Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I took Moxie and Bruno (Hermann's) to a new vet, who I liked much better. The local reptile rescue recommended him as someone who works with chelonians, and as it turns out, he just completed a 6 month course with Dr. Frye. He did fecal smears and floats, and it looks like Moxie is finally clear of the hookworm. Bruno also looks clear, but the dr. saw something that looked like a star-shaped nematode that he couldn't identify (we looked in both Frye and Mader's books). He showed it to me, and it looks like something with about 10 arms radiating out from the center. He is going to check and see if another vet knows what it might be--he thought it was possible it was a plant or soil nematode. Just wondering if anyone here has seen something like that.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

You see, octopi reproduce by climbing out of the ocean up onto the rocks and flinging their eggs onto the shore. Tortoises come along and eat the eggs, which hatch into larvae that feed on the tortoise's gall bladder and tonsils. Then of course when the time is right and the moon is full, they come bursting out just like the creature in the movie "Alien" and make their way back to the ocean to repeat the process all over again. And then the empty tortoise carcass....oh, of course that story is ridiculous and I know you aren't buying a word of it.

The truth is, your tortoise has been taken over by a fiendish alien from the plant Squidtron 7 in the galaxy Jellymooncloud, and will soon be part of an uprising using tortoises (the animal humans would LEAST suspect, how clever they are!) that will conquer the earth and soon end all human life as we know it. I strongly suspect that Bruno has been handpicked (probably because of his superior itelligence and leadership skills) to lead the invasion by the Master Tortoise Control Plan IV on Squidtron 7.

Uhhhhh, I'm not really sure what that thing is in your tortoise.

Although I kind of like the idea of a tortoise being groomed as a world leader--might do a better job than some politicians I know. Harharhar.

Seriously, though, do you think it's possible it's a soil nematode picked up from foraged weeds?
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

But I did write a lot of weird stories as a kid starting at about age 8, usually involving monsters and/or aliens. My parents worried a lot.

It certainly sounds like a nematode. Nematodes come in all shapes and sizes and can either be dangerous for a tortoise or completely harmless depending on the species. I think there's a good chance it's just harmless soil nematode.

That would explain the vivid detail in your answer, lol. I bet some of those stories were pretty good, too--though I can see why your parents might worry. When my younger son was 4, he insisted he had 52 sisters living in Africa (he told this to everybody he met, too). He also had a whole group of imaginary friends with names like "Outside Door" and "Refrigerator." The hard part was when he wanted to have them over to play, lol.

I'll see if the vet comes up with something. I'm guessing that if it isn't in Frye or Mader, it isn't anything to be concerned about.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Your son is no dummy. He allowed himself to have a bunch of imaginary sisters, but knew they belonged thousands of miles away!

When I was a kid, I had only one sister but I STILL wished she lived thousands of miles away!

odds are that it is what's called a 'pseudoparasite' if the vet could not recognise it. Also, without a size reference it is impossible to determine what it might be with a discription alone.
If you are interested in this stuff there are 2 books out on herps alone and they are A Veterinary Guide to the Parasites of Reptiles (vol I, II)
And if you are seriously into this you can look into Parasitology for Veterinarians by Jay Georgi. I think it is in it's 7th edition which was published in 2003. I believe this is the standard vet parasitology text book.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

np
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Could you post a drawing, and the magnification at which the critter was viewed? Did the arms move, or were they short and fixed in a star pattern?

I don't have a way to post a drawing, but then I only had a quick look at "the thing." It wasn't moving, and if I recall correctly, the "arms" didn't seem to be rigid, and they weren't very short in relation to the size. From the pictures I've seen, I'm guessing it probably was a pseudoparasite of some kind.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.2 Hermann's Tortoises
plus my kids' herps:
0.0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko