses or make them toxic.

Sorry, I don't have much help. LOL - the chemical names I can help with, the hookworms, not so much. Fortunately we haven't had to deal with that yet.

Alison

As a chemist, I came up with two ideas.

1. boiling water treatment. No hassles, everyone can try it. Just do it on a hot day or warm day around noon, so that the soil temperature will not drop too fast. Make sure you boil tons of water and don't spill it on your own feet. The problem is some organisms do survive hight temperatures. I'm not sure how tough hookworm eggs are.

2. 5% H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) treatment. A little dangerous but thorough.

Why H2O2? It's very powerful, it will kill every thing harbored in the soil. It's clean and leaves no trace a few days later. It gradually decomposes to H2O (water) and O2 (oxygen)
[equation: 2 H2O2 --> 2 H2O O2]

Bleach, NaClO (sodium hypochlorite) decomposes to give NaCl and O2. And it takes a lot longer for all the NaClO to disappear.

How? Purchase several galons of 5% H2O2, and soak the soil with it. That should take care of everything. But you should wear goggles to protect your EYES, face mask to protect your facial skin, heavy duty gloves that go all the way to the elbow and get similar protection for your feet. Make sure you don't breath the vapor. Also, make sure the wind is right so that your neighbors don't have to smell it.

This should be the foolproof method since nothing can survive the power of H2O2. You'll know it when you spill just a tiny bit on your skin. lol

Joe

I didn't even connect sodium hypoclorite with bleach, duh. Obviously I'm not a chemist! The only problem with soil sterilization is that I just went to a lot of time and expense researching and planting, and I'd hate to have to redo all of it. The other issue is that I'm not even certain that the pen is contaminated. His feces are too small to find outdoors, but I'm pretty sure he only poops inside; of course, I can't be certain he's never gone outside. Is fecal contamination the only way the hookworm could get into the soil, or can it be "shed" from the host animal?

More research to be done!
-----
Sohni
(aka Jeannie, but other people have similar names, too confusing, so I switched)
0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa (Bella)
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake (Bess)
1.1 Rubber Boas (Esther & Isaiah)
1.0 Leopard Gecko (George)
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise (Moxie)
2.0 Adopted DSH Cats (Amos & Silas)
1.0 Rescued English Springer Spaniel (Jimmy)
and...
2.0 Kids (Riley & Noah) w/ 0.0.1 California King
Snake (Rex), 1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa (Lucas), 0.1
Leopard Gecko (Geico)
1.0 Husband (no pets, just us, lol)