Re: In this neighborhood we have an epidemic of botfly larvae attacking animals and us

On Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 7:45:42 AM UTC-4, Jimmy knows crooked Sammie Ervin IV wrote:
> I got one from a mosquito which stuck his snout in my leg. It seems the botfly uses the mosquito to lay its eggs. 
> 
> I have been watching the squirrels and birds. The squirrels are covered with the larvae, and I found a brown thrasher with a larva in its head. I got the larva out of the bird but it was too late. It was so close to its beak that it had been unable to eat.
I got rid of the larva in my thigh with a razor blade and a pair of small hemostats.   I pulled the fucker out and stomped him.   I think I got another one a couple of weeks ago.    I had mosquito repellent but one of the workmen here ran off with it.    A mosquito bit me on my left leg and the next thing I knew there was a swollen itching knot big as a hickory nut on my leg.   I put on the largest bandage I could find, which was not a bandaid, but a bandage by another company...because bandaids are no longer worth a damn.   I first covered the lesion with an antibiotic salve which was mostly vaseline.   That, according to what I had read, would smother the larva and kill it.   As soon as I got the bandage on, the itching and swelling began to decrease and I felt better.   Now it is gone away.

But I am certain, having seen so many squirrels with their fur eaten away by the botfly bastards and raw scarred skin on their sides, necks, and heads, that we are in an epidemic of the pestilence.