Botfly, Mama!

So word on the street (or rather, the Internets) is that botflies are relatively common in Belize.  From what I've gathered, the botfly deposits little eggies on a mosquito and then when the mosquito bites you the egg (or larvae at this point; not sure) jumps into the little hole in your skin.  Then it stays right there and grows.  So in a couple of weeks you feel something moving around in your still-itchy bite.....a big fat maggot living off of your bodily fluids.  The tell-tale sign is that there is a small hole in the bump so the cute li'l guy can breathe.  Adorable!

Last week, pretty much overnight, Jesse the Texas Black Dog developed a surprising lump on his snout.  It had a little hole in the middle.  I scoured the internet and became convinced he had a botfly.  Egan was very interested.  When he first saw a picture of a botfly larvae, he pointed to it and said:  "I eat that."  When we got to the videos of people pulling the maggots out of their bodies, he changed his mind.

Jesse with the not-a-botfly mark on his snout.

I took Jesse to the vet and it turned out it was just a nothing little bit of nothing.  But botflies have been on the brain I guess because a couple days ago, Egan pointed to a blemish on my face and with a big smile said:  "Botfly, Mama!".

For a graphic and amusing tale of a recent botfly removal, check out the "As the Coconuts Drop" blog that I have a link to on the left side of this page.