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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum DIET & CARE Worms in my Bunny Cage

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    • EmCraft
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        I’ve been keeping my bunny in the house. It’s summer, so there are some flies. I’ve been doing my best to control them. I keep my trash covered, use s stable fly spray outside, and  have hung a few fly traps around the house. I’ve had another bunny come down with mites so I I treated both bunnies with vermectin just to be on the safe side. I’ve been adding a little diatomaceous earth to rabbit food to deworm the bunnies. I was told this would prevent fly strike also. Every day I clean out the cage removing the soiled hay, wiping out the bottom, spraying the cage down with rubbing alcohol, and sprinkling diatomaceous earth all over before putting fresh hay. Day after day I keep finding small thin worms at the bottom of the cage. I’ve switched out the cages entirely, but continue to find these worms.   My husband says they don’t look like maggots because they are too skinny, flesh colored and fast moving. I don’t what else they could be, or what I should be doing. I’m very worried. I guess I should mention, both bunnies appear healthy, and have none of the “mushy looking patches” that I’ve read about accompany fly strike. Please help! Thank you!


      • Mikey
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          Here is an old post you should consider reading, but not posting to (no need to revive a dead thread). It has a lot of information about DE and why you should/should not use it. https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/120680/Default.aspx

          Have you checked your rabbits butt and have you ‘dissected’ your rabbits poop? From what ive heard, worms are not uncommon in outdoor rabbits, and if untreated can be very dangerous (possible death). Either way, theyll need to see a vet to ensure the worms arnt getting to them and to make sure they arnt eating the worms. Youll also want to swap their cages completely for a while so you can treat the original cage. If you see the worms in the new cage after the buns have moved in, you know the worms are inside the rabbit


        • Muchelle
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            Can it be they are food moths? sometimes animals dry food when it’s badly stored (or poor production hygiene) can develop them, or they could infest the pantry and go unnoticed for a while (wiki page with pics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_mealmoth)

            Anyways, keep some maggots in a jar or something and show them to the vet, they’ll know.


          • EmCraft
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              Thanks Mikey! I actually was told by another rabbit own to use DE to avoid fly strike, since I was finding gnats in my bunny cages and worried about other things. I was told to feed it the bunnies by adding it to their food and also sprinkling in and around the cages to kill any larvae that might have been laid. IDK, I haven’t noticed that the DE has any negative effects on any of the bunnies. I have looked into the poop, it kinda just looks like grass and stuff in it. None of their behinds look suspect. I’ve been spending days up days looking images and articles about fly strike, and intestinal worms… And the gruesome images that accompany them are just the worst…

              My very long story is this… I had 2 pet bunnies when I was living in Northern Colorado, that both came from the same breeder. They were my first bunnies, I’ll admit I went in somewhat unaware of what I was getting into. Then the breeder got shut down for operating in a residential neighborhood. and then contacted me because he was trying to find homes for bunnies so they wouldn’t get picked up by animal control and euthanized. I really felt for the bunnies so I took a few more in and started to find them homes. Then the breeder continued to contact me and asked if I would just hold some bunnies for him until he passed inspection by animal control, promising to come back and get them later. He sold me a bunch of cages, but not enough to hold all the bunnies separate, then they went into puberty, and this guy never came back to pick up all the rest of the bunnies. I tried to keep them all in the house, but honestly the mixed sexes living that close to each other caused lots of spraying of urine, and aggression between den mates. Altogether I ended up with 22 bunnies, and found homes for 10 of them. I tried to contact the house rabbit society, but that was rather fruitless, they took weeks to respond then said they couldn’t help me. Back then we were in the process of moving to southern Colorado, and now that we have moved I feel like this area is just filled with all sorts of weird bugs, and flies, and what not. I trying my best, the worms we have come across, have mostly been in the house. I’m wondering if they are coming out of fruits and vegetables I have been feeding my bunnies from the local market??? I some times by the clearance veggies because I’m on a budget and I’ve got a full house to provide for.


            • Bam
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                It doesn’t sound like maggots, but I don’t know what it is. Ivermectin is a dewormer as well and can also be used as fly strike prevention, so this is really weird.
                Fly strike is very serious and this doesn’t sound like that. Could you get us a photo of the worms? Have you seen worms actually on the bunny? What type of climate are you in? (Like US state or country, just to be able to find out what intestinal worms might be found in your area).


              • EmCraft
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                  Thanks Muchelle! I think you might of hit it. I’ve looked up some images of the larvae and they do look really similar!


                • Bam
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                    I’m sorry EmCraft, I didn’t see your reply until now, I started writing mine before you’d sent yours.

                    I hope it is food moths! Sounds likely! There are other larvae that can occur in a home like mealworms (tenebrio molitor) or dermestid beetles.


                  • Ava
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                      The first thing that came to my mind was contaminated food source. Check both the hay and feed that you’re giving to the rabbits. If you can afford it, switch brands.


                    • Muchelle
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                        Pay attention if you see those little moths around home.. they are very tiny (the size of a housefly) and will infest your home and lay eggs everywhere. I’ve been through this when I had hamsters, found out they were into the seeds mix and spread to my whole place (was also a good quality, unopened seed mix…sigh)

                        If it is food moths, you’ll have to clean ALL of your pantry, cupboards, everywhere you have your food (as well as any animal’s food), go in emergency mode and store all of your grains (pasta, rice, flour, cookies, etc etc) in GLASS or ceramic containers. Those little devils eat through plastic!

                        The only way to kill them is to forbid the access to food and to buy a special glued paper just for them, that has to be put where food is. It will take some time, but you’ll eventually kill all the adults and erase the maggot problem.

                        Good news is that they should be harmless (at least to my knowledge), cept for the ugly factor…

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                    Forum DIET & CARE Worms in my Bunny Cage