Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, after soaking my hatchling Hermans that I have had for a week now. I've discovered that it has worms. It took a poop while soaking and looking very closely into the water, I've noticed tiny little white worms in the water. What should I do, should I let the breeder know? I ordered it from Florida. I just don't know what to do, I wanted a Hermans hatchling, didn't expect this. I'm disappointed. Any adice would be great. Thanks, Dave.

I wouldn't be too hard on the breeder. Worms are pretty common, even in CB tortoises, and some kinds (like hookworm) have a direct lifestyle so are hard to eradicate. As a matter of fact, I just bought a marginated yearling and he's got hookworm, and my Hermann's had hookworm when I got him, too--actually, the only tort I've gotten that didn't have worms was the one that died, so go figure. If you can actually see that many worms, yours has a pretty heavy load, and you need to get a fecal sample into a vet ASAP to find out what kind they are and get meds. In some states, that means paying for a vet visit as well--here in California, I pay $42 for the visit and $20 for the fecal, but that's pretty much top dollar. The marginated is going in tomorrow for a checkup and meds, but they ran the fecal for me already. He's very robust and extremely active, so you can't always tell just from looking.
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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
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

Well I only a saw about two in the water. Because this is my first tortoise, I don't know how active they are supposed to actually be.