1878 DISEASES PECULIAK TO SOUTH AFRICA 



Tape-Worm in Ostriches 



Tape-Worm in OstriclieSi 'i'his very prevalent and often fatal disease 

 is well-known to all bird farmers. It is sometimes confused with Froi- 

 maag, or rotten stomach, but the latter generally occurs only after eating 

 lucerne which sometimes ferments in the stomach and causes the so- 

 called rot. A post-mortem shows the actual cause of death. 



Symptoms of Tape-Worm. Ostriches that have worms soon show the 

 signs and should be treated at once. The birds get thin and look dull 

 and flabby, very much like a chicken that has gapes. The feathers and 

 wings droop, and the bird mopes and lags behind in a big camp, and if 

 in a small camp, it keeps by itself seeming to prefer solitude. It has no 

 appetite and gradually pines and dies. 



Treatment! in the Oudtshoorn C. C. district most farmers use airy, 

 or aloes, as a remedy, also soot with meal. Some say this is a cure, and 

 it is a fact that a certain specie of aloes is an excellent remedy, but this 

 specie is not the common Cape aloe, but a small aloe with a long trailing 

 pointed stem, thick as a finger. The leaves are about a foot long, one 

 inch broad at thickest, tapering, serrated at edges with fine teeth, flowers 

 on top of stalk one inch long and one-sixth of an inch wide and of a 

 light color. The Kafllirs call the plant Ikalona. The leaves are cut off 

 and the expressed juice only is used, in doses according to circumstances. 

 The different farmers have their own mode of administering and their 

 own ideas as to dose, etc., which vary in different cases. 



