Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I am treating my blue tongued skinks for pinworms right now and have a couple questions. Am I at risk to be infected? I've gone to some different websites and some say they are transmittable and some say they aren't. Also, what should I clean their cages with to make sure I kill them all? Is anti-bacterial soap ok?
Thanks,
Kate

how do you know your skinks have pinworms???

Why do you think your skink has pinworms? I hope you are treating your pet under the guidance of a vet (ie correct parasite ID's with fecal or adult worms seen, being treated with correct medicine, and dosed by weight of skink).
Humans shouldn't be at much of a risk to be infected with a reptile pinworm, as most GI parasites are very species specific. BUT you should be practicing good hygiene and washing your hands after handling, not mixing human and reptile dishes and utensiles, and washing reptile stuff away from human stuff- ect. Practices you should already be doing whether or not you think your pet has parasites
Pinworms are not uncommon in reptiles. They have a direct lifecycle- meaning there is no intermediate host needed. The parasite eggs in the reptile feces are immediately infective. To get rid of these parasites one needs to treat all cagemates at the same time and be vigilant about cleaning the environment- all fecal material must be cleaned up promptly and consistently. It will much easier to do this if temporarily the skink is housed on newspaper or papertowels. If your skink is housed in any bedding that can retain small amounts of feces- your animal will be able to reinfect itself.
As for what to clean with- soap and water is fine. You can do a dilute bleach rinse and air dry to be extra clean. The point is to get rid of all of the contaminated fecal material. Antibacterial soap has little benefit over conventional soap.
Cheers, Jess b

Thanks for the reply. I know my skinks have pinworms because I had fecals done on both of them. So yes, I am working under the supervision of a vet. I was asking about what to clean the terrariums with because they were dewormed yesterday and I wanted to give them a clean home to return to. I talked to the vet about it last night, and she said that bleach was the best thing. She basically said to use anything except soaps ending in -ol (lysol, pinesol...). Thanks again for the info. I am reassured that I won't get them.
Kate

yay! happy ending.
Wouldn't be a bad idea to recheck fecals a week or so after the last treatment to make sure you don't need to repeat. Don't be too frustrated if they still have them or get them again in the future- they are commom parasites and can be tough to get rid of permanently- the direct lifecycle makes it hard.
Jess b