# Freezing flys?



## D.J. (Jan 9, 2012)

I just had some fresh dead flys but instead of wasting them I froze them. Are they re usable?


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## angelofdeathzz (Jan 9, 2012)

Maybe they'll be good in pancakes? :wacko:


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## frogparty (Jan 9, 2012)

^^^awesome^^^


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## D.J. (Jan 9, 2012)

angelofdeathzz said:


> Maybe they'll be good in pancakes? :wacko:


 Lol sounds good


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## Termite48 (Jan 9, 2012)

For cricket food perhaps!


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## gripen (Jan 9, 2012)

Rich S said:


> For cricket food perhaps!


nice idea!!


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 9, 2012)

they are good for feeding a mantis that is hard to feed, take a few out and smosh then together and put on toothpick to offer to one or another one. Still good nutrition if they were fresh and fresh frozen.


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## agent A (Jan 9, 2012)

Dubias may eat them

My dubias eat dead stuff I throw in the cage

A mismolted pseudoharpax, a cricket I killed with a broom because it was driving me up a wall, my sister's thumb-JK

But they'll eat dead stuff no prob B)


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 9, 2012)

I was wondering when u would admit to feeding off her finger!


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## agent A (Jan 9, 2012)

A thumb is not a finger


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## LLCoolJew (Jan 10, 2012)

One of my idolos is too old to feed herself, so I quick freeze flies, put it in plastic wrap, and smoosh it with a paperweight. She eats them without protest. I'm sure the previously deceased flies would be received just the same.

Which reminds me, have you all see this book???

http://artisticthings.com/humorous-fly-art-by-magnus-muhr/


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## Termite48 (Jan 11, 2012)

I over froze a large BB yesterday and thought about this thread. Instead of making the dead fly into cricket food, I gave it to a mantid that had nothing since it ate a bee earlier in the day, so I put the fly in with the female adult Creo and she went for it as long as it was right out of the freezer and smelled fresh and it was moving in the container not just sitting there. I had given the whole thing a little shake so it looked alive for the split second that it took the Creo to nail it in her raptorals. There is always something new to try. If one fails, one learns, if one at first succeeds, there also is an easier lesson learned.


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## rs4guy (Jan 11, 2012)

I use fresh dead bugs all the time. Use a pair of tweezers, and shake the bug in front of the mantid's face, they will grab and eat.


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## Termite48 (Jan 11, 2012)

That which is obvious to some is not so with others. Sometimes it works in reverse with the innovative person not seeing something that is second nature to another person.


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## sporeworld (Jan 11, 2012)

+1

I keep (or kept) dead flies in the freezer for emergencies. I usually soak them for a while before feeding with tongs.


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## Ruaumoko (Jan 11, 2012)

Sporeworld, that really made me giggle fairplay. I dont think theres many other places/people around that would understand how a frozen fly could solve an emergency lol


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## sporeworld (Jan 11, 2012)

hahah! Well, you know... sometimes, I get hungry and... err... I mean, my BUGS! My BUGS get hungry... heh heh

:-}


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 11, 2012)

haha, nice to see u spore! good idea, soaking! gotta go soak me feet, worked with bubby today, came home an slept for 4 hours, got a chill, grannyma getting to old for construction!


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## sporeworld (Jan 11, 2012)

I'm convinced a sort of protien patty or bar could be made from overstocks of BB's and House flies. I never got around to doing it, but I just can't see any nutritional negatives. Big, fat, (over) fed flies, frozen, then later formed into some kind of pellet. Hope someone can experiment with it, and report the results.


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## Merc (Feb 11, 2012)

Hope no one minds me reviving this thread since it's a month old but I was just thinking about this!

I've lost several violin mantises due to not being able to keep a constant, good supply of flies in stock. Supplies that are supposed to last a month last a week and then I have to supplement with "crickets on a stick" (more like "on a needle" but that didn't have as much of a ring to it) until the next batch of flies hatches and feeds, and one by one the violins have been dying off, which I've heard of happening with a cricket diet, even partial - I can't decide whether this or them starving to death is "better", as I have tried looking for other alternatives but there's nothing good locally and nothing to catch outside at the moment.

Since I also keep snakes, and feed them thawed frozen rodents, I was feeding my boas this evening and the idea hit me - why not freeze flies? Hatch them out, feed them well, and drop them in the freezer, then take what you need when you need it and thaw them out for a half hour. Do you think the nutritional value would be too affected by freezing? For snake food, supposedly if only frozen once, there is little nutritional value lost (something like &gt;2%, I believe?) in rodents or birds. I understand that flies or invertebrates are much smaller but if kept in a freezer-appropriate container, could this be a sustaining source of food?


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## sporeworld (Feb 11, 2012)

There are some really good posts on the forum about how to plan out your flies. I think, at most, you should only need deliveries every other week.


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## Ruaumoko (Feb 11, 2012)

I get flies every other week and have a supply of two cockroach colonies on the go just incase and also to vary the diet.

At times if I have an overstock of flies I put them in the fridge for 4days of a week then leave them out for 3 to feed and get fat. It slows them down if you have an overstock but I guess it also makes them last longer, so maybe not freezing them completely but slowing them down would be an idea as well.Just a thought


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