red worms in poop

Question
I am a teacher and we have a red eared slider turtle as a class pet.  The students were feeding her wild grasshoppers in the fall as we have done in years past and yesterday we noticed for the first time that red swimming worms are birthing out of her waste.  How can I get rid of them?  We can clean the tank but don't want them coming back if they are in her intestine.
Thanks,
Larei King

Answer
An occasional 'bloom' of worms is common, especially of the turtle is wild caught, or the foods are. They generally don't cause any real problems. If they recur too often, you can have the turtle wormed by a vet who knows the right meds.

You can also review cares and so forth at a couple good sites to make sure it is as happy as possible-
- http://www.redearslider.com and
- http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Good luck!