Baby red squirrel COVERED in fly eggs and maggots

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Got a poor little red squirrel in today that is covered with thousands of fly eggs and maggots, they are EVERYWHERE! I tried a dawn dish detergent bath and that got rid of quite a few of the eggs and maggots, but there was a ton left.

I blow dried him and put him in the incubator (he is really weak :( ) and when he had rested back up I took him outside with a flea comb and got a bunch more of the eggs and maggots out.

He is still covered though.

I have given him fluids and let him warm up and he has perked up a lot and is scratching at the maggots now, but there are still a LOT of maggots and eggs left on him. I don't know what to do.

I gave him capstar, but it expired last year :(. Not sure if it is working or not, the maggots are still crawling around :(. Maybe it just needs more time to work.

The poor guy has maggots in his mouth, nose, arm pits, and a spot near his tail and then has fly eggs on his belly, neck, and back :(. He is literally covered head to toe with them.

The people that found him found two of his siblings dead in their yard, one had been dead a while and the other looked like it recently died :sad. This little tyke started following them around so they called me and brought him.

My two concerns are getting them all off of him ASAP and stopping my house from being infested with flies! I have been dumping the stuff I use to get rid of the maggots outside, but some are bound to end up around the house :(.

Anyone have any ideas on what I should do? Does ivermectin work on fly eggs and maggots?

Little guy weighs 45 grams and is cute as can be despite all his maggot buddies.

[mpetys]

When I received a 5 week old squirrel that had been attacked by a cat and was full of maggots and eggs, I didn't have Capstart but was advised I could use Revolution. Below is CritterMom's post to my thread asking for help:


CritterMom
Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Maine
Posts: 4,883

Re: New baby in with maggots - please help

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Just an FYI - the Revolution is just as good as the Capstar, and that is the reason you are seeing them pour out of the wounds - the Revolution. It works REALLY fast.

Add something else to your emergency kit - a bottle of Bachs Rescue Remedy. Spray or rub a little on bare skin with good vascular activity - ears and paw pads, and a drop on the gums is the fastest. It will cool down a LOT of the stress...

Good luck this morning.

[Milo's Mom]

Hey SR&BT!
I am not sure if this will work or if it is okay to do, but when I found Milo he was covered in fleas and had a maggot infestation in his ear, I did the bath with Dawn and blow dry, but then every time I fed him I washed him down in hydrogen peroxide and then rinsed him well and dried him again and kept him very warm. The maggots stopped showing signs of life in about 3 days but his ear was oozing for about another week. Each time I did this I got what appeared to be an insane amount of maggot and fleas, but they were dead or all but dead and it worked.

Like I said I am not sure if was the "right" thing to do, but I had not found TSB yet and it was the first thing that came to mind and all of the meds I had on hand were for rather large cats and dogs.

I knew the constant baths was an issue, but I felt that they were less harmful than the maggots, so I went for it. Maybe I just got lucky...:dono

[mpetys]

Also from Crittermom: This from CritterQueen
First and foremost, you MUST get ALL the maggots out. Don't cover the wound(s) or slather it in ointment until you are SURE you got all the maggots and that can take a few days for them all to surface.

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CritterMom was so right. I got all the maggots I could and the revolution helped. The next day I took him to the vet first thing when they opened. They cleaned his wounds and found some more maggots. They filled the wounds with silvadene. Vet said the silvadene would kill the maggots.
But that night, the second night, when I thought I was done with maggots, I had fed little Davey and was stimulating him to poop. His rectum opened up and I was expecting poop but what I got instead was these giant maggots sticking their heads out.

Tweezers would be good to have. I did not have tweezers and tried picking the large maggots with my fingered gloves. Ended up taking my gloves off and using fingers. Had a jar with alcohol in it and would drop the maggots in the jar to kill them. I was so amazed at how large these guys were. oh, they would pop their head out and before I could grab them, they would duck back into the rectum. so I had some silvadene the vet sent home with me and even though I did not know if it was okay to use in the rectum, I filled the opening with the silvadene and that suffocated them to where they had to work their way out and I was able to grab them. Later I realized that I could have used vaseline as well.

