day 5 fly experiment

[alicenwnderlnd]

over the past few months, I have experimented with several different methods of fly rearing with stinky results. tried the fish in a trap and man was that gross! the whole thing went in the trash.A few other "bait" methods were not any better. my goal was to use wild flies from the yard to just have a continuous supply of flies, get rid of the planning to order, and time them so that I don't run out. So when I read a conversation Phil was having with another about this subject, i quickly emailed him and he sent me a recipe(and ingredients)for some good stuff. so, here is how it is going:

Day 1: soaked catfood in hot water for a few hours. used 1.5:1 ratio, kids think i am crazy but thats o.k with me :innocent:

the mixture was nice and soft, and mixed easily with a spoon, but i got the mixer out anyway because now the kids think i have totally lost my mind. :lol:

add the rest of the ingredients mix it throw in the wood chips and woo woo done!

I picked out my containers before hand to ensure the maximum surface space for air. A few toss away Tupperware bowls and a 5 gallon ice cream bucket. I put the bucket in a tree in my back yard.

its a place the flies gather in the shade when its warm.And double important, my huge lab cant reach it!

the smaller containers, i started 2 inside cultures using the net cage system. one HF one BB started with about 20 flies each in them.

had some mix left so i tossed it in the freezer just in case I need to add food.

Day 3 quick check and the outside bucket is covered in flies!!! all sizes of flies,that should be fun! the inside ones look good too! they do not smell at all like rotting food, so all is well!

Day 5 give a quick check outside and the bucket is a fly breeding ground! what am i going to do with all of those flies! :smarty: I know! get more mantis!!

I looked at one of the containers and it nice and crusted on the top but soft underneath, i think, just like it is supposed to be.

i then feel a need to make a huge long post to give everyone something to read. :whistling:

i am planning on harvesting the pupa so that i can store some. I have a feeling the bucket outside will have millions! the thought of doing it kinda still gives me the creeps but I am going to do

it! I am open to suggestions on easy ways to get it done though! :blink:

 

[Ruaumoko]

Would be cool to see some pictures of it

 

[Rick]

I just order them online for a few bucks and let someone else deal with the smell and mess. :lol:

 

[PhilinYuma]

I just order them online for a few bucks and let someone else deal with the smell and mess. :lol:

I was delighted to hear of your success, Alice! I usually talk to Chuck at SpiderPharm (he says that the majority of his retail fly customers are from this forum, Yay!) about once a week and today I asked him if he ever uses the "pupae float in water" method to harvest pupae. He said that not all pupae float, so that may be a wasteful way to harvest them. I never harvest mine, but the classical way to do it is to fill your pot to the top so that the third instar maggots will migrate when they are full grown . If you put the pot on a tray containing dry oatmeal (not flour, which clumps), they will play around in that for a few days and then pupate into the nice, smell free pupae that Chuck sells.

I think that Rick's comment reflects the view of a lot of members about smell and mess. Have you found the process messy and/or smelly? Everyone knows that I am making a fortune by setting up people with HF rearing kits, so they are more likely to believe you!

Again, congratulations and thanx for the post.

 

[alicenwnderlnd]

I was delighted to hear of your success, Alice! I usually talk to Chuck at SpiderPharm (he says that the majority of his retail fly customers are from this forum, Yay!) about once a week and today I asked him if he ever uses the "pupae float in water" method to harvest pupae. He said that not all pupae float, so that may be a wasteful way to harvest them. I never harvest mine, but the classical way to do it is to fill your pot to the top so that the third instar maggots will migrate when they are full grown . If you put the pot on a tray containing dry oatmeal (not flour, which clumps), they will play around in that for a few days and then pupate into the nice, smell free pupae that Chuck sells.

I think that Rick's comment reflects the view of a lot of members about smell and mess. Have you found the process messy and/or smelly? Everyone knows that I am making a fortune by setting up people with HF rearing kits, so they are more likely to believe you!

Again, congratulations and thanx for the post.

the mess was the same as making fruitfly cultures... and the smell is zero so far! i have them in my computer/mantis room where i spend A LOT of time. i have tons of maggots in the medium, and if this keeps up, I am one happy camper! my original idea was not to harvest them, just to toss the bucket into a net cube and let it do what it wanted, but then i have to figure out how to feed them off from there. so harvesting might be simpler. because there is no smell, i felt good about adding another container to my living room terrarium which houses a sub-adult male and adult female chinese mantis. its 120 gallon cornertank that is heavily planted. i put in about 30 BB and the container of medium, some food and that was it. it looks like it is doing well, and there is no smell. It even has a ton of fruitlies in it also.

 

[snowflake]

i tried wht you did alice but i ceapt getting water in the containers and all the maggots died so i got the rotting shrimp out that where in a zip lock bag and i put it in the garbage and i opened the bag so flys can fly in and at the end of the day i had thousands of eggs and took a nice long spoon scooped them out and put them in the cat food media and put a lid on it so now i got some bb culters ready to go now i just have to wait for them to hatch <_<

 

[hibiscusmile]

let us know how it goes, hope u thru spoon away!

 

[snowflake]

let us know how it goes, hope u thru spoon away!

no im just going to reuse it for the same thing

 

[snowflake]

after a few weeks they realy stunk so it was time i gave them a bath and i put them in some oat meal so thay can change

 

[patrickfraser]

I put lots of flies, green bottle and flesh flies, in a net cube with a raw chicken breast with oats, a can of dog food, and a can of cat food. They seem to lay on anything, but the maggots are for days. Now I just have to wait for all the flies to die off and harvest the pupae, right? I am afraid to open the net cage and let my layers escape.

Yeah...It stinks, but you can't beat the price. I need to culture some blue bottles. Should this work just the same???

 

[Malti]

I put lots of flies, green bottle and flesh flies, in a net cube with a raw chicken breast with oats, a can of dog food, and a can of cat food. They seem to lay on anything, but the maggots are for days. Now I just have to wait for all the flies to die off and harvest the pupae, right? I am afraid to open the net cage and let my layers escape.

Yeah...It stinks, but you can't beat the price. I need to culture some blue bottles. Should this work just the same???

you could refrigerate the whole thing, then flies will become less energetic, and you can feed them to your mantis + harvest in peace...

that is if you have an extra refrigerator...or no one's looking :lol:

 

[patrickfraser]

you could refrigerate the whole thing, then flies will become less energetic, and you can feed them to your mantis + harvest in peace...

that is if you have an extra refrigerator...or no one's looking :lol:

NO THANK YOU!

No shortage of flies and I wouldn't dare bring that in the house, let alone put it in my refrigerator.