# Removing bot eggs from mane



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I just snip them off but if you don't want to cut the hair then that won't work. I have heard covering them in Vaseline will smother them (might make them easier to remove after a few hours) but I have no idea if that's true or an old horsemen's tale.


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## Werecat (Aug 23, 2015)

A quality bot knife. Toward mid-summer my horse came in one morning with a mane full of eggs. It took a while but I was able to remove all of them with a good bot knife without damaging his mane. I put pressure on the strands to keep them rigid and flat, and pressed downward with even pressure. They just popped off.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Do you have hot water at the barn? You need some very warm water and some old towels. Wrap her mane in those warm wet towels, and that should release them. She is going to look VERY pampered, wrapped in her warm ,wet towels!!! 
You could add some stones, lol, and make sure those towels are monogrammed!!!!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

greentree said:


> Do you have hot water at the barn? You need some very warm water and some old towels. Wrap her mane in those warm wet towels, and that should release them. She is going to look VERY pampered, wrapped in her warm ,wet towels!!!
> You could add some stones, lol, and make sure those towels are monogrammed!!!!


1. ^^^ This but don't let the towels get cold or the bot eggs will "reattach" themselves.

The purpose of using warm/wet is to trick the eggs into thinking the horse (or another horse during mutual grooming) is licking them, and they release so they can get on the horse's tongue.

If there's no hot water at the barn, carry a hot thermos with you.

I prefer a bot knife to scrape them off and try to grow some semblance of fingernails to pull the ones in sensitive areas like the flanks. When the bot knives get too dull to scrape off bot eggs, they come in handy for scraping off manure (or caked on mud) before I start brushing.

2. Pull the hair back along the jowel and closely inspect for bot eggs. These eggs are laid by Throat Bots and self-migrate into the mouth.

http://www.equimaxhorse.com/parasites/bots/

Where it says in part:



> G. nasalis lays about 500 yellow eggs around the chin and throat of the horse. *These eggs are not dependent on the horse's licking them *to hatch. G. nasalis burrows under the skin to the mouth, wandering through it for about a month before migrating to the stomach for overwintering. Then the cycle begins again.


I have a hard time staying bent over with my neck craned upward (this is what I get for teaching my horses to keep their heads in a down position when I'm doing something to that head), plus my fingernails leave a lot to be desired so I slather them in a thick layer of any kind of ointment. Vaseline, A&D, hemorrhoid ointment, anything to stop their movement and kill them.

They should easily come off by the end of the day or the next day.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I buy cheap disposable razors and use those. They work on legs, mane etc.

When they get dull - I pitch the razor


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## SwissMiss (Aug 1, 2014)

JCnGrace said:


> I just snip them off but if you don't want to cut the hair then that won't work.


I am rather fond of her longish mane, so I rather not cut it 



greentree said:


> Do you have hot water at the barn? You need some very warm water and some old towels. Wrap her mane in those warm wet towels, and that should release them. She is going to look VERY pampered, wrapped in her warm ,wet towels!!!
> You could add some stones, lol, and make sure those towels are monogrammed!!!!


Horse SPA  And a nice massage.... Aaah... 
Knowing Raya she will only _look_ pampered, but feel like I am prepping her for the BBQ :twisted:



walkinthewalk said:


> 1. ^^^ This but don't let the towels get cold or the bot eggs will "reattach" themselves.
> 
> The purpose of using warm/wet is to trick the eggs into thinking the horse (or another horse during mutual grooming) is licking them, and they release so they can get on the horse's tongue.
> 
> ...


Will def try the hot towel method! I am looking for throat bot eggs, but didn't see any (yet)...

Just can't stand those ******s!


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## Whinnie (Aug 9, 2015)

carshon said:


> I buy cheap disposable razors and use those. They work on legs, mane etc.
> 
> When they get dull - I pitch the razor


Brilliant! I am going to try this today!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

SwissMiss said:


> Will def try the hot towel method! I am looking for throat bot eggs, but didn't see any (yet)...
> 
> Just can't stand those ******s.
> 
> ...


Throat bots can be really hard to spot - I can miss them every time, if I don't pull the hair backward 

It's still warm enough, in my area, to run fans so I took the clippers to the jowel hair this morning. I left their "feeler" whiskers but the hair along the jowel bones is down to peach fuzz and the throat latch is pretty thin, too. 

Rusty has a fat wrinkle under there and darn if I didn't see bot eggs in that hair as I was clipping along that "crease":frown:


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