Alpacas are susceptible to cattle, goat and sheep worms, however the four most likely to cause problems with alpaca are:
Barber’s Pole Worm (Haemonchus contortus) up to 10,000 eggs per day
Small Brown Stomach Worm (Ostertagia ostertagi) 100-200 eggs per day
Black Scour Worm (Trichostrongylus spp) 100-200 eggs per day
Liver Fluke (Fasciola hepatica) 20,000-50,000 eggs per day
The eggs are passed out in the faeces and can remain in the paddock for long periods, until warm moist conditions are present and they begin to hatch into infective larvae. Alpacas with a worm burden can be passing eggs in their faeces over winter with the eggs not hatching due to the cold, only to have millions of eggs begin hatching when the warm spring days arrive. This sudden arrival in the paddock of millions of larvae can result in sudden and severe worm infestations with severe consequences.
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