Parasites found in African pigmy hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris). Fauna parasitaria en erizos de tierra africanos (Atelerix albiventris)

Abstract

100 pigmy hedgehogs were examined, 56 came from a breeder and 44 from particular owners. Feces samples and skin scrapings were obtained and then analized using several parasitological methods to find and identify the parasites. In 87 of them the presence of an ectoparasite was evident. Of these 100% had Caparina tripilis and just one of them (1.7%) also had Myocoptes musculinus. From the 56 samples obtained from the breeder, the 100% of the young animals and 83,8% of the adult animals samples had C. tripilis. At the same time 3,2% of the adult samples had M. musculinus. From the other 44 samples that were obtained from particular owners, 100% of the young animals samples and 72.4% of the adult animals samples had only C. tripilis. The 100 fecal samples were negative to the presence of endoparasites. However, the use of the flotation method reported positive presence of free life mite eggs in 13 of the samples, while the sedimentation method was positive in only 4 of them. There was no evidence of Cryptosporidium sp