Crane Fly Cultures

[MrPitseleh]

I've been recently noticing a large number of crane flies around and lots of babies are on my porch light which I could catch a ton of. So I wondered do these make decent food and could you make a breeding group of these? I would like to be able to raise a bunch for when I have an ooth hatch, I figured some young crane flies would make a good meal for nymphs. I can't get fruit flies in my town. I would of course continue to catch moths, crickets, and stuff to feed to my mantids too for a bigger variety. If anyone has tried this and knows what I could feed them I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Well uh, crane flies don't really have "babies". They are flies. It's egg - larvae - adult. There's no miniature adult. I find the grubs in wet places once in awhile, breeding them is unlikely. Are you sure you're not just seeing mosquitoes? lol.

 

[MrPitseleh]

Well uh, crane flies don't really have "babies". They are flies. It's egg - larvae - adult. There's no miniature adult. I find the grubs in wet places once in awhile, breeding them is unlikely. Are you sure you're not just seeing mosquitoes? lol.

Well now I feel real stupid. They'd have to be the biggest mosquitoes I've Ever seen and they haven't tried sucking my blood yet. My assassin bugs Eat them.

 

[Seattle79]

The Crane Flies in the Seattle area are 2.5 - 3 inches long. They are huge! Males are slightly smaller. There are no baby Crane Flies. When they emerge they are full sized adults. There are other smaller versions of that insect but they aren't Cranes.

 

[Peter Clausen]

My daughter collected some larvae in cooler months under layers of moss on a tulip tree in our front yard. They pupated a few weeks later and I was surprised to see them emerge as crane flies.