# How to culture BB flies



## MantisMart (Jul 31, 2020)

Can any 1 tell me how to culture BB flies? Is it like fruit flies? Or more complex. Thanks


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## MantisGirl13 (Jul 31, 2020)

Blue bottle flies require raw and rotting meat to breed, which is why most of us here on the forum don't breed them.

- MantisGirl13


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## ninjastep (Jul 31, 2020)

I've heard of people having success with a combination of milk and dog food, but this would still smell horrible.


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## MantisMart (Jul 31, 2020)

eww!!!  

yeaaa I’m gonna wait on culturing those


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## Introvertebrate (Aug 1, 2020)

ninjastep said:


> I've heard of people having success with a combination of milk and dog food, but this would still smell horrible.


I think that’s houseflies.  BBs require a medium that smells like death warmed over.


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## ninjastep (Aug 1, 2020)

Introvertebrate said:


> I think that’s houseflies.  BBs require a medium that smells like death warmed over.


The dog food and milk combo simulates that odor they are after from what I understand.  Here's one recipe I found, but I haven't actually tried it myself.

*[SIZE=12pt]Blue bottle flies[/SIZE]*

[SIZE=12pt](easy, but messy and potentially smelly)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Blue bottle flies (also known as blow flies) are a common house fly.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Materials
Blue bottle fly pupae (If you cannot get any pupae then place a bottle of your mix outside for a day to two and wild ones will lay eggs in it.)
1 cup dry dog food
1 cup milk
2 plastic containers with lids that have tiny holes
Coir (coconut husk fiber – plant or reptile section)
Sand (Reptile sand, play box sand, etc.)
Tweezers


Culturing Eggs:
Order blue bottle fly pupae from a local pet store or online pet supply website. This will get you a starter culture to breed them at home. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Or place a cup of medium outside to collect eggs from wild ones (you can also get other species like this for variety).

Allow the pupae culture to hatch according to the pet store instructions. Typically, this means you store the pupae in a warm area in the container they arrived in, and within 24 hours they will begin to hatch. There will be hundreds of flies once they hatch.

Prepare a mixture of 1 cup dry dog food and 1 cup milk. Allow it to sit out for a day to sour. Flies need the smell of rotten meat to lay eggs. Dog food allows you to obtain that odor without using actual rotten meat.

Put the container of hatched flies in the refrigerator to put them in a hibernation state. You can move them easily to the dog food container this way. Once they are still, pour them into the dog food container and allow them to lay eggs. The flies lay eggs almost immediately once they have a food source. Once you see eggs, put the container in the refrigerator again to put the flies into hibernation.

Replace the adult flies in their original container for use as feeders or put into another culture.

Pupae Stage:
Allow the eggs to hatch into maggots. The eggs hatch within 24 hours, and the maggots will feed on the dog food for about a week. Once they are finished eating, they will begin to crawl around looking for a place to pupate.  (You can try feeding some maggots to your ants, some species are more accepting of them than others).

Mix your coir and sand together (3 parts sand to 1 part coir by volume).

Fill the second plastic container about 3/4th of the way with your soil mixture. The maggots need a place to burrow down in order to pupate. Move the maggots to the dirt using tweezers or carefully dump them in.

Give the pupae about two to three weeks to hatch into blue bottle flies. Repeat the process to culture more flies.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I advise to be outside or in the garage when dumping them as some may recover faster and fly off.[/SIZE]


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## Introvertebrate (Aug 1, 2020)

Interesting.  I’m pretty sure the maggot farms use plain ol’ raw fish.


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