# House Flies



## Precious (Sep 20, 2007)

I just got the bright idea to house my Unicorns together in a large terrarium. It's only been one day and there have been some scuffles, but so far so good. Part of my bright idea was just throwing housefly pupae in for food. Well they've been eclosing over the last 24 hours and there are flies everywhere which is great. The Unicorns are eating everytime I look in on them and all's well. Then my son noticed the flies mating. OMGosh! My substrate is just that hairy coconut stuff (silk flowers) and there is a small dish of honey water so I don't know where they would lay eggs. What if they do? Anyone "free feed" this way over a long period of time to reassure me that maggots are not going to sprout in a week?


----------



## Rick (Sep 20, 2007)

What is the honey water for? I found the one time I used houseflies that they did mate. But I guess if they have nothing to lay eggs on then you should be good. I bet they will all be eaten long before they can lay eggs.


----------



## OGIGA (Sep 20, 2007)

Put something in there for them to lay eggs on. Raise some flies until you can't stand the grossness anymore.


----------



## Precious (Sep 22, 2007)

> What is the honey water for? I found the one time I used houseflies that they did mate. But I guess if they have nothing to lay eggs on then you should be good. I bet they will all be eaten long before they can lay eggs.


I used a dilution of honey and water in a sponge to feed the flies as they were getting stuck in plain honey. However, you said you put it on the stopper without a problem. I don't use those but I put a smear on the lid and they're not sticking. The whole terrarium idea was a disaster, though. They are house flies (I have blue bottles on the way) and they were escaping the wide screen lid. I must have killed a hundred of them. The Unicorns started boxing with each other. The tank is a 15 gal. high, but they would congregate together and have little scraps until finally I removed them to their individual enclosures. I love the Unicorns, they are my favorite so far - but I wish I could populate that tank with something.


----------