I ended up treating with one more drop of revolution that second night. Several people told me it would be okay.

Finally when I was able to get Capstar on the third day, I went ahead and treated with that as I was told it would be okay to use it after having already used the revolution. I was so worried about any internal maggots that I did not get out, especially when I had read so much about it not being good that there were maggots in the rectum.

good luck.

Michele

[mpetys]

Skul posted the following on my Davey's thread:


Skul
Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Roman Forest, Texas
Posts: 6,683

Re: New baby in with maggots - please help

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If you have Revolution available.
If it is for the five to ten pound range, go ahead and use at least half a tube.
One drop is probably not going to do the job.
We have dosed this way for several of the very young squirrels that come our way.

[Kristal]

Ye gads.... Ordinary maggots are never present without infected and dead tissue. You might find eggs, but maggots need something to eat, and they cannot eat healthy, living flesh... so... I would wonder about internal infection - maybe something in his bum if you cannot see wounds. I think you have to get a big dose of general ABs and soon. I am sending you a prayer for this little guy :(

[mpetys]

Ye gads.... Ordinary maggots are never present without infected and dead tissue. You might find eggs, but maggots need something to eat, and they cannot eat healthy, living flesh... so... I would wonder about internal infection - maybe something in his bum if you cannot see wounds. I think you have to get a big dose of general ABs and soon. I am sending you a prayer for this little guy :(

Yes, that's right. I forgot about that. My vet administered Convenia to Davey at 2 week intervals. And thank you Kristal, you were one of the ones helping me and cheering me on with Davey. :thankyou

Michele

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Thanks guys. I don't have reolution :(. Could get some tomorrow. I think I'll try the silvadine tonight, I do have that. Can also try a little peroxide and see how that goes, since I have that as well.

I did give sulfa-trim as well :thumbsup. He does have small wounds on the left side, but there were maggots on the right as well and I couldn't see the injury.

Luckilly the maggots are still small, but there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many of them :shakehead.

I work at the clinic tomorrow evening, I should be able to get some revolution there.

[Nancy in New York]

Oh good luck with this little baby....I am partial to the little reds...:grouphug :grouphug

[mpetys]

Thanks guys. I don't have reolution :(. Could get some tomorrow. I think I'll try the silvadine tonight, I do have that. Can also try a little peroxide and see how that goes, since I have that as well.

I did give sulfa-trim as well :thumbsup. He does have small wounds on the left side, but there were maggots on the right as well and I couldn't see the injury.

Luckilly the maggots are still small, but there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many of them :shakehead.

I work at the clinic tomorrow evening, I should be able to get some revolution there.

I didn't even know my Davey had so man wounds until I started clearing out the maggots. What a surprise to me!

[Jackie in Tampa]

The only thing I have ever used was capstar and it worked immediately..
it is safe
can be repeated daily if needed...
hard to overdose...

poor baby:Love_Icon
1/4 tablet with a wee bit of water

[Flo]

Years ago, somebody brought me a baby very skinny almost dead , he was cold and breathe with difficulty he had maggots in his mouth, nose, ears and rectum , he had some little holes on his skin where the maggots "play" .i take off maggots from the mouth , ears with Qtips the most I can , I was sure he will die soon but a friend wildlife rehabber with a longer experience came for help and gave him a dose of ivermectine by mouth , we did'nt know really ivermectine at this time , just than it will poison the blood of the baby and kill the maggots fast . ( we did,nt know revolution at this time ) . It worked very well and the baby was save . I never forget this baby.
To take off the eggs we used alcool camphré with Qtips , its worked very well also .
I don,t know if it can help you but its worked for us .
Good luck with this baby

[Mrs Skul]

