Fly Pupae in Canada?

[Aristalochia]

Hi, does anyone know of a Canadian source for medium sized flying feeders? Green bottle, blue bottle or house fly pupa would be great. Just thought I'd check before trying to grow my own indoors...

 

[Serle]

Not aware of a supplier in the West ................  S

 

[Teamonger]

I have been unable to find any suppliers in Canada either

If you want to breed flies I would recommend black soldier flies over any blow flies as they can be breed indoors with minimal smell. I have a guide on that here on the forum if you are interested in checking that out. 



Alternatively if you have compost pick up along with your garbage I have a few times thrown old meat in there, wait a few days, then collected the maggots as they crawl out. At that point they are ready to pupate and can just be put in a container of coco fibre to pupate to flies. Best bit is that the gross compost then gets taken away! This only works in the summer though.

 

[Aristalochia]

Well I thought I found a source or two but they aren't responding to my email so I guess breeding my own is necessary..which will be nice once I get it right, but doesn't seem as easy as just ordering em.

Teamonger, thanks for the link and for throwing that nice guide together for us. I read it first day I browsed to forum, excited there were other canadians here. My only concerns are whether I get enough sunlight through my windows to breed the black soldier fly through the winter, and if they are gonna be big enough for larger mantids. 

I'm not sure how much sunlight any of us get in the winter but if you get enough for them, then maybe I do too. Can always test different lights as I've read several reports that certain bulbs were sufficient but I'd prefer not to waste my efforts..anyway thanks guys for input. 

 

[Teamonger]

Unfortunately this Canadian just moved to Iceland so you guys are down one I'll still visit and certainly bring ooths with me for my fellow Canadians if my breeding goes well and there is interest.

As for the flies the breeding defiantly slows down over the winter but for me at least at that point I had so many larva at all stages it got me through.

As for the size they are the size of a wasp if a bit more slender so they should do any job a BB can do.

I was feeding some 30 or so adult Chinese mantises at one point. I will say that the adult fly population seems to go in waves. One week you will be over run and two weeks later pickings may be scarce so having a back up feeder option was always a good idea.

 

[Serle]

@Teamonger  An even longer communication trail to Iceland , good luck and hope that your new mantid ranch is prosperous ...........  S

 

[Serle]

Well I thought I found a source or two but they aren't responding to my email so I guess breeding my own is necessary..which will be nice once I get it right, but doesn't seem as easy as just ordering em.

Teamonger, thanks for the link and for throwing that nice guide together for us. I read it first day I browsed to forum, excited there were other canadians here. My only concerns are whether I get enough sunlight through my windows to breed the black soldier fly through the winter, and if they are gonna be big enough for larger mantids. 

I'm not sure how much sunlight any of us get in the winter but if you get enough for them, then maybe I do too. Can always test different lights as I've read several reports that certain bulbs were sufficient but I'd prefer not to waste my efforts..anyway thanks guys for input. 

We are pretty over cast (socked in) here in the  Okanagan in Jan. & Feb.  not much sun for flies...... S