# fly culture



## iceman1609 (May 2, 2008)

hi guys it look like i can upload pics again so heres a fly culture purchased from exotic pets.

p.s is it normal to have a big maggot in there? i used when chinese first hatched then left a few in to continue then noticed othere day a large maggot like the size of a fishing maggot.


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## macro junkie (May 2, 2008)

got the bug said:


> hi guys it look like i can upload pics again so heres a fly culture purchased from exotic pets.p.s is it normal to have a big maggot in there? i used when chinese first hatched then left a few in to continue then noticed othere day a large maggot like the size of a fishing maggot.


a size of a fishing maggot :lol: :lol: thats not a fruit fly thats probably a blue bottle fly.What the heck is a blue bottle maggot doing in your culture?if i was u i would email them and ask them why?because its not nornall.i guess it woulnt matter but im no fly expert. but strange why its there?


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## iceman1609 (May 2, 2008)

yeh only noticed it other day all maggots are small bar that 1 on his own. im sure my griffin will luv him but just wondered if any else has had this before.n theres no way it could have got there when i was feeding the nymphs as i only opened 1 corner whilst feeding.strange :blink:


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## OGIGA (May 2, 2008)

Maybe a blue bottle decided to lay some eggs in the culture when the producer was making FF cultures. Who knows? :lol:


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## mrblue (May 2, 2008)

i had read about this happening before in a thread a while back, maybe you could find it by searching, though its probably buried a bit too far back, and hard to find as so many threads here mention fruit fly cultures. anyway it happened to me too a couple weeks back. i mention it in this thread:

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10463

it would be interesting to see if this happens to your stowaway fly too. i say this because the culture i had with these large maggots in looked exactly the same as the one in your photo (same type and size of container, with same colour tights over the top secured with a lid with i assume a circular hole cut into the lid, so they must both be from the same or similar source). i thought at first they were greenbottle maggots but since they hatched into flies i think they are a different species. they look similar though.


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## macro junkie (May 2, 2008)

make your own culture in future..there easy to do and for some reason they tend to be alot better when there home made.the ones u buy here suck.all tho livefoodsforgood has good ones but i dont like t he medium they use..mash potaoe and yeaste does wonders for me..i havent even tryed the masa yet cause im having such good results with mash potatoe.its the mites im having trouble with..Dam mites bloody every where.


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## mrblue (May 2, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> make your own culture in future..there easy to do and for some reason they tend to be alot better when there home made.


i agree, i make all my own. however i hadnt had small nymphs for months so had discontinued all my cultures and needed some flies to get going again. i use mash potato, sugar and yeast. as for mites, i find they never get to enough numbers to become a problem. well, not until the culture dries up, then they do take over.


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## iceman1609 (May 2, 2008)

yeh the culture has a circle hole in the top like you said so they probably do come from the same firm, i dont mind there being larger flies in their cus my griffin can eat them but it is strange how we both get the same thing.as for making my own i will have to see how to do that, i am still quite new at all this so....


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## iceman1609 (May 7, 2008)

hi guys just a quick question concerning the ffc's. i noticed other day not only the big maggot but when i opened the culture there were weird looking bugs all round the culture.they were simular shape the the english woodlouse,only little smaller and were like a house brick red colour.ive thrown my cultures away now and got more on order from different place just wondered if anyone had this before.


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## Ben.M (May 7, 2008)

They wernt these were they???, if so then they are normal, its the castor/castor shell

The picture is Stuart89's, i hope he doesnt mind me posting it


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## macro junkie (May 7, 2008)

got the bug said:


> hi guys just a quick question concerning the ffc's. i noticed other day not only the big maggot but when i opened the culture there were weird looking bugs all round the culture.they were simular shape the the english woodlouse,only little smaller and were like a house brick red colour.ive thrown my cultures away now and got more on order from different place just wondered if anyone had this before.


mites?all tho mites aint as big as woodlice.. :lol:


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## iceman1609 (May 7, 2008)

they looked just like that,they moved around though.i sore little legs moving too  ive seen casters as im a fisherman n ive never seen anything like that :huh:


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## Ben.M (May 7, 2008)

If they were small and looked like mini aphids(colour dnt really matter) then 90% sure that they were mites, u did the right thing to chuck the culture out,

P.s im a fisherman 2


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## OGIGA (May 7, 2008)

Your pupae are mobile too???


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## iceman1609 (May 8, 2008)

OGIGA said:


> Your pupae are mobile too???


yeh well they were i threw em all away  didnt like the look of them bugs, they aint no fly lava im sure. i know theres different species ov fly but after maggot you got the casters which are smooth and crusty and they dont move.thats prior to hatchin flys from fishin maggots n i cannot see why these would be any different.


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