raising maggots

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dlemmings

dlemmings

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Location
Buena Park Ca
I want to put out bait: ground beef maybe mixed with the gelatin I read of in other posts, let the flys lay eggs, grown maggots with I can allow to pupate then pop in frige and pull out a few each day and place in small covered containers till they eclose and then feed to my ghosts and sp. LIneola .

I thought a shallow box with shaded recessed end away from the “bait” and filled with the proper medium for the maggots to move to. And refill the bait when needed but I may get more than enough to last a month so this could be a monthly routine if I can time the pupation to eclosing by refrigeration.

Thoughts, experience tips etc. are appreciated.

 
mantiscurious said:
I want to put out bait: ground beef maybe mixed with the gelatin I read of in other posts, let the flys lay eggs, grown maggots with I can allow to pupate then pop in frige and pull out a few each day and place in small covered containers till they eclose and then feed to my ghosts and sp. LIneola .

I thought a shallow box with shaded recessed end away from the “bait” and filled with the proper medium for the maggots to move to. And refill the bait when needed but I may get more than enough to last a month so this could be a monthly routine if I can time the pupation to eclosing by refrigeration.

Thoughts, experience tips etc. are appreciated.
Click to expand...
HAs no one tried this...does no one have any tips, when I google I get a ton of "fruit-fly culturing" and places sellings spikes or maggots...I dont need hundreds, but want a few dozen that I can learn how to time their hatch timing and a 2-3 "gut-loading" period so I dont have to use the doggy doo-doo method to collect. (however I have become very proficient at collecting them with one of those mesh picnic food covers that are like an umbrella to trap them and then pop into freezer for a few minutes. the ones I got were from the dollar-tree for a buck, but they are like this: http://www.rei.com/product/678285/coghlans-fold-away-food-cover?preferredSku=6782850017?cm_mmc&mr:trackingCode=B683071B-81F9-DE11-BAE3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&{copy:s_kwcid}=&mr:adType=pla&gclid=CM-KoKPC8KoCFRNU7Aod5R77PA

)

 
Yes, sorry i didn't answer this yesterday. First, the flies will love the rotting ground beef, but you and yr family will not! It will stink.

I have posted on this a few times, but have recently simplified my recipe a little.

Flies will lay and breed in a mixture of 6cups cat food, say about 27% protein (I no longer use low-protein, 20% dog food supplemented by casein) 1 cup of brewers' yeast and 1 tablespoonful of Paraben mold retardant from Josh's Frogs.

You can heat the cat food in water until it makes a lumpy mush and then homogenize it with an immersion blender or a potato masher and stir in the other ingredients. I have destroyed 3 coffee grinders trying to grind it, and found that when I put it in a freezer bag to crush it with a mallet, it cut through the bag. A few days ago, though, I found that I can crush it in this way using a heavy duty dog/cat food bag. When you have your mash made up., stir in a few handfuls of wood chips. I use Hartz's Natural Pine bedding, sold at pet stores.

If all that is too much effort, try Carey at Green Oasis ion this forum. She was making a similar,mix, I think for sale. Are you still selling it, Carey?

Once you have gotten the mix, post again and we can go on from there. Good luck!

 
You may also have trouble with a host of other animals as you are trying to get wild flies to lay (regardless of specific laying substrate).

Skunks and other varmints may be interested, and may do some property damage if needed to get to the tasty substrate. Also, the substrate may attract additional arthropods. Scavenging wasps and yellow jackets being my first thought, though other corpse related bugs may also show up.

 
Peter J F said:
You may also have trouble with a host of other animals as you are trying to get wild flies to lay (regardless of specific laying substrate).

Skunks and other varmints may be interested, and may do some property damage if needed to get to the tasty substrate. Also, the substrate may attract additional arthropods. Scavenging wasps and yellow jackets being my first thought, though other corpse related bugs may also show up.
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If that was my case, I wouldn't complain...here we get loads of ants, rarely interesting stuff.

 
It is not easy to raise "just a few". I don't grind the dog/cat food. I just leave it to absorb enough water to be mushy, but still keeps it's form. The little ones really attack the chunks and when attracting the egg-laying flies it gives nooks and crannies for the flies to lay their eggs. It seems to be a "preferred" place to lay from what I've noticed. I then just will add mushy dog/cat food until they make their "exodus". It seems to never end once the first start to leave. To limit the number you should limit the exposure to laying flies or they will continually lay more eggs leading to more maggots.
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You'll probably end up with too many and find yourself peddling to other local enthusiasts.
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Shipping costs are a KILLER!

