A Strange Thing Got Rid Of Maggots . . . .

[GooseGirlVA]

I've been meaning to find a waterfowl forum for a few years to post this topic, and now I've found one. I've taken care of a lot of ducks over the years that have been dumped in a city park. One of the worst things to find is a duck with a maggot infested wound. It's never a few maggots, either; it's usually hundreds . . . or thousands. Neither I nor a vet could ever save one, until a few years ago. I found a pekin drake with wounds probably caused by a raccoon trying to get to his esophagus. The wound was deep and filled with maggots. I tried to wash the wound out with hydrogen peroxide, which never works, and I knew a vet would just euthanize him. He was an old drake, depressed and not eating, and had that dead animal smell. I had no hope for his survival.

While looking in the medicine cabinet, however, I noticed a jar of Burt's Bees Banana Hand Cream that I had not used. It came in a "hand repair kit", and it was too thick and waxy for me. I thought of the maggots. Hey, why not? Maybe they'd try to eat it and choke to death! Thus, I just put a big glob of the banana hand cream in the wound. Later, when I went to check on the drake, who was inside in a cage, I immediately noticed he no longer smelled dead, but instead smelled like bananas, as did the entire room! So I though at least he wouldn't smell bad when he died. I also noticed he was perking up a bit. The cream was still in the wound, but I saw no maggots. I just assumed they went deeper into the wound. Checking him closely, I noticed a smaller wound that I had not noticed, and there were maggots in that wound. I thought maybe the maggots had moved there. So, I put the banana hand cream in that wound. I put more in the first wound, too.

And I never saw another maggot on the drake after that! I don't know what happened to them. He started acting perfectly normal, eating his food, and preening himself with the water in his bucket. I put a bit more cream into the wounds, and they started rapidly healing. The skin turned a nice pink color, his feathers grew back, and he lived for another two years. Hence, if anyone wants to try something different on a maggot infested wound, try Burt's Bees Banana Hand Cream. The only thing is, though, that cream was made before Burt's Bees was sold to a major company. (I can't remember which one.) Thus, I do not know if the current banana hand cream is exactly the same as the original. I haven't had a maggot case since that pekin drake, so it was only once that I used the cream.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Wow, I wonder if it is the bee's wax that affects the maggots. I'm glad it worked, and I'm glad there are people like you how rescue abandoned water fowl.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Wow, I wonder if it is the bee's wax that affects the maggots. I'm glad it worked, and I'm glad there are people like you how rescue abandoned water fowl.

X2 !!

 

[Amiga]

Beautiful! So grateful you shared this!

 

[Valntyn]

That's pretty awesome! Thanks for sharing... and

!!

 

[maryhysong]

Maybe the thick cream smothered them. Or maybe something in it made them crawl off. If you didn't have that handy it would be worth trying anything really thick, like Bag Balm or vaseline

 

[GooseGirlVA]

That's the thing--I don't know if it was the beeswax, or a combination of all the ingredients, or the thickness of the cream just smothered them. Since the entire room smelled like bananas, however, I was thinking they ate the cream. Because when they eat tissue, there is that horrid dead smell produced. But also, what happened to them? I didn't see any dead ones, I didn't see any live ones . . . where did they go? The wound was deep, so maybe they went deeper and were smothered . . . but they can release a toxic poison. I just don't know . . . unless Poppy, the drake, was eating the cream and ate them. He could reach the wounds. I wish someone would experiment with maggots and beeswax, and see if that's what kills them. Some of the other stuff they use to kill maggots is so toxic. The vet I use to go to used ether!

Thank you all for the replies. It's nice to be online with duck and goose people again.