# Blue bottle flies



## Melophile (Aug 14, 2015)

I was originally planning on breeding crickets. Because of how large they are, it doesn't take much to fill up my mantises. But I've changed my mind on it. I've read around that crickets will eat other decaying crickets, and also the fruits/veggies I put in their enclosure eventually becomes rotten. That can't be good for my mantises. I've already have one mysterious death and the only thing I could think of that caused it was the crickets I fed it. And they also to take a long time to reach adulthood.

Now I'm planning on switching over to blue bottle flies. You can't go wrong with a flying insect. I plan to purchase 100 to start with. How do I purchase pupae without them hatching mid-shipping? I live in Florida, so the temps here are perfect for puape hatching. I was browsing around on http://mantisplace.com/ (forgot which member here runs that site) and noticed they have options for cold packs + insulation. Would that be something I should include in the purchase if I want the pupae to arrive unhatched?

How do I culture blue bottle flies? I've tried Google'ing some answers, but there are very few results on Google for "blue bottle fly culture". All I can find is that culturing blue bottle flies is not desirable because they feed on rotten meats which produce disgusting odors. If crickets, which can feed on rotten fruits/veggies and other decaying crickets, are bad for a mantis's health, how is a blue bottle fly that feeds on rotten meat any better? I've read around that you can substitute rotten meat with dog/cat food. However, if that is possible, what will the fly larvae eat? Can they also feed on dog/cat food? Anyone here with blue bottle fly culturing that can give me some tips?

Are there any other feeder insects I can try? I've tried both drosophilia hydei and melanogasters, but my mantises have quickly outgrown them. My next step were the crickets, but I'm looking for something else. Some of my mantises are extremely passive and trying to get them to feed on crickets can be a pain in the ###### (gluteus maximus). I've heard about moths. How are they? I haven't really done any research on them.


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## Aryia (Aug 14, 2015)

Youtube spike farming or maggot farming. It's primarily for fishing. Trust me it's really gross, if you only need 100 you are better off just ordering them. There is absolutely no way to contain the smell and unless you have a separate facility your whole house will smell like one giant decaying carcass.

Most shippers will ship fresh pupa which take 5-7 days to hatch so they won't hatch in the mail. If that doesn't work you can always order spikes which will just pupate in or after they get out of the mail.

Best feeder I've found so far are Red Runner Roaches. Some mantises do best on BBF.


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## birdiefu (Aug 14, 2015)

That same source sells spikes (maggots). When shipped in the heat, they would pupae in transit without heat packs, rather than hatching as files in transit if you purchase as pupae. If you buy the spikes, you receive pupae, and pop those in the fridge to only let however many you want become flies at a time  

Wish I could find a housefly maggot source - tired of getting a box of flies with those, even with cool packs  

For a non-flying feeder, I like dubia roaches. You can get pretty small nymphs, up to large (2") adults. They are on the slower side as far as reproducing, but with care you can maintain a culture. They only breed at higher temps, so if they get out they will not be pest roaches. Although Red Runner (Turkestan) B. lateralis roaches are smaller and faster (eliciting prey response better from mantids), they are more likely to cause a house infestation if they escape.


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## Melophile (Aug 20, 2015)

So I bought 100 blue bottle larvaes (spike/maggots), but due to the heat and humidity in Florida, it seems more than half of them arrived completely hatched. It's like they only lasted in pupae form for a single day. They were shipped out Monday, and arrived Wednesday morning. I didn't plan for this and now I need a something quick so these flies can eat and stay healthy.

I don't plan on using rotten meat as I don't want my room to smell like death. Are there any alternatives? Do they feed on fruits or veggies? I see some websites selling "food" for blue bottle flies, house flies, etc. How viable is this option? Could these flies live their entire lives on this diet? I'd rather not wait for shipping as it's already close to the weekend and I probably wouldn't receive the food until after the weekend, which by then, my flies will probably already be dead.

I know this probably isn't going to work, but I have Rep-cal cricket food that I purchased from Petco for my crickets a while back. Is there any chance I could feed this to the flies?


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## twolfe (Aug 20, 2015)

If they hatched in transit, then they must have shipped you some pupae that wasn't fresh. Heat and humidity can speed up the process...perhaps by a day or two. I've been in the hobby for almost five years now. I've never had an order of spikes that hatched in transit...even a priority shipping order in July that took six days to get here.

I raised blue bottle flies a couple of years ago. No matter what you use, they smell. Do you have a shed or place where you can raise them outdoors? I found that the media/food source really has to smell bad or they don't seem to lay eggs. I used dry dog &amp; cat food that I soaked in water and milk. The sour milk seemed to help. Anyway, I found raising houseflies to be much easier and less smelly.

I've been raising mealworms for around 10 years. I use them to add variety to the diet of sub and adult mantids and as an emergency food source. I also catch wild insects (mostly moths nowadays) to add variety.


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## Melophile (Aug 20, 2015)

Tammy Wolfe said:


> If they hatched in transit, then they must have shipped you some pupae that wasn't fresh. Heat and humidity can speed up the process...perhaps by a day or two. I've been in the hobby for almost five years now. I've never had an order of spikes that hatched in transit...even a priority shipping order in July that took six days to get here.
> 
> I raised blue bottle flies a couple of years ago. No matter what you use, they smell. Do you have a shed or place where you can raise them outdoors? I found that the media/food source really has to smell bad or they don't seem to lay eggs. I used dry dog &amp; cat food that I soaked in water and milk. The sour milk seemed to help. Anyway, I found raising houseflies to be much easier and less smelly.
> 
> I've been raising mealworms for around 10 years. I use them to add variety to the diet of sub and adult mantids and as an emergency food source. I also catch wild insects (mostly moths nowadays) to add variety.


Right now, I'm not planning on breeding this batch of flies. I'm only looking to keep them alive for as long as possible. I have no food source for them and I don't want them to die off within the next couple of days.


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## twolfe (Aug 20, 2015)

You can keep them in the refrigerator for a while. Otherwise, I'm sure you can keep them alive with dog or cat food.


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## birdiefu (Aug 20, 2015)

Water crystals for moisture and mix of protein powder, powdered milk, and bee pollen are what I offer my adult flies. In a pinch you can just use a folded paper towel soaked in some watered down honey for moisture plus some nutrition. Put the container of flies in the fridge for a good few minutes until they slow down before you put stuff in/out to reduce escapees.


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## drotski (Aug 23, 2015)

Adult flies can thrive on honey and water...adults actually cannot eat meat, they have sponge mouth parts. Meat is used for laying eggs.

I use a small dish with honey, with some sticks or lighting egg crate (to prevent drowning), and a small dish with water saturated foam. BB flies live 7-14 days like this, houseflies live longer on average. This is just my experience. The same set up is sold at mantisplace.com, called cup 'o flies, or something similar.


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