white worms/maggots found in November!!??

[Kassandra]

Hi,

I have just poo picked on a snowy field after yesterday's heavy frosts followed by snow (!) and found a few of the droppings infested with white larvae or worms as shown on the picture. These were spread randomly accross the field among a lot of completely normal droppings and very much alive despite the cold weather. I doubt that these were laid and hatched since the droppings had been on the ground. The field was only picked 7 days ago but it has not been warm enough for insects to fly about.

The maggots/worms/larvae are white and about 0.5-1cm in length. You can see black intestines inside of them as they move around. If the droppings are infected, there are usually a few hundred in each. There are 6 horses on the field so I suspect it was one of them (infested droppings are rare).

Can anybody recognise them?

thanks,
Kass

 

[Kassandra]

...I had attached a picture, not sure if this shows up.

 

[Tnavas]

Some like this got me once - took a sample into the vet and he said they were some sort of slug that feeds on the dung. They had come up out of the ground.

 

[Ella19]

my pony had similar but longer, hers were definately round worm! Dosed according to vet and she's now clear. Email this picture to your vets or take a sample in is the easiest way if you're unsure.

 

[Kassandra]

i have emailed vets, thanks for your replies. annoyingly these things appear usually at the beginning of a weekend...

 

[maisy1]

From your description and from what I can see in the pics they are obvious fly maggots. We are still finding them in our horses dung in the feild. I have seen horse worms before and they look nothing like those in the pics, I am also a farmers daughter and have seen plenty of maggots in any animal dung in the coldest of weathers not just the summer. If the environment is right, i.e moisture and warmth, which there is with freshly laid manure then maggots can still appear. There are still flies about this time of year. As long as all the horses in the same feild are being regularly wormed whether it be together or at different times then there should be no problem with worms.

 

[Ella19]

As long as all the horses in the same feild are being regularly wormed whether it be together or at different times then there should be no problem with worms.

I have to disagree with this, not necessarily in this case, but with my mare they were all regularly wormed and no horses had changed in 2 years. She had never shown signs of worms before, they had never changed paddocks. All were wormed together on suggested worming programme by a suitable qualified person. Correct it shouldn't be a problem but it CAN still be a problem.