attack of the bot fly!

[lucanidae]

Yup, read an article on that.... its phony (bad science), that insect maxes at 25 mph...still fast!

 

[BurrowDweller]

Very interesting pictures! I have heard a few stories from people who have had bots, but had never actually seen one (at least on a human).

I have a degree in wildlife biology and have seen plenty of bots on hunter killed rabbits. In most areas of the US they are called warbles or wolves and are quite common in the eastern US. Have seen a few nasal bots in deer, kinda gross, but cool too.

 

[Randolph XX()]

OMG!
i am wondering where exactly in tropic u have been for collecting?

 

[zinto]

http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/botfly2.html

 

[kiffnie]

Glad you guys enjoyed the pics. I was in Belize for 10 days. Probably would not have picked them up just hanging on the beach but I did spend a few days hiking around in the jungle. How did I know they were there? As someone mentioned the rings on their bodies are little hooks that anchor them in. When they move around, it hurts! How did they get them out? They enlarged the breathing hole with a small incision (under a local) and pushed them out. Pulling them out can break them in two and cause in infection. All is well now and I feel much better!

 

[Loaf]

Bot Flies

I saw a special on Bot flies on the discovery channel, someone had a Bot Fly lay eggs in her eye, at least you didnt get them in your eye. Where were you when you got them? I never got them that I knew of when I went to Costa Rica. HHMMMM do you still have them? ;P

 

[jwasted]

wow those pics are neat. Glad they got them out of you! Crazy stuff

 

[strat321]

bot fly!!

great pics. Will use them in my lecture on symbioses (with your permission)

takes me back to early 80's when I was in the peace corps in belize.

3 weeks in country and had a growth/ pimple/ swelling that would not heal. after about 10 days I happen to show the PC nurse just as the breathing tube came out (the reason it does not heal). went into her office, she gets a cotton swap and squeezes it out. I could not eat rice for a week.


now adays with grad & undergrads going to the tropics, they sometimes get botflies everywhere and I mean everywhere on their bodies.
we use nail polish to intoxicate the bugger and then gently squeeze the WHOLE larvae out. problem with u.s. docs is they are not necessarily familiar with tropical medicine ( a field unto itself)

cheers!

 

[kiffnie]

I spent a day hiking around in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve. That's where I think I picked them up.

 

[bugmankeith]

I saw a show where a guy had a botfly in his stomach, it looked like a segment from alien!

 

[David_F]

yes they let me keep them, if they wouldn't have I would have had to let them go to maturity or else find another doctor cause I wanted them bad!

Please tell me you've got these at the Bug Zoo.

Glad the doc got them out.

 

[kiffnie]

Of course they are at the zoo. We are going to make a big poster using some of the pics the doctor took and put them on display. Stop and see them!

 

[Newports]

Oh man, wasnt that painfull!!??

And wouldn't you need to do somthing to the hole since its so deep?

 

[kellygirl]

I was in Belize for 10 days.

I was in the Yucatan peninsula (Campeche, Yucatan & Quintana Roo) for several months this year, and seriously considered checking out Belize and Guatemala since I was so close. I did some research and opted out of both... I said no to Guatemala because of the recent frequent muggings of tourists by groups of masked men armed with machetes (really sounds made up, I know). I said no to Belize because of the botsflies. Seriously. As much as I love many insect and arachnid critters, I might literally go crazy if I knew I had larvae under my skin. I can hardly handle it when a regular old blemish pops up... so I would probably have clawed a hole in my head if I had been in your position. And I'm not joking even a little bit. :8o I'm glad you were able to be so brave.

-Kelly

 

[kiffnie]

Oh man, wasnt that painfull!!??

And wouldn't you need to do somthing to the hole since its so deep?

It was only painful when they moved. They have concentric rings of spines that anchor them into the tissue. When they needed to find a juicy new patch of tissue to chow on, they would move and the spines would cause a stabbing pain that lasted a few minutes. I have heard that it is not so painful to have them in other places like your arm or your calf where the tissue is deeper.

They decided to to leave the incisions open because they didn't want to trap any bacteria in the hole. I am on oral antibiotics and the holes have shrunk down and scabbed over nicely.

 

[Tleilaxu]

So are you going to breed them?

 

[Newports]

It was only painful when they moved. They have concentric rings of spines that anchor them into the tissue. When they needed to find a juicy new patch of tissue to chow on, they would move and the spines would cause a stabbing pain that lasted a few minutes. I have heard that it is not so painful to have them in other places like your arm or your calf where the tissue is deeper.

They decided to to leave the incisions open because they didn't want to trap any bacteria in the hole. I am on oral antibiotics and the holes have shrunk down and scabbed over nicely.

Ah I see, thanks.
Glad things worked out for you.