# how to breed blue bottle flies?



## Colorcham427 (Feb 2, 2010)

OK.. so.. I ended up with atleast 100 flies and I dont think all my chams and mantids can eat em. just want to try this out, any people have step by step?


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## Rick (Feb 2, 2010)

I've heard it is a messy, smelly proposition. I think I would much rather just let someone else handle that one. Good luck to you though.


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## sufistic (Feb 2, 2010)

Rick said:


> I've heard it is a messy, smelly proposition. I think I would much rather just let someone else handle that one. Good luck to you though.


LOL +1. Rick gives the best and most concise answers.


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## sbugir (Feb 2, 2010)

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?sh...40&amp;start=40

This is Phil's topic on breeding houseflies, I suppose it may work for BBs.

Phil, have you tried it w/ Blue bottles?


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## Katnapper (Feb 2, 2010)

Rick said:


> I've heard it is a messy, smelly proposition. I think I would much rather just let someone else handle that one. Good luck to you though.


+2! I hear they use fish (in some form) to feed the maggots, and I know they stink when I get them. I can't imagine how a breeding farm of them must smell!


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## Christian (Feb 2, 2010)

Blue and green bottle flies are scavengers, so their maggots are raised on various forms of pure flesh. Someone mentioned fish, but liver is more widespread. I tried it once in small quantities just out of curiosity. All I can say is: don't try this at home, it smells like... well... dead animals rotting in a pond...

If you have a very large garden or yard with no neighbors nearby you can try it once in summer. I promise you will not do it again. On a technical note, you have to take care that you pick up the maggots once they leave the flesh to pupate, otherwise they borrow into the soil.


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## chun (Feb 2, 2010)

if you really want to breed flies, do some research on how forensic entomologists do it using non-meat based substrate using a mixture of full fat milk powder, wheatgerm, yeast and agar. I tried it once, the smell wasnt too bad but the results weren't great with maggots failing to reach pupae and the substrate moulding. I came to the conclusion that it was far easier buying maggots. Soggy dog biscuits or liver works really well...i worked in a lab breeding greenbottles using liver, and dog biscuits, and believe me, you do not want to try it at home. The soggy dog biscuit smelt like poo and the liver smelt like decomposing flesh; not pleasant.


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## Colorcham427 (Feb 2, 2010)

chun said:


> if you really want to breed flies, do some research on how forensic entomologists do it using non-meat based substrate using a mixture of full fat milk powder, wheatgerm, yeast and agar. I tried it once, the smell wasnt too bad but the results weren't great with maggots failing to reach pupae and the substrate moulding. I came to the conclusion that it was far easier buying maggots. Soggy dog biscuits or liver works really well...i worked in a lab breeding greenbottles using liver, and dog biscuits, and believe me, you do not want to try it at home. The soggy dog biscuit smelt like poo and the liver smelt like decomposing flesh; not pleasant.


lol thanks. i have access to a house fly media product, not sure if it works for blue bottles? if it does, hopfully i could share some and get you guys some...

where would u guys suggest buying the pupae? how long do they stay in the fridge for?


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## Colorcham427 (Feb 2, 2010)

Brian Aschenbach said:


> lol thanks. i have access to a house fly media product, not sure if it works for blue bottles? if it does, hopfully i could share some and get you guys some...where would u guys suggest buying the pupae? how long do they stay in the fridge for?


the artificial diet that i am able to buy in bulk says its for Musca domestica / Muscidae.. i googled imaged this and these are def. house flies.. hopfully this recipe will work on blowflies...


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## Christian (Feb 3, 2010)

Very likely it will not. Housefly maggots are coprophagous while blowflies are scavengers (or parasites). The substrate is different and as Chun's experiences show, raising blowflies on artificial substrate doesn't work well.


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 3, 2010)

Christian said:


> Very likely it will not. Housefly maggots are coprophagous while blowflies are scavengers (or parasites). The substrate is different and as Chun's experiences show, raising blowflies on artificial substrate doesn't work well.


Yes. I have found that the medium that I have used successfully for houseflies, much like that used by SpiderPharm, doesn't work at all for bluebottles.

Edit: I should also add that Carolina Biological Supply sells a relatively odorless medium, containing powdered milk, wood chips and yeast, for raising houseflies for a school project. They make clear, though, that maggots should be introduced to the medium, and I have found that houseflies will not lay eggs in it. I find this difference between the laying and raising media, intriguing


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## Christian (Feb 3, 2010)

Universities often use liver as deposition medium for houseflies. The maggots are then introduced into the artificial medium which smells less. I suppose the low deposition rate is due to the rather odorless medium which does not stimulate the flies enough. Usually house flies use cattle and other droppings for development.


