A Little Bit of Belize...

SCCutler

SCCutler

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Spike Cutler
...right here in Texas.

Yessir, I do believe I have a bot fly in my knee. Goody.

Off to the doc on Monday. Any advice, Dr. Bruce?
 
You mean a tick, don't you? Well, better see the Doc. You'll probably end up with some antibiotics, too. sigh.

:-0 Bruce
 
bbchien said:
You mean a tick, don't you? Well, better see the Doc. You'll probably end up with some antibiotics, too. sigh.

:-0 Bruce
Click to expand...

You've never seen a Bot Fly? I used to cut them out my animals pretty regularly. The fly bites and lays it's egg sub dermaly, and it goes through its entire larval pupal stages in a nice hollow it creates, and then one day crawls out as a fully formed (large) fly:hairraise: . It's a real treat.:besick:
 
Henning said:
You've never seen a Bot Fly? I used to cut them out my animals pretty regularly. The fly bites and lays it's egg sub dermaly, and it goes through its entire larval pupal stages in a nice hollow it creates, and then one day crawls out as a fully formed (large) fly:hairraise: . It's a real treat.:besick:
Click to expand...
Nope, never have. Sounds delightful.....
 
Quick update; per instructions read on line and vetted by my adventure-hardened physician, I kept petroleum jelly on the center of the "zone of invasion," thus suffocating the little pluckers, and I got 'em out (yep, 2 of them), they were still pretty small. Still could not overcome the impulse to be disgusted.

It really sucked, them being there, when they'd get frisky and wiggle around, it really hurt, and this was especially distracting when I was on short final for T82 in a Bonanza.

Next time, more Deet.
 
Spike he may not have entered through the 'zone of invasion', that's probably just the breathing hole. Hate to break it to you but (depending on species) there is no telling just where in your body the 1st instar larvae have been... my refs say the vitreous is possible. Watch for others to arise. Avoid any chemicals that might kill them in situ is what I have heard.... some say it is better to let them complete their lifecycle as far as you have with this one... if they die in an important organ it could be bad. In cattle ("warbles") if they die in the spinal cord or esophagus, the rancher has a problem. It is spring, so likely they are all 'headed outdoors' by now! Good luck, consider consulting with a foreign disease expert.
 
NickDBrennan said:
Wow - that's absolutely disgusting. How would one avoid this?
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Best things I can think of (I am no expert) would be:
1. Stay away from Central and South America.
2. Stay inside.
3. If you go outside, cover up and use insect repellants as Paul suggests.
4. Encourage people who see these things to kill them (and not let them complete their life cycle). Spike, you killed it - right?

My sources say that in the case of the 'human' botfly (dermatobia hominis) you are trying to repel the mosquito, or other blood sucking insects, not the botfly. The botfly lays eggs on these other insects which then land on you with the botfly egg.

"Bot flies are our friends" is the title of this one:
http://botfly.quiik.com/gallery.html
 
You know Dave, I really really wish you hadn't given us that URL, because I went there and looked at a couple of the pictures. I think I'll stay indoors in a mist of DDT for the rest of this year.
- Richard
 
I guess I would have made a poor tropical disease specialist :hairraise: !
- Richard
 
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