# Can i collect flies outside



## pedro92 (May 11, 2008)

This may sound sick but when i pick up dog messes outside there are tons of flies. Can i catch those and feed them to mantids?


----------



## Andrew (May 11, 2008)

Yep. Shouldn't be any problems there.


----------



## OGIGA (May 12, 2008)

You might poison your mantis with those flies... or give your mantis lots of bacteria. I wouldn't do it for the sake of caution and sanitation.


----------



## macro junkie (May 12, 2008)

flys on dog shite dont sound to good..i wouldn't use them.i cant believe u would even think about doing it..its disgusting..


----------



## Malnra (May 12, 2008)

I bet in the wild they would eat them. I would not worry about it, heck i had a dog who used to eat his own which is kinda gross, but he lived to be 14 so it cant be THAT bad ... lol


----------



## hibiscusmile (May 12, 2008)

It really won't hurt them, people worry too much. The flies theirselves carry a lot of diseases, even lab born ones, use them!


----------



## pedro92 (May 12, 2008)

Ok thats good well i will try it out. But i always put a bag in this bucket and the put the ###### in there so maybe i could put a net over it and just tap the bucket so they will fly into the net. Thanks for the help and i will let you know how it goes. Should i try it with a non exotic mantid first jic it does kill or poison the mantids.


----------



## Birdfly (May 12, 2008)

We have 3 big dogs and they leave a hefty amount of plop all over the place, i've always had dogs and in times of fly shortage i've always resorted to this, i cannot remember any problems that have resulted from it.


----------



## macro junkie (May 12, 2008)

how about hatching your own flys and leaving the dogshite alone :lol:


----------



## joossa (May 12, 2008)

I have collected flies from my dog's poo ever since I began keeping mantids. In fact, I use them about 80% of the time as my main food item (most of them are houseflies and green blowflies).

No big deal....


----------



## hibiscusmile (May 12, 2008)

Yea someones gotta eat em, plus the flies help the poo or plop ha ha, dissipate!


----------



## Birdfly (May 13, 2008)

Birdfly said:


> We have 3 big dogs and they leave a hefty amount of plop all over the place, i've always had dogs and in times of fly shortage i've always resorted to this, i cannot remember any problems that have resulted from it.


"But 99% of the time i use shop bought maggots and hatch my own" :huh:


----------

