Fly pupae

[Rick]

Anyone know a good source for fly pupae? Thanks.

 

[Jesse]

I get mine from www.grubco.com, however they come as prepupal larvae (migratory stage). The larvae keep for several weeks or longer if kept in the fridge but pupate within a day if brought to room temperature. They usually hatch 5-7 days later. I usually take a certain amount of larvae out of the fridge once a week and let them pupate. The adult flies can also last a couple of weeks in the fridge. They are bluebottle flies Calliphora spp. I believe.

 

[themann42]

anybody know of any other places? i'd rather buy them in the pupae stage if possible. i don't like them when they're in the larve stage lol. from what i see at that place you'd pay $10.50 (after shipping) for 500 larvae. sounds reasonable, is it?

also, i'm new, so help me figure out if this is ok...

if i'm not mistaken, you can keep the larvae for several weeks, and let them pupate as needed. another site says you can keep the pupae in the fridge for up to 4 weeks, but is that only you pupate them all right away? or can they last about 4 weeks as larve, and then another 4 as pupae? i'm only looking to get two mantis, i have no idea how much they eat, but 500 sounds like a lot and that many of them could die before i use them.

 

[Rick]

I bought a bunch of them and they are the best thing I have found for feeding. Put some of them out and a week later I have flies.

 

[yen_saw]

You can get ready house fly pupae here

http://www.oregonfeederinsects.com/shop/ca...ry.asp?catid=10

Also fruit flies pupae (WARNING:capable of flying) and house fly pupae here

http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID5117962DD43...cts.aspx?page=1

 

[infinity]

anyone know of a housefly place in england?!

 

[julian camilo]

you can buy houseflies in the uk from here:

http://www.jangala.co.uk/livefoods_home.htm

and a fascinating article on their culture here:

http://www.jangala.co.uk/Curly%20winged%20...e%20webpage.htm

also you might want to have a look at the yellow pages or whatever the equivalent is nowadays for any fishing shops near you. the one near my old college keeps a constant supply of fly larvae (greenbottle and bluebottle, possibly houseflies, ive yet to ask/buy them to check) which is great. they also sell bags of the pupae, i think they might be called casters in the fishing trade though im not sure. but i imagine most fishing shops would sell both the pupa and maggots. so yeh thats quite useful if you can find one near you.

 

[Jay]

Just to mention for the sake of this discussion, in the past I've bought flies from Robert Brown (the owner of jangala.co.uk).

 

[Ian]

Ohhh, I haven't managed to get in contact with this guy...is he still around??

 

[Jay]

Perhaps he isn't in business anymore. That was late 2003. Maybe not. Have you tried over a period of time?

 

[Ian]

Oh right, I tried him a few times earlier last month. Its a shame, wanted some of his curly wings!

 

[julian camilo]

i didnt realise the site was old and he did no longer offer houseflies, so sorry for posting that link. still, its a brilliant article should you want to learn to do it yourself.

 

[Ian]

I totally agree, awesome article, well worth sharing

 

[Jay]

Following are some other UK sellers of curly wings. Also try googling "curly wing house flies uk" or "curly winged musca uk"

I hope they are still in business. Good Luck!

http://www.robharvey.com/reptiles/live-food.htm

http://www.thereptilehouse.co.uk/pricelist.htm

http://www.wildworldsupplies.co.uk/livefoods.htm

 

[Ian]

Okay, the first link, are these the Musca, or the Dropsophila? I think they might be referring to the curly winged fruit flies. The second link, the shop is about half an hour away from me, but never see any in stock, and not sure about the last think...

But thanks for the links jay!

 

[infinity]

Gonna be a real pain here and ask are there any flies in between the size of hedei and m.domestica?! - something around say 5mm... cos melanogaster are about 2-3, hedei are about 3-4 and domestica are about 7-8... anything around the 5-6 mark?! And don't say crix!- I hate crix!

 

[Jay]

Ian,

If you don't have any luck I have heard they sell the curly winged houseflies in other parts of Europe.

-Jay

 

[julian camilo]

well from jay's first link: http://www.robharvey.com/reptiles/live-food.htm

it lists flies that seem to fit your size:

"Flies

Flightless Fruitfly culture 2-3mm £3.80

Curly-wing Flies 100+ 5-7mm £3.80"

however i really dont see why you would need such specifically sized flies. mantids can often take on much larger than youd think. or if houseflies are actually too big, im sure just feeding them two smaller fruit flies will do just as much good. it just seems very unnecessary if theyre for mantids.

 

[Ian]

Okay Jay thats awesome, il have a look around