Never in my life

[HRT4SQRLS]

Might not want to mention that on your Match.com profile. Jus' sayin'.

I just laughed till I cried over that one.
Wow, MsOakley ... what a title ... congratulations, I guess.
I tell ya what MsOakley ... You can have that title. I won't fight you for it. I don't even want to be in the competition.
I ain't got what it take to claim the crown. My 'gross out' meter was seriously pinging in the red, so I have to step back on this one.

Ms Oakley aka BotFly Queen Your title is safe!

Brag on, sister!

[SugarBugFerret]

OMG! That poor girl! I'm so glad you are able to help her. I remember back when I was in Ag in high school, and I had a steer my senior year, it was common for them to get bot flies. We would use a glass soda bottle to remove them...place the mouth over the hole, and smack the bottom of the bottle, which would usually cause them to just pop right out. Not such a big deal (but still gross) in a 1200 lb steer. But for a tiny squirrel... Thank heavens Susie has you to, and is willing to let you, help her!

[MsOakley]

I knew I was in for a ribbing with that post.

[Uno's Mom]

Patti,

I am so glad you were able to get Susie back inside and help her.
Hmmm...thought patient care wasn't your forte

My little wild that had the mange this spring is covered in bot fly "holes" but they do not seem
to be getting any bigger. I saw them under his chin and on his chest over ten days ago and they
have not changed. If anything they look better.

Is that even possible, or is there a sudden "bloom" yet to appear?
He worried me terribly the first three days, he was so lethargic and didn't want any food I offered.
He has over 12 bots that I have been able to count and I do not know how I would catch him.

I have never seen bots here in 20 years, but May and June it seemed to rain every day.
The mosquitoes are absolutely horrible as well. I have seen several other males with single bots.
They are predominantly on the underside of the neck or the front leg.
I think I'll make a run to Home Depot tomorrow and pick up some mosquito termination supplies as well
since they seemto be aiding and abetting the bots!

Give Susie some extra scritches while you can!

[HRT4SQRLS]

Patti,

I am so glad you were able to get Susie back inside and help her.
Hmmm...thought patient care wasn't your forte

My little wild that had the mange this spring is covered in bot fly "holes" but they do not seem
to be getting any bigger. I saw them under his chin and on his chest over ten days ago and they
have not changed. If anything they look better.

Is that even possible, or is there a sudden "bloom" yet to appear?
He worried me terribly the first three days, he was so lethargic and didn't want any food I offered.
He has over 12 bots that I have been able to count and I do not know how I would catch him.

I have never seen bots here in 20 years, but May and June it seemed to rain every day.
The mosquitoes are absolutely horrible as well. I have seen several other males with single bots.
They are predominantly on the underside of the neck or the front leg.
I think I'll make a run to Home Depot tomorrow and pick up some mosquito termination supplies as well
since they seemto be aiding and abetting the bots!

Give Susie some extra scritches while you can!

Hi Gayle, I agree with you about the bots and mosquitos. They are horrible this year. I have never seen this many bots before. It is very odd but the two squirrels that are the worst are my rehab babies. The other one affected is my release Paul (I think ... he is somewhat friendly.) He had many also but he is larger and stronger so he did fine. Susie is another story. Several of the wilds have single bot warbles but nothing like these two. What is it with the chin? Both of mine had a chin warble? Susie's should exit in a day or two. I'm afraid to pull it.

Gayle, if you see bot holes I would be very surprised if they don't develop. Susie had one on her back and the next thing I knew she was covered in warbles ... big ones.
I would watch him closely if they develop. It sure would be hard to remove bots from a wild one. My biggest concern with Susie was dehydration due to our extreme heat and the fluid loss from the warbles. If I can help you let me know.

I have declared war on mosquitos and bots.

[Uno's Mom]

Has there been anyone who has used food grade DE powder outside around their trees?

I was researching it a while back for carpenter ants as a safe treatment that would not harm wildlife.
It is available in large quantities (which I will need with over 80 trees on my property alone )
and you can get applicators that put it down fairly quickly.
The wilds here love to roll around at the base of the trees in the dirt and take their morning and evening "baths".

My guys have had a lot of mange and tail fur issues this year as well.
They are a very sad sight
It ain't been good in Florida folks!!!

Anyway, I was wondering if there was any school of thought out there on DE for possible prevention
of mites, bots, fleas etc.

And yes I know I will have to continually reapply after rain.

[anniedancer]

Im in Florida too. For several months, several of my wilds had these awful looking coats, especially around the shoulders. First I thought it was molt. Then I read about mange and wondered. I wasn't able to post photos. But all of them are looking much better now.
This has been a very buggy year! I hate bugs with a passion! Mosquitos, ants, flies, fleas....yuck and double yuck.
Annie in Vero Beach

[stepnstone]

Has there been anyone who has used food grade DE powder outside around their trees?

I was researching it a while back for carpenter ants as a safe treatment that would not harm wildlife.
It is available in large quantities (which I will need with over 80 trees on my property alone )
and you can get applicators that put it down fairly quickly.
The wilds here love to roll around at the base of the trees in the dirt and take their morning and evening "baths".

