How to prevent Fly-strike

[CanucksStar#17]

So my brother had rabbits before I did and two of his female rabbits died from fly-strike. I am really worried that it will happen to my rabbits! They for some reason have really wet behinds, and there are a lot of flies flying around. So what do I do so the flies won't bother them? They live under an open porch so the flies can just fly in when they want. What can I do?

 

[Cottie]

Ducks? I have almost no flies in my coop because the ducks gobble them all up.

Maybe someone else will have a suggestion that doesn't include another species. =)

 

[CanucksStar#17]

My ducklings live like 2 feet from the cages and it doesn't seem to help with the flies.

 

[MaggieJ]

Do you have catnip growing nearby? A couple bunches of well bruised stems and leaves of catnip hung near the rabbits should help a lot, particularly as a preventative. Or perhaps you could screen the area under the porch?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Your rabbits hindquarters should not be wet. They could have something else going on- a fungal infection, perhaps? Vinegar applied to the area will change the PH and kill the fungus if that is the problem. Blu-kote, a spray sold for livestock, is also an effective treatment.

If that is not the case, and they are just unclean rabbits, I would suggest looking for other stock. I recently culled a broken black doe because she somehow managed to keep the area above her tail soiled.

 

[CanucksStar#17]

MaggieJ I want to screen in the porch but I need help and right now isn't a good time for anyone to help me! Because my Dad (who is a really good builder) is in the middle of building a 300 sq foot house for one of my brothers. But I do want to put up screening but until then I will just have to look for ways to keep the flies away.

MamaSheepdog How do I tell if they have a fungal infection? The one rabbit has always had a bit of trouble keeping herself clean but it doesn't help that she just kindled a week ago. My other rabbit was living with 8 baby rabbits and they all looked like that, but I separated them yesterday. Should I wash off their hindquarters? And hope that they keep them clean?

 

[MaggieJ]

If your weather is hot, perhaps you could rig a fan until you get the problem sorted out. It should help to keep the flies from landing.

 

[dangerbunny]

I just dealt with some flystrike on my new doe. It isn't normal for them to have dirty butts, and she was having some digestive upset. I pulled the pellets she was getting and fed hay for a week and that helped her a lot. She is now getting the same feed as the rest and doing well on it (I feed a natural diet)

I would clip the longer hair by their bum, wash them if stinky (that is what attracts the flies) and dry really well after. Also make sure the cages are really clean. Check them daily for maggots, like literally my doe got them overnight.

 

[CanucksStar#17]

So I washed my doe that has the one week old babies butt and dried it really well last night, I also took the nesting box out of the cage so she would have more room to clean herself, and I put it back in at 6:00 this morning. Will that help if I give her more room to clean herself? Since she really can't bend around very good with a nesting box in her cage. I am planning on building bigger cages for the pregnant and nursing does.