Prevention and treatment of ascariasis in hedgehog farming

is a disease caused by roundworms parasitizing inside the hedgehog's body. Besides parasitizing the intestines and causing intestinal symptoms, they sometimes also enter the bile duct and cause biliary ascariasis.

1) Cause Roundworms are parasites in the intestines of humans and livestock. Each female worm can lay 200,000 eggs in the intestines in one day and night. The eggs are brownish-yellow; some are fertilized, some are unfertilized, and unfertilized ones cannot develop into larvae. Roundworm eggs have a thick protein shell and are cold-resistant. After being excreted from the intestines, they do not develop when the environment is harsh and can resist adverse environmental conditions; when environmental conditions are suitable, after 9 to 15 days the eggs develop into larvae. Eggs containing larvae spread with dust, water, etc. into the soil and water. If feeding and management are poor and the environment is filthy, roundworm eggs will contaminate it. When the hedgehog eats food contaminated with roundworm eggs, the larvae will hatch in the intestines, develop from larvae into adults, and the adults can live in the intestines for as long as 1 year and can die naturally and be excreted from the body. Roundworms parasitizing in the hedgehog's body may number as few as a few or a dozen, or as many as dozens or even over a hundred, absorbing nutrients in the small intestine and tangling into masses that block the intestines and cause disease.

2) Symptoms Hedgehogs suffering from ascariasis are often emaciated, with messy and lusterless spines, and have vomiting; some affected hedgehogs have adult worms in their feces.

3) Prevention and treatment Do a good job of environmental sanitation to prevent roundworm eggs from contaminating the environment. Feed must be hygienic; feeds such as green vegetables and melons and fruits must be washed before feeding, and must not be fed directly with dirty water or soil; concentrated feed must be cooked. Drinking water must be hygienic; use clean tap water or well water for drinking, and be careful to prevent roundworm eggs from mixing in and being eaten into the intestines. The treatment methods are as follows:

1 Santonin and calomel mixture 6 mg/(kg body weight per dose), mixed into the feed at feeding every evening, taken continuously for 3 days.

2 Rangoon creeper The traditional Chinese medicine Rangoon creeper seed has a deworming effect. Dosage 2 g/(kg body weight per dose), mixed into the feed at feeding every evening, used 2 times, once a day.