I'll post a photo of my "set up"
laugh.gif
later.

Good luck.

 
PhilinYuma said:
Yes, sorry i didn't answer this yesterday. First, the flies will love the rotting ground beef, but you and yr family will not! It will stink.

I have posted on this a few times, but have recently simplified my recipe a little.

Flies will lay and breed in a mixture of 6cups cat food, say about 27% protein (I no longer use low-protein, 20% dog food supplemented by casein) 1 cup of brewers' yeast and 1 tablespoonful of Paraben mold retardant from Josh's Frogs.

You can heat the cat food in water until it makes a lumpy mush and then homogenize it with an immersion blender or a potato masher and stir in the other ingredients. I have destroyed 3 coffee grinders trying to grind it, and found that when I put it in a freezer bag to crush it with a mallet, it cut through the bag. A few days ago, though, I found that I can crush it in this way using a heavy duty dog/cat food bag. When you have your mash made up., stir in a few handfuls of wood chips. I use Hartz's Natural Pine bedding, sold at pet stores.

If all that is too much effort, try Carey at Green Oasis ion this forum. She was making a similar,mix, I think for sale. Are you still selling it, Carey?

Once you have gotten the mix, post again and we can go on from there. Good luck!
Click to expand...
okay, it seems this may be more work than I hoped, but I fear with the coming cold weather i may suddenly not be able to catch wild ones.cat food i have but the paraben and brewers yeast i will need to obtain

 
OK. Here's the set up. It is in an outside shed. Not too much smell with using the dog/cat food.

We have a big trash can which contains the maggots. I just threw over an old piece of unused bedding to keep out new flies.

flies002.jpg


You can see here that more flies want in, but I've thwarted their plans.

flies003.jpg


Inside I have another big bucket that contains the food and the maggots.

flies005.jpg


The maggots remain in the medium until they've had enough and then will start up the sides looking for a place to pupate and get away.

flies006.jpg


flies010.jpg


On the move...

flies007.jpg


Inside the big trash can at the bottom there is corn meal.(Thanks Phil for that one. I was hating using oatmeal.) When mature, they crawl up and out. You can collect them before they pupate and fridge them or leave them and let them pupate.

flies008.jpg


Here is a link to the topic where there are pictures of one of the "harvests" The Harvest

I hope I haven't turned anyones stomachs.
laugh.gif


 
I too am raising maggots, I put out a piece of chicken and green bottle flies laid eggs and I wrapped the chicken in a moist paper towel and I have hundreds of maggots, I was just curious, how big do green bottle fly maggots get? Mine haven't eaten in 3 days and there are no pupae, there is plenty of chicken for them, what should I do?

Thanks!

 
@Patric Fraser: This is by far the best HF setup that I have seen. It is large enough to produce a lot of flies. The mixture has a large enough surface area in relation to its depth to prevent the growth of anaerobic bacteria which casue the stink. The food is simple and inexpensive.; do you just pour the uncrushed dog food into water and let it soak to make a mush? Limiting the number of flies means that they can grow to full size before pupating, though you could produce smaller flies for smaller critters by reducing the amount of food or increasing the numvber of flies. Do you have any problem keeping the mixture moist?

 
PhilinYuma said:
@Patric Fraser: This is by far the best HF setup that I have seen. It is large enough to produce a lot of flies. The mixture has a large enough surface area in relation to its depth to prevent the growth of anaerobic bacteria which casue the stink. The food is simple and inexpensive.; do you just pour the uncrushed dog food into water and let it soak to make a mush? Limiting the number of flies means that they can grow to full size before pupating, though you could produce smaller flies for smaller critters by reducing the amount of food or increasing the numvber of flies. Do you have any problem keeping the mixture moist?
Click to expand...
They are mostly Blue bottles with probably a few "intruders". I just add water to the dry food enough to cover it without making it float too much. It should retain it's form, but moist and squishy. Once it gets going with maggots it becomes the mush. If it seems too dry, I will pour in some water. If it seems too wet, I add some dry food. Kinda like fruit fly medium with adding more potato flakes if too runny. It has been trial and error, but it seems to be really cranking now.
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I am expecting an "explosion" this afternoon or evening.
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