help with maggots PLEASE!!!

[Iggy]

awful things (think they are fruit fly maggots) have gotten into several tiny tortoises remaining egg sacs, and the "vent" left where they are drying up...does this mean they are eating the tortys from inside??? And is there any way to get them out - have tried using a syringe with water to flush but this hardly seems to budge the majority, have now tried covering the opening with vaseline (don't know if thats healthy or not but I'm at my wits end!) to try to force them out which seems to be having some limited success, but anything more effective???? They must be in so much pain, can they be saved? and how can I stop this happening, they are in a mesh cage which usually prevents flies getting OUT so can only imagine this has started before I moved them, ie as the egg was hatching.

[Serpy]

Isn't the vaseline also maybe stopping any maggots frog getting out?

[Iggy]

no, they can get through it, in fact I see a few coming out, though some get trapped in it and die....the idea is that they need to breathe so sealing the orifice with vaseline forces them to exit....I just don't know how airtight the situation I am creating really is?? and it is very slow to work. oh, and I tried to keep them on their backs so it doesn't all come off but this distresses them of course...how long can they remain upside down without harm?

[Serpy]

Gee you got me there mate, i think it's normally the sun that cooks them in the wild, i'm not sure though. Try disinfect the wound and so forth. And apply an antibacterial ointment.

[Moreliahunter]

Put some diluted Hydrogen peroxide on the wound where the Maggots have been eating. This will clean the wound up and the maggots should fall off. Move the tortoises to a plastic conatainer with paper towel on the bottom. You can get hydrogen peroxide from your local chemist.

[Iggy]

I am just worried because it is not a "wound" as such, does this not lead internally? If I do use the hydrogen peroxide, how dilute should it be? Also getting it fully into the "vent' is difficult, I am using a syringe but again, don't know how far reaching it is?

[Moreliahunter]

Maggots eat dirty dying old flesh. Just buy a 10% solution. You will see it fizz on the dead flesh. Give it a good clean with a disinfectant. Like betadine ointment. You can get this from your pharmacy. But keeping them on clean paper towel is essential.

[froot]

Peroxide (H2O2) is a very aggressive oxidising agent , even heavily diluted, and burns like hell if you get it on your hands leaving white marks from bleaching your flesh. Won't it cause the animal intense pain?

[Iggy]

I think they are going to die if I don't do something and I have read about using hydrogen peroxide....but I do worry about putting anything internal, this is like inside their "umbilical cord" - I just don't know enough about their biology to know if this would be safe for them...on an external wound I would give it a try but this is a bit different...

[Bushviper]

I would flush the wounds with a very salty solution. This cannot cause any harm to the animal but dessicates the maggots. Hydrogen peroxide when diluted can be used to wash oral wounds and I know people who drink the stuff. I am not sure a 10 % solution will not harm them. Make that a 1 % solution by diluting it and see what happens. Then each time you can make it stronger if the dead flesh is not fizzing away and the maggots survive this.

[mm069]

Does anyone have any news on these guys?

[Mongoose]

My dad puts Hydrogen peroxide in my ears.. It cleans them out well..

Has anything worked yet?

[Iggy]

yep, got in touch with our vet as well, my concern with using the peroxide was simply that I didn't know exactly where I was putting it if I put in into an umbilical cord....he assured me that it was only going in under the carapace, but suggested just putting them under a fast running tap (without drowning them) to wash them all out, which I did - seemed pretty successful, but followed up with a salt water wash as well...to date all seem OK and no sign of maggots, just hope there are none that have got sealed in now that the yolk sac is completely dried up...

[Iggy]

BTW I know "umbilical cord" isn't quite the right term, but can't find anything that really describes what I am trying to describe anyone care to fill me in on the term for a drying up egg sac and the little fleshy "hole" which remains for a few days after the sac itself is utilised?

[Bushviper]

Belly button?