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## chun (Feb 3, 2010)

Christian said:


> Universities often use liver as deposition medium for houseflies. The maggots are then introduced into the artificial medium which smells less. I suppose the low deposition rate is due to the rather odorless medium which does not stimulate the flies enough. Usually house flies use cattle and other droppings for development.


saying that, i did get houseflies/bluebottles to lay in an artificial medium; i just couldn't get them to pupate. Although i did it at too small a scale, and the medium was ridiculously cramped with maggots of all sorts, which could have explained why they didnt pupate due to the competition. If i remember rightly, one study concluded that Calliphora flies only need 3 essential nutrients (i think a certain cholesterol, vitamin B and protein) for maggots to develop and to induce oviposition. I can't remember the paper and i've forgotten how i came about it. I'll try and dig it up sometime next week.

The sensory ecology department used to just buy maggots, whilst the group studying greenbottles simply used liver.


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## chun (Feb 3, 2010)

ah, i now know why it didnt work, the medium was for Lucilia.

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/aez/36/4/521/_pdf


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## Colorcham427 (Feb 9, 2010)

chun said:


> ah, i now know why it didnt work, the medium was for Lucilia. http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/aez/36/4/521/_pdf


thats interesting. how big are greenbottles compared to blue?


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## PhilinYuma (Feb 9, 2010)

Brian Aschenbach said:


> thats interesting. how big are greenbottles compared to blue?


Bluebottle flies are only Caliphora vomitoria, so far as I know, but there are a number of shiny green blowflies, in the genus Caliphora that Chun mentioned, notably C. sericata.

Full sized blow flies are generally larger than houseflies -- maybe 12-18mm -- which is why they are of importance to mantis keepers, but their size, like that of house flies varies noticeably according to their nutrition as larvae. I would guess, though, that the largest bluebottle fly is somewhat larger than the largest greenbottle.

As Christian pointed out, liver (buy it frozen iif you want to try it, and good luck!) is an excellent medium for houseflies and, I would imagine, bluebottles, and you can "flood out" the maggots and introduce them to another medium after about a week. At the beginning of the last century, horse manure was used and later supplemented with bakers' yeast , when it was found that HFs could be grown year round, but an apparently successful method was introduced in the US in the '30s that used an infusion of bran and alfalfa meal in an aqueous suspension of yeast and malt sugar (Diamalt).

I am currently raising HF larvae in a moist substrate of ground dogfood, with a few additions, flax seed oil and carotene (pulverized carrots), wood chips and active (bakers') yeast suggested by Chuck at Spiderpharm, perhaps the most experienced breeder of HFs in the U.S. In the next batch, I shall add Brewers' Yeast to see if there is any noticeable improvement. I have found and reported in another thread, that if this mixture is kept in a 32 oz pot with a standard perforated lid there is a danger of culturing anaerobic bacteria with the usual foul smell that accompanies such cultures and often, a fatal emission of ammonia. I am currently working with the same medium in open pots in 12" cubes. After a week's absence, the top of the medium had crusted over, but the flies are still attracted to it and the moist layer beneath is crawling with maggots. I hope that in another week or so, I should have a substantial number of eclosures, and there is no unpleasant smell at all.


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## Colorcham427 (Feb 10, 2010)

PhilinYuma said:


> Bluebottle flies are only Caliphora vomitoria, so far as I know, but there are a number of shiny green blowflies, in the genus Caliphora that Chun mentioned, notably C. sericata.Full sized blow flies are generally larger than houseflies -- maybe 12-18mm -- which is why they are of importance to mantis keepers, but their size, like that of house flies varies noticeably according to their nutrition as larvae. I would guess, though, that the largest bluebottle fly is somewhat larger than the largest greenbottle.
> 
> As Christian pointed out, liver (buy it frozen iif you want to try it, and good luck!) is an excellent medium for houseflies and, I would imagine, bluebottles, and you can "flood out" the maggots and introduce them to another medium after about a week. At the beginning of the last century, horse manure was used and later supplemented with bakers' yeast , when it was found that HFs could be grown year round, but an apparently successful method was introduced in the US in the '30s that used an infusion of bran and alfalfa meal in an aqueous suspension of yeast and malt sugar (Diamalt).
> 
> I am currently raising HF larvae in a moist substrate of ground dogfood, with a few additions, flax seed oil and carotene (pulverized carrots), wood chips and active (bakers') yeast suggested by Chuck at Spiderpharm, perhaps the most experienced breeder of HFs in the U.S. In the next batch, I shall add Brewers' Yeast to see if there is any noticeable improvement. I have found and reported in another thread, that if this mixture is kept in a 32 oz pot with a standard perforated lid there is a danger of culturing anaerobic bacteria with the usual foul smell that accompanies such cultures and often, a fatal emission of ammonia. I am currently working with the same medium in open pots in 12" cubes. After a week's absence, the top of the medium had crusted over, but the flies are still attracted to it and the moist layer beneath is crawling with maggots. I hope that in another week or so, I should have a substantial number of eclosures, and there is no unpleasant smell at all.


thanks for your input dude.


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