Bot fly eggs on my horse

B

Bow

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Hi.
To me this is urgent, others it may not be as they have the knowledge of how to handle bot fly eggs, so i'll explain;
We (Family) Bought a horse (connemara) last Saturday, he'd been wormed on the Friday before, and we found patches of bot fly eggs on him of which I tried to remove, (bot fly comb) I left them till the next day as I couldn't remove them all and though a bath would rid of them. They still did not come off his fur, would the hot water kill them?
The bot fly comb is not working on the fly eggs on his eggs and am worried I've left them too long, (a week) would they effect him if hes been wormed? How long do they take to hatch?
Im starting to panic as the more I read about them burrowing into horses stomachs and under their tongues it makes me feel like a unfit horses owner. (Oh, and it makes me cringe!)
Thanks!
 
The eggs you can see are the very first stage of the cycle, the eggs can be licked and taken into the horses system where they grow and remain until early next year when any live ones will be expelled and hatch, outside of the horse, into the fly that lays the eggs so the cycle starts again.
You can remove them from his legs, a bot knife is usually effective if used carefully to scrape downwards the same way as the hair grows , you can pick off a few individual ones if you have good fingernails, if any have been ingested already worming in the winter with an appropriate wormer will kill any bots that have developed inside him, don't panic it is not a sign of an unfit owner as they can come from anywhere and target your horse, worming again now will not get rid of any eggs he has taken in as far as I know.
 
Thank-you, would hot water kill them, and make it easy to remove them?
Is their any kind of shampoo that is good for killing them?
He's only young and wouldnt want any bots ingested that will damaged him internally for his life.
thank your again!!
 
Hot water will not kill them nor will shampoo, the best way is to get that knife out and scrape them off, warm water may make it easier to get them but I find a knife fairly easy once you get the knack of using it.
 
I use a well used disposable razor for removing bot eggs.
It certainly gets them off quickly!
I do have a bot knife, but tend to use it for cutting baling twine!
 
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