Horse worms and stomach bots are not the same, they have nothing at all to do with worms. Bots are flies, even though they still cause problems for the horse, but nothing to much to worry about. If left untreated then the horse can suffer with poor health, very dull coats, colic, even ulcers.
Adult bot flies are brown, hairy and look a little like a bee.
The fly lays its eggs onto the horse's hair, mostly around the neck area and the forelegs. You can see the eggs on the legs, they are yellowish in colour. Just one bot fly can lay from 150 to several hundred eggs on a horse and the bot will fly several miles in search of a horse to lay its eggs on.
When your horse grooms himself or grooms another horse, the eggs land up in the horse's mouth and then hatch into larvae. This is the first stage larvae. They start to release a chemical and that causes skin irritation which makes the horse nibble with the mouth where the irritation is and then the horse nibbles and the larvae enters into the mouth. The larvae live in the mouth for around three/four weeks. They burrow and live in the soft tissue of the lips, tongue and gums.
The second stage larvae, they exit the soft tissues of the mouth and then swallowed and then develop in the stomach and intestines. They then feed and go on to the third stage larvae and then they pass in their feces.
Once out of the horse the larvae remain in the feces where it pupates for the next 8 weeks and then becomes the adult fly.
I use the Bot fly egg knife remover when I see the eggs on the horses an they are not to difficult to remove. I still use a wormer to make sure the bots are removed inside the horse.
Adult bot flies are brown, hairy and look a little like a bee.
The fly lays its eggs onto the horse's hair, mostly around the neck area and the forelegs. You can see the eggs on the legs, they are yellowish in colour. Just one bot fly can lay from 150 to several hundred eggs on a horse and the bot will fly several miles in search of a horse to lay its eggs on.
When your horse grooms himself or grooms another horse, the eggs land up in the horse's mouth and then hatch into larvae. This is the first stage larvae. They start to release a chemical and that causes skin irritation which makes the horse nibble with the mouth where the irritation is and then the horse nibbles and the larvae enters into the mouth. The larvae live in the mouth for around three/four weeks. They burrow and live in the soft tissue of the lips, tongue and gums.
The second stage larvae, they exit the soft tissues of the mouth and then swallowed and then develop in the stomach and intestines. They then feed and go on to the third stage larvae and then they pass in their feces.
Once out of the horse the larvae remain in the feces where it pupates for the next 8 weeks and then becomes the adult fly.
I use the Bot fly egg knife remover when I see the eggs on the horses an they are not to difficult to remove. I still use a wormer to make sure the bots are removed inside the horse.