Blue Bottle Flies

[padkison]

I just set out the last of my Blue Bottle Fly pupae to hatch from my most recent order from Grubco. These were ordered May 23rd. I was able to get them to last for over 2 months by doing the following.

Upon receipt, divide the group in half. Place one half as maggots straight into the fridge. The other half is allowed to pupate and then placed in the fridge.

Take feeding batches of pupae out in amounts for one week at a time. Allow 3-5 days lead time for hatching as you pull batches of pupae out of the fridge so you always have live flies.

You can keep the flies alive longer if you supply them with something soaked in honey, but I don't bother as I feed them off before they die.

Once you are about done with the pupated half of the order, take the maggot half out of the fridge and let them pupate. Back into the fridge with these and use them as above.

I keep the maggots and pupae in the original containers and substrate suplied by Grubco (right next to the butter and yeast :lol: ) .

Hatch rates dropped toward the end, perhaps by 20-25%, hard to tell. I was still getting a lot of flies.

Substrate molded at the very end, but flies still hatched.

Unfortunately, I now need more and had to order with express shipping due to the heat.

 

[Nick Barta]

Perry,

As always, you share great information. I will put this om my feeder care section on my webpage. Do you shake off the rancid smelling sawdust at any point?

 

[Rick]

I just keep the maggots in the fridge and take out what I need to pupate. The maggots last for months in the fridge.

 

[padkison]

I don't do anything with the sawdust the maggots are in.

After 2 months, the substrate molds on me. I can't recall whether mold affected the maggots. Something lost in the back of my brain tells me I let the maggots pupate for reasons other than speeding up the time from fridge to fly. I believe the maggots did not do well in moldy substrate, but my memory fails me.

I suppose I could create fresh substrate each month and strain out the maggots, but that sounds like a pain.

 

[Rick]

Funny as I have never had an issue with molding of the substrate and I get mine from grubco too.

 

[padkison]

It's not the kind of fuzzy mold you might see on fruit. Rather, the substrate darkens and takes on a greenish hue.

Funny as I have never had an issue with molding of the substrate and I get mine from grubco too.

 

[mantisfu]

I usually get about 2 months out of the grubco larvae as well, but I have not seen the molding issues. We started gut loading them with honey and giving them criket cubes. My orchids love em, the female can eat a fist full of flies at a time

 

[yen_saw]

Thanks for the info Perry. It sounds like a lot of work but i wouldn't mind if they last longer as shipping express from Grubco is a must and it does cost quite a bit.

 

[padkison]

The flies or the larva?

We started gut loading them with honey and giving them criket cubes.

 

[mantisfu]

the flies, we just put a small cup with the honey and cubes in with them when they hatch.

 

[Asa]

How long does it take your larvae to pupate? Mine is taking forever.

 

[OGIGA]

When received, mine were already pupating. If I don't refrigerate them, I expect them to be all pupated within the next couple of days.

 

[Asa]

Dang, mine haven't pupated in a week...

 

[buddhistsoldier88]

how long does it take the pupae to hatch round about? when kept in more natural condidtions

 

[OGIGA]

how long does it take the pupae to hatch round about? when kept in more natural condidtions

In normal conditions, 5-7 days. If you've refrigerated them, I don't know what happens to them, but it can take 2 weeks.