Flystrike how common is it?

[Hermelin]

Hi again, I’m trying to read on flystrike on rabbit because my rabbit will soon become outdoor rabbit and get a big cage. So I wonder how common it is and it’s it common in cold countries, I live in a country where we have winter between November to April during those months it often rain or snow, summer it’s from may-August than the autum start. I know April and may are spring but may it’s often one of the warmer months and april have unpredictable whether.

The warmest it can get it’s 32 Celsius which not often happens. Maybe one day it can get above but it rarely happens that the temperature goes over 30 Celsius.

My rabbits will be vaccinated and have a great cage protecting them from the most and also have a cooling blanket during hot days and warm blanket during the winters.

Will flystrike be common?

 

[Aki]

I've never kept any of my rabbits outside, so all I can say is that I regularly read posts written by people from different countries about this issue. It occurs in France and in other countries with a temperate climate so having a temperature which doesn't go much over 30° is no guarantee that it won't happen. Obviously, more than the weather, the question is 'are there flies?'... which means that the problem will occur more during summer. But I've seen flies last December, considering this winter hasn't been very cold winter in Europe so, you know... If there is no other possibility than keeping the rabbit outside I think the only thing you can do is to keep the cage very very clean and examine your rabbit very thoroughly really often to catch any potential problem early on - if you make a search, we've got a few threads about fly strikes on this forum and you'll see that the maggots can make pretty gruesome damages in a few days, so should the problem occur it's best to get it treated really quickly.

 

[Hermelin]

I had an outdoor rabbit for 8 years when I was a kid it never happened and we cleaned once a week the litter box , have never seen a fly in December here because it’s minus degree during the nights even if it rain during the day,it’s been a hot winter. It’s always on and off frost untill april and may.

Flys it’s only common during the summer and it’s only a few months and it’s often rain during the summers, often it’s only one month with great whether. :3

 

[majorv]

We had rabbits outside for over 8 years with no fly strike problem. We had plenty of flies during the warm humid summers, too. It’s important that your rabbits stay healthy because flies are attracted to moist environments. Any rabbit who has a problem with diarrhea is a target.

 

[Blue eyes]

A soiled litter box is a great breeding ground for flies. Be sure to keep the litter box clean and examine it well too for signs of maggots.

 

[Hermelin]

I’m cleaning the litter box ever other day, so keeping the litter box will be no problem and easy to keep clean because I use litter I can compost so easy to throw into the compost in the forest. ^-^

 

[Preitler]

....

 

[Hermelin]

I have an compost pile in the forest part of my house where only natural stuff like wood, branches and leafs get to be, so during the winter forest mouses and hedghog often live in that pile during the cold winters and a compost box for food. Never really had many flys except for the trash can and the food compost during the summers.

The cage will be wether proof so the rabbit’s will be dry except if they stay out in the rain or snow, when they run at the bottom part of the cage.

So to prevent flystrike you only have to keep it clean, is it some special fly which it’s the problem. Because flys have different species: I often see Syrphidae on flowers, Calliphoridae and Muscidae these two species are common at the trash can and the food compost during the summer only at summer time but they aren’t that many because both the garbage can and the compost have lid which are always close.