how to get rid of maggots

Question
hi,
just the other day one of my rabbits died from maggots. we have quite a few rabbits so we checked them all and found that another one had them to, luckily we rushed him to the emergency and got them all off of him. he is perfectly fine now but i was wondering what kind of things we could do to prevent this from happening again and what kind of things we could do to get rid of them if they come back. i have read that if you put vaseline on it will smother them but i also know that at night the bunnies eat their poo and if they got a bit of the vaseline would it hurt them?
thanx for your help theses bunnies mean the world to to me!

Answer
If rabbits are kept clean and do not have open wounds, they should not have maggots on them in the first place. Make sure the cages are kept clean. If there are any rabbits with open wounds or diarrhea, they need to be treated and taken inside, if maggots are a big problem. Are you feeding your rabbits plenty of fresh grass or timothy hay? This can do a lot to help prevent diarrhea. Are your rabbits housed seperately in safe cages? Unneutered and unspayed rabbits often will fight, which can cause the open wounds that attract the flies. Even some spayed/neutered rabbits will fight, so ones that are kept together need to be carefully introduced, and you need to make sure they are compatable with each other before leaving them in the cage together unsupervised.

If they are outside in solid floor cages, consider getting wire cages. You can put EZ Mats in to protect the feet, but the waste will still fall to the ground or the tray (depending on your setup) and away from the rabbits. This means that if any maggots do start to grow in the waste (maggots can hatch from eggs in only a few hours in warm weather and optimum conditions), they will be away from the rabbits. Clean the ground underneath or the trays often.

The important thing is to keep the rabbits clean. Any stuck on poop or open wounds can attract the flies.

The other thing to consider is this: are you sure the rabbit died of maggots and did not die, and then maggots got on it?