My guys have had a lot of mange and tail fur issues this year as well.
They are a very sad sight
It ain't been good in Florida folks!!!

Anyway, I was wondering if there was any school of thought out there on DE for possible prevention
of mites, bots, fleas etc.

And yes I know I will have to continually reapply after rain.

Considering it's use outside DE may not be a total preventive but it could
definitely help to keep down the masses, every little bit helps.
Squirrels that do come in contact with it would also carry it back to their dreys.
It's perfectly harmless to them and they could only benefit from it. IMO

[stosh2010]

O.M.G.-- Amazing LOVE and Inner Strength to go thru that procedure.
My wild boy-Oscuro...had only one Bot, and it was so gross, just looking at it grow...day by day. It fell out on it's own, and in 12-14 days totally healed up, and furred over.
Every Bot you pulled out and destroyed--was a fly didn't fall to the ground, hatch and grow, and that will never infect another critter again...Thank You.

[stosh2010]

I Hope that you can remove them all (SAFELY)-a daunting task !!!!!!!!!

[Uno's Mom]

How is Susie doing today?

Did the bot on her chin fall out?

Is she reacquainting herself with her old stomping grounds or cagebound?

[Fireweed]

Been wondering about Susie, too.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Susie is doing well. The darn bot under her chin is taunting me. It is 1/4 of the way out. If it doesn't come out today I might have to take action. You know I will! It can taunt all it wants I WILL win this 'stare down'.

She is feeling much better now and is much more difficult to 'hogtie'.
She hasn't tried to bite me, not one time and she always WAS a biter.

She is in my bathroom with her Henry's cage. The door on the cage is open so she can come and go as she pleases. She has a lot of fleece on top of the cage so she mostly hangs out on top of the cage. When I go in there she jumps on my shoulder and does her 'business' ... without fail.

I hope to get her outside soon. She is eating her HHB but she is also eating a lot of snack food like, fresh corn, watermelon, grapes, avocado and yes, NUTS. I would hate for her to get MBD while convalescing. That would be ridiculous.

[TubeDriver]

Susie is doing well. The darn bot under her chin is taunting me. It is 1/4 of the way out. If it doesn't come out today I might have to take action. You know I will! It can taunt all it wants I WILL win this 'stare down'.

She is feeling much better now and is much more difficult to 'hogtie'.
She hasn't tried to bite me, not one time and she always WAS a biter.

She is in my bathroom with her Henry's cage. The door on the cage is open so she can come and go as she pleases. She has a lot of fleece on top of the cage so she mostly hangs out on top of the cage. When I go in there she jumps on my shoulder and does her 'business' ... without fail.

I hope to get her outside soon. She is eating her HHB but she is also eating a lot of snack food like, fresh corn, watermelon, grapes, avocado and yes, NUTS. I would hate for her to get MBD while convalescing. That would be ridiculous.

Glad to hear she is doing better. Susie deserves plenty of nut treats after dealing with all those bots. You deserve a lot of tasty, cold beers for dealing with those bots!

[Rhapsody]

Glad to hear she is doing better. Susie deserves plenty of nut treats after dealing with all those bots.
You deserve a lot of tasty, cold beers for dealing with those bots!

AMEN!! -- rink rink rink rink

[Shewhosweptforest]

All it's going to take is one good jump down to the floor...and pop goes the weasel Sorry....we have to find the humor in this or go mad That is what happened to Baby, she jumped down from her window perch to the floor and "pop".... it came out And you're right .... they do taunt..at the end Baby's would move in and out.... we'd think it was coming and it'd slide back in....it was so disgusting to watch and wait Love ya Susie girl...I thought she had become your feisty girl...and look she being a good patient maybe a little passive aggressive with the shoulder issues and I sooo know you'll get that sucker if it doesn't pop out soon

[Uno's Mom]

Any chance you could post a picture of Suzie and her chin warble?

My little wild still has sores but they look much better and I have seen no
lumps growing under the skin. The "mouthlike" (I know it is the other end )
openings seem to be disappearing.

I'm not sure if this is the calm before the storm or what.

I did order 50lbs of food grade DE powder and a mechanical mister to apply it around the trees.

[HRT4SQRLS]

Any chance you could post a picture of Suzie and her chin warble?

My little wild still has sores but they look much better and I have seen no
lumps growing under the skin. The "mouthlike" (I know it is the other end )
openings seem to be disappearing.

Gayle, if your squirrels aren't getting the lumps I doubt it's bot flys. I really didn't notice anything until the the swelling just 'appeared' seemingly, overnight. Here are the pics of Susie now. She still has the chin warble and two on her shoulder, maybe a small one but not sure. The spots where the bots were pulled look good. They are healing nicely. Sweeper is right about the bot pulling back in.

[Nancy in New York]

That thing looks huge. I sure hope it comes out soon.
She does look SO much better.
Bless you for helping Susi and all
the other little fuzzers.
She sure looks right at home, almost like
she never left.

[island rehabber]

I cannot believe how disgusting those things are. Wonder why there were so many just on poor Susie, or why so many this season? Is it weather-related? GAH!