# Diseases?



## shryke300 (Jan 13, 2006)

Hey fellas, I hunt squirrels in my grandfathers woods every once in a while with my gamo shadow 1000. Lately, however, i have killed four that had tumors on their bellies. I assume they are tumors, they may be cysts, but they were probably about the size of a nickel and bulging a 1/4 to 1/2 inch out of the skin. It was realy gross. Needless to say, i didn't clean those, just burried them. Has anyone heard about this or know what it could be?


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## Remington 7400 (Dec 14, 2005)

Wolves?


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## shryke300 (Jan 13, 2006)

Wolves? What do you mean?


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## Sin man (Jul 25, 2006)

are you sure they arent just male squirrels?


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## Remington 7400 (Dec 14, 2005)

Wolves are deer fly larva. The deer fly bite the sguirrel and burrough into the flesh to lay their eggs, when the eggs hatch the larva feed off the squirrel untill they are big enough to make it on their own. When the larva start to "hatch" a large growth like appendage pops up on the squirrel's body. Depending on the time of year, you can sometimes see the worm like larva crawl out of the growth. In time it will heal up. Personally I don't eat squirrels with live wolves in them, but once they are healed up alls good. :beer:


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

They're also called warbles or by the term wolves that Remington 7400 used.
Either way as pointed out they are just a bot fly larvae commonly found on rabbits and squirrels. They only affect the skin and connecting tissue and not the meat of the animal so it is pretty easy to cut the affected area out if you want. Sometimes if I find just one that is what I do but if there are several or as Remington 7400 stated the larvae is visible I discard the animal.

Be careful you don't swallow one or you will get a craving for hickory nuts and a urge to climb trees.............. :wink:


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## shryke300 (Jan 13, 2006)

Thanks guys. I had no idea what it could be, it was the wierdest thing, and they've never had problems like that before. But, now i know!


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## Beaufort (Oct 31, 2006)

in my younger years I cleaned one with wolves.I seen this not on the squirrel's side, so I open it up and there was a black worm balled up inside. I took it out and straighten it out and it was about 3-4 inches long and skinny.My grandma told me to throw it away and said the squirrel counldnt be eaten until a HARD frost. I never knew the WHY part of where it cames from until today thanks to remington 7400 and gohon.

thanks for the info

Beaufort


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