BOT FLYS

[ALDABRAMAN]

General question for all tortoise keepers and enthusiast. I have a friend that breeds redfoots and yellowfoots in large quantities. He recently had one with bot fly maggots, treated , and all is ok. I had one of my female aldabras have seveal bot fly maggots many years ago. I treated her by removing the maggots and cleaned the cavity out. She healed fine. I have sense relocated near the ocean and have never had any further issues with bot flys. I think it might be the several cold zones difference after moving. Does anyone else have any experience with bot fly infestations and treatments? Does anyone know if bot flys are influenced by different cold zones or (?) ? Thanks to all, Greg.

 

[Edna]

In NE Montana (Zone 3, -40 degrees) we occasionally had bots in our horses. We controlled bots with a worming cycle, alternating wormers on a schedule. There, the protocall was to worm with ivermectin after the first hard frost, as there would be no bots after that. We also cleaned the bot eggs off from the horses hair, mostly front legs, to reduce exposure. I don't know if torts can be wormed with Ivermectin, but it does kill bots.

 

[egyptiandan]

I'm afraid Ivermectin is a no no with tortoises and turtles. It can adversely affect the central nervous system in chelonians.
If needed a better choice would be Milbemycin or Moxidectin.

Danny

 

[Yvonne G]

Maybe its a different kind of bot fly, but here in California, the bot flies lay their eggs on the front legs hairs of the horses. The horse then rubs her muzzle on her leg and gets the eggs in her mouth where they hatch and migrate. The larva show up like a little volcano someplace on the horse.

It has never gotten to that stage with my horse as I scrape off the eggs as I see them. In fact, the last couple years I haven't see any bot fly eggs. I don't know how this particular type of bot fly would get their eggs into a tortoise, as they have no hair. If you look closely at the horse's leg, there will be one little yellow egg at the tip of one hair. Its a very specialized thing.

 

[Tom]

The wild rabbits get them here sometimes, but none of the other animals do. They somehow know the instant the rabbit dies and worm their way out of their host.

Sorry, don't think this helps you much.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I understand bot fly are host specific. There must be several and/or many sub-species of bot flys. I remember as a kid the local box turtles would get them, but never found any on a gopher tortoise. Rabbits get them alot I heard. I have also been told that they are not attracted to protein (poop).

 

[Yvonne G]

A couple summers ago a lady brought me an ornate box turtle that she had bought from a private party. It had volcano-like sores all over its skin. It really DID look like the bot fly infestations you see on horses. It was hard, because as you know, box turtles don't cooperate, but we eventually were able to open one of the sores. What we found was the head of a fox tail, and not a maggot. So this poor little box turtle had infected fox tails stuck in its skin all over its body! We were able to get him all cleaned up and started on antibiotics, and she went home happy.

For those of you who've never heard of "fox tail:"

http://www.american-lawns.com/problems/weeds/foxtails.html

Each one of those seed spikes contains hundreds of little sticker-type heads that have barbs so they go in and can't be pulled back out.

 

[Tom]

A couple summers ago a lady brought me an ornate box turtle that she had bought from a private party. It had volcano-like sores all over its skin. It really DID look like the bot fly infestations you see on horses. It was hard, because as you know, box turtles don't cooperate, but we eventually were able to open one of the sores. What we found was the head of a fox tail, and not a maggot. So this poor little box turtle had infected fox tails stuck in its skin all over its body! We were able to get him all cleaned up and started on antibiotics, and she went home happy.

For those of you who've never heard of "fox tail:"

http://www.american-lawns.com/problems/weeds/foxtails.html

Each one of those seed spikes contains hundreds of little sticker-type heads that have barbs so they go in and can't be pulled back out.

Wow! I'm sure glad tortoises don't pick those up the way box turtles do. Yep, this confirms that box turtles just generally aren't good for my area.

 

[Edna]

PetMed says that bot flys can make a wound in the skin of a tort, then lay their egg in the wound. The article says that the way to get larva out of a tort is to enlarge the larva's breathing hole and remove the little worm. Ick! As usual, it would seem that prevention is the best treatment!

 

[Laura]

These are what I call Foxtails.. can be DEADLY..
I guess there are several weeds known as such.
http://www.loveyourdog.com/foxtails.html

 

[pugsandkids]

Wow, bots on horses, I've seen. Foxtail on/in dogs, I've seen. Foxtails/bots in tortoises?! Yikes. Good to know I need to keep an eye out for these things.

 

[matt41gb]

Fly maggots and bot fly maggots can be treated with Capstar (nitenpyram). I've never had to use it before, but I've been told that it's effective and safe for tortoises.

-Matt

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

I can honestly say that the smothering them with vasaline does not work. It honestly is not that bad to pull them out with long tweezers after you flush very them good with peroxide and then clean the hole out with betadine.