:wave123 Hi
squirrelsrule&bunniestoo
Just a few things to remember.
You might have to keep washing over and over again. " It took me 1 hr of washing and scrubbing under the warm water. (The eggs kept coming and coming.) Then when I seen there were no more Fly-eggs coming off, or stuck to them. I then washed 1 more time with shampoo/ or Dawn.
Then Blow them dry.("" After you finished>If you dump clorox in the drain and them plug them for 24 hr. That should kill all maggots and eggs in the drain."") Now Remember you can put the Revolution on and wait 24 hr be for you get them wet. OR Wash them and wait 12 hr after dry. Then is it safe to put the WHOLE TUB OF REVOLUTION ON YOUR BABY. If it is the under 10 lb. Use half a tub if it is 10 to 20 lb. Then if you have anyone else you can put the rest on. Use it up. It is only good for a short time after it has been opened. :thinking Minutes(Letting it sit, it will loose its strength.)
I hope all is well now.
Good Luck with this little red. :grouphug

[Chickenlegs]

I hope by now your baby is maggot free. I do want to share what my farmer friend told me. Maggots do NOT just go for dead tissue. I thought there was no harm in a few maggots in a wound on a friend's chicken--had been attacked by a dog. Friend said damn things will go for living flesh if there's a heavy infestation. Glad you're aggressive in getting rid of the nasty things. After hearing a few horror stories about maggot infestation I am VERY careful with any wound--and certainly with any critter who is infested. Good luck with the little guy.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Little tyke survived the night :thumbsup. He still has some eggs in his skin, but I am pretty sure all the maggots are gone.

Poor guy had them up along the gumline where his top teeth were coming in :shakehead as well as everywhere else.

I didn't have silvidine :(, but I had providine iodine (or whatever it is called, the dark brown stuff). I put that on some gauze, full strength and rubbed it on his skin. It really attracted the maggots for some reason and I got a ton more off that way.

I then had to clean him up again because he was brown and trying to lick at the stuff on his belly :shakehead. So, I decided, why not try an epsom salt bath, couldn't hurt.

The maggots HATED the epsom salts. They were like abandoning ship trying to get out as quick as they could. Cleaned the wounds out too :thumbsup. Also, some more of the fly eggs loosened up and I got them off.

He is now down to maybe 50-60 fly eggs on his body, which beats thousands by a long shot!

I don't want to have him out for a long time since he is really weak and is older and a little fiesty and hates water. I don't want to overstress him. So, I will take him out and use the flea comb and tweezers on him throughout the day to get rid of the remaining eggs.

I checked this morning to make sure the maggots weren't just hiding deeper up like they did for the first bath, and there are still no maggots anywhere and it has been about 8 hours :thumbsup.

Little tyke still has a long road ahead of him, he is super weak, but hopefully he'll be OK.

Does revolution kill fly eggs as well, or only the maggots?

:thankyou for the tips everyone!

[island rehabber]

Wow -- good news, SR&B2! You have definitely been thru hell & back with this poor baby :bowdown.

[Wonkawillie]

I think I would stick with the washing, picking them off and Capstar. Capstar works and it is so safe. Ivermectin is way to easy to Over dose and with such a weak baby, may kill him.
I think you are getting there.
About the dead tissue needed to entice maggots....There was a post about the siblings be found dead. I bet there was a sibling that was dying in the nest, or died. and the flies just layed egss on everything in the nest including the live baby.
Keep us posted on this little one. Sounds like he is getting there.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Wow -- good news, SR&B2! You have definitely been thru hell & back with this poor baby :bowdown.

It has been one of those springs where just when you think it can't get worse it does :shakehead. My bunnies are doing horrible this year. I had one die in the outside cage yesterday. Biggest one in the group, 180 grams set to be released the following day, found dead with liquid green diarrhea behind him. The little guy came in eyes open and weaned, so not a formula issue. Not sure if I have a parasite or bacteria in the outside cage or it it's just the bunnies :dono. Planning to bleach the cage today just in case.

Then for squirrels I have gotten one nearly dead squirrel that did the stiff quit breathing thing and survived (but OMG was it time intensive to keep checking on her and sit with her rubbing her after the stiff episodes to get and keep her breathing). I have also gotten a squirrel that face planted and pretty much crushed his face in and messed his teeth up and was clicking and weak. He sadly had to be euthanized. Then there was the paralyzed baby squirrel and the squirrel that couldn't digest her formula. The formula issue girl is doing better. It has just been a crazy year.

At least the opossums are doing good :thumbsup