# Moth Flies



## sufistic (Nov 19, 2009)

A long time back when feeder cultures were unheard of, I used to feed my wild-caught mantid nymphs this. These days FF seems much easier but what I'd like to know is whether it's possible to culture Moth Flies. Has anyone tried it?


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## Peter Clausen (Nov 19, 2009)

Haha! Nobody ever talks about these...

These are one of my very favorite bugs!

I've also wondered if it is possible to culture them. I never see outbreaks of them, though it doesn't seem difficult to find a few individuals.

Took this photo a while back...


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## sufistic (Nov 19, 2009)

Peter said:


> Haha! Nobody ever talks about these...These are one of my very favorite bugs!
> 
> I've also wondered if it is possible to culture them. I never see outbreaks of them, though it doesn't seem difficult to find a few individuals.
> 
> Took this photo a while back...


Phew! Glad that an expert such as yourself likes these flies as well because judging from their quite disgusting roots, I doubt that anyone would dare feed them to their mantids! I used to catch them a lot and mass feed my nymphs and they all did alright.


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## ZoeRipper (Nov 19, 2009)

Hmm.. I wonder if Oklahoma has these?


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## ismart (Nov 19, 2009)

I find these guys in my jobs bathrooms all the time. Cultivating them may prove to be difficult being they seem to live in sludge and sewage.


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## C.way (Nov 19, 2009)

me too, bunch of them in the bath room, trying to feed my nymph with it but they don't seems to appreciate it


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## gadunka888 (Nov 22, 2009)

i see this every time i wake up early to go to school.....

They usually come out at night. I don't think you can culture them. Maybe you could used rotting vegtables as food..


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## Opivy (Nov 22, 2009)

I've never seen one of these.

Also I've never seen "Eye floaters" before either, which people tell me is just weird...

I need to get out more-


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## Peter Clausen (Nov 22, 2009)

I still love them. They're like the koala bears of flies.


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## sufistic (Nov 22, 2009)

Peter said:


> I still love them. They're like the koala bears of flies.


True. They're cute and fluffy. Also, I doubt rotting veges would work. Their larvae lives in the goo normally found in pipes and sewers. I have no idea how the heck that goo can be replicated.


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## jameslongo (Nov 22, 2009)

I wouldn't recommend feeding these to mantids. Or anything that comes from the bathroom with chemicals flying this way &amp; that. Last time I fed a moth fly to my mantid, it froze on its perched &amp; fell off dead. The eggs of these little buggers need to be exterminated using a particular formula, since normal draino doesn't work :blink:


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## sufistic (Nov 22, 2009)

jameslongo said:


> I wouldn't recommend feeding these to mantids. Or anything that comes from the bathroom with chemicals flying this way &amp; that. Last time I fed a moth fly to my mantid, it froze on its perched &amp; fell off dead. The eggs of these little buggers need to be exterminated using a particular formula, since normal draino doesn't work :blink:


Yeah? My nymphs actually did fine.


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## jameslongo (Nov 22, 2009)

I caught them straight after my shower. Probably fine as feeders but once bitten, twice shy.


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## Orin (Nov 22, 2009)

These can be reared for feeders as easily as fruit flies. There was an article on rearing them in Invertebrates-Magazine a long time ago.


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## ABbuggin (Nov 22, 2009)

Orin said:


> These can be reared for feeders as easily as fruit flies. There was an article on rearing them in Invertebrates-Magazine a long time ago.


How was this done?


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## sufistic (Nov 22, 2009)

Yeah how was this done Orin? Very interesting!


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## JoeCapricorn (Nov 22, 2009)

I would guess a very very damp, possible partially submerged environment with algae as a food source, or maybe fruit. Maybe fruit fly culture would work... it ought to be damp though. Think about it, these fellas did not evolve with human bathrooms around until recently... so they must have some environment that is natural to them. I would guess a wetland type environment.


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## PhilinYuma (Nov 22, 2009)

I've never seen one of these, either. It would be hard to keep an uncleaned drain just to breed them on the slime, but I wonder if human feces would work? Of course, you'd need to find a regular supply....


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## Orin (Nov 22, 2009)

You guys think it's easy to flip through dozens of back issues looking for one little article? It appears they were fed apple cores and old fruit in water. It also says the pupae are mobile and active like those of mosquitoes.


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## Peter Clausen (Nov 23, 2009)

I encounter them in bathrooms at work, but only rarely. It's always kind of surreal to see and appreciate something most people either don't notice or figure is just a bugger on the wall. :huh: 

In months I haven't bothered to record, I see them along the wooden beams that border my garden, but only at night. I just went out with a flashlight to see if any were out this late November, but only harvestmen, slugs, isopods, another spider and surprisingly, globular springtails were in attendance.


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## sufistic (Nov 23, 2009)

Peter said:


> I encounter them in bathrooms at work, but only rarely. It's always kind of surreal to see and appreciate something most people either don't notice or figure is just a bugger on the wall. :huh: In months I haven't bothered to record, I see them along the wooden beams that border my garden, but only at night. I just went out with a flashlight to see if any were out this late November, but only harvestmen, slugs, isopods, another spider and surprisingly, globular springtails were in attendance.


Most of us in Singapore live in apartments/flats and there's a central garbage chute in all of these apartments. I'd normally find these moth flies gathering there. Sometimes they don't appear at all, other times there'll be hundreds of them. Great thing about them is they're so easy to catch. They can fly but they'd rather not.

If I find some I might try and culture them using really moist fruitfly media and see how that goes.


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## yen_saw (Nov 23, 2009)

Hey Apa khabar! (_How are you_). Yes similar to Singapore there are lot of this moth flies too in Malaysia. You can catch them anytime throughout the year without the hassle culturing. The drawback for moth fly is there're too big for most hatchling species and fly around and became a pest in the bathroom. Best to get permission from your 'boss' first


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## sufistic (Nov 23, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Hey Apa khabar! (_How are you_). Yes similar to Singapore there are lot of this moth flies too in Malaysia. You can catch them anytime throughout the year without the hassle culturing. The drawback for moth fly is there're too big for most hatchling species and fly around and became a pest in the bathroom. Best to get permission from your 'boss' first


Haha khabar baik Yen! True about their size, they're almost similar in size to D.hydei. My 'boss' would be fine as long as there's no roaches haha.


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## yen_saw (Nov 23, 2009)

sufistic said:


> Haha khabar baik Yen! True about their size, they're almost similar in size to D.hydei. My 'boss' would be fine as long as there's no roaches haha.


haha... you a lucky man Bro!  

wow really?! then the moth flies i have seen back in Malaysia must have been lviing off well in the sewage :lol: They were HUGE! the size of house fly.


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## sufistic (Nov 23, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> haha... you a lucky man Bro!  wow really?! then the moth flies i have seen back in Malaysia must have been lviing off well in the sewage :lol: They were HUGE! the size of house fly.


Oh wow if they were that size I'd definitely try and culture them! That's awesome!


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