I found worms in my bunnies cage this morning!

Question

The worms I found in h   This morning I went to my bunnies cage to feed him. He had flipped his bowl over during the night. I picked up his bowl and I found these worm type things in and under his bowl. I seen that there was some broccoli that was underneath his flipped over bowl as well. I'm not sure where the broccoli came from, I didn't give him any the night before, the only way it could've gotten in there is if my sister put it in there. I took the bowl out and It is now soaking in some hot water with the worms are still in there. I went back to his cage and looked in his bedding if there was any more worms. The worms seem to be only where his flipped over bowl was and no where else. But As soon as I found the worms I let my bunny out IMMEDIATELY, then I felt around under his belly to see if I could feel anything under there, I found nothing. So he is now roaming the house along with the dogs and the cat.
As I was typing this I was worrying that he might being leaving these worms throughout the house. But I don't think there was any on him because I checked him and remember how I only found them under his bowl and no where else? I am still a little worried that they could be around the house now.

Answer
Dear Madi,

The "worms" look like blowfly maggots, and these are definitely NOT something you want near your rabbit.  They are the larvae of blowflies, which are attracted to feces, rotting flesh, and other very smelly, organic detritus.  If the maggots have been feeding on flesh, their intestinal contents (visible in some of the ones in your picture) are usually pink to dark red.  I can't tell for sure, but the ones in your picture look as if they might have been feeding on fecal matter.  This could either be on the bottom of the cage, or--and I hope this isn't the case!--on the bottom of your bunny.

Please capture your bunny and turn him over to look *very* closely at his urogenital region and anus.  Feel deep into the fur for any wounds or wet areas.  Feel around any folds of skin for wetness or wounds, and check every area you can find for maggots.  A wound can sometimes start small, but the maggots will enlarge it quickly.  If he has maggots eating his flesh, this could be fatal if not treated quickly and aggressively.  

If you found the maggots under the food bowl only, then you need to be changing the cage and cleaning it more often so that wet, pungent, rotting things do not attract flies.

If you find maggots on the bunny, contact a rabbit vet immediately:

http://www.rabbit.org/vet

But in the meantime, pluck every maggot you can find off with tweezers and kill them in hot water.  If they retreat into a wound, you can flush them out with full-strength povidone iodine, but be ready to catch them as they flee into the fur!

One dose of Capstar will kill the maggots within about half an hour (half of a tablet of the over-the-counter pills for dogs).  Check the entire bunny for fly eggs, as these will hatch and re-infect wounds.

I hope your bunny will be okay. Please let me know, if you can.

Dana