Bot Fly

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TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
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I've a bit of a love'n'hate relationship with Parasites in general and have just been watching Bot Fly Larvae removal.

I did a quick google search and one of the places that came up as a potential location was Surrey UK?

Can anyone confirm this please.
 

mereside

Nomad
Aug 21, 2010
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hornsea
I don't know about surrey up I shoot on the west coast of scotland and often come across them on red deer, across the back when skinning are warbles and in the nasal cavity nasal bot fly, to be fair it looks nasty when they are shaking there heads but for me it's keds that give me the heebie jeebies
 
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TeeDee

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I am talking about the burrowing ones - I'd put up Youtube vids on them but not sure if people would appreciate them.
 

nitrambur

Settler
Jan 14, 2010
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Nottingham
I don't know about surrey up I shoot on the west coast of scotland and often come across them on red deer, across the back when skinning are warbles and in the nasal cavity nasal bot fly, to be fair it looks nasty when they are shaking there heads but for me it's keds that give me the heebie jeebies
You should report the warbles, they were supposedly eradicated from the UK in 1990 and are now classed as a notifiable disease
 
over here you get torsalos on livestock and i've removed my share of these bl**** b******* out of dogs and pigs. they attack hominids, too and i've a "nice" scar on my left calf when one of thus critters died in my muscle and it turned into a nasty infection, forcing me to go to the hospital and swallow a load of antibiotics... (one of the drawbacks of living in the tropics...)
can't claim to have any sympathy for them!!!
 

Paul_B

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 14, 2008
6,151
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Cumbria
OK I am so close to reporting this thread!!! I have a complete fear of grubs and the idea of one under my skin has me close to throwing up!! Having said that I know I am forever looking into things that give me the heebie geebies s uch as these things when I see them online. It's kind of morbid fascination except you know you'll regret seeing what you find out.
 
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TeeDee

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OK I am so close to reporting this thread!!! I have a complete fear of grubs and the idea of one under my skin has me close to throwing up!! Having said that I know I am forever looking into things that give me the heebie geebies s uch as these things when I see them online. It's kind of morbid fascination except you know you'll regret seeing what you find out.

Me Too.
I'd like to know where in the evolution of a nasty creepy crawly critter it thought " I know what i can do !! " like some sort of Eureka moment.

I mean , How downright weird and specific is the Cordyceps disease for ants.

And the little parasite that eat snails alive from within before traveling up to their eye stalks and pulsating just so a passing bird see's it , comes down, eats them and continues the life cycle.

Its messed up in a very strange way.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
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Oct 6, 2003
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Bedfordshire
It isn't all that big of a jump to imagine maggots, which clean up infected wounds on live animals, taking a step to eating live flesh rather than just the dead stuff. Much as ox pecker birds which eat ticks and maggots on large animals will also peck wounds to keep them open in order to drink the blood.

Probably less a eureka moment as a e...u...r...e....k....a few million years! Especially since some bot flies first catch a smaller fly, which they then use as a courier to carry their egg to the intended target!

The cordyceps isn't just for ants. In the tropics there is just about one for every insect group and type. Did you know that there is a parasitic fungus that infects flies in the UK? We had two or three on my parents' patio door, up at about eye level, complete with dead fly and a burst pattern of spores on the glass.
 
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henchy3rd

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Apr 16, 2012
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Derby
Just came across this thread.
Whilst in Zimbabwe, I noticed the house boy used to iron our underwear..when I questioned why.. I was to find out that a bot fly could lay it’s eggs in damp underwear after washing them..
My friend had one burrow into his testicle.
It wasn’t a nice thing to see?
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,447
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Exeter
Just came across this thread.
Whilst in Zimbabwe, I noticed the house boy used to iron our underwear..when I questioned why.. I was to find out that a bot fly could lay it’s eggs in damp underwear after washing them..
My friend had one burrow into his testicle.
It wasn’t a nice thing to see?


There is a rather wonderful scene in this film that has just jumped back into my memory. :)

 

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