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I have been meaning to try the maggots over pupae for longer "shelf life" but I hear they can be pretty nasty smelling. Just how bad do they smell?

 
I have been meaning to try the maggots over pupae for longer "shelf life" but I hear they can be pretty nasty smelling. Just how bad do they smell?
Don't believe everything you hear. Never noticed any smell. Mine are from grubco.

 
the maggots, surprising do not smell anywhere near like the pupae doo! The last batch of pupae I got smelled like dog doo! It was awful, I am using the last of it today and tomorrow, I even had to wash some in a strainer. Not the one I use for noodles :lol: . Although I was that desperate. I called and was told that is was not cleaned more than once. So I cleaned it. I had to hold it an arms length away from me to feed, even the flies stunk! So no the maggots do not smell too bad, pupae does depending on the length and cleaniness of it. BTW, grubo gets its maggots from the same pupae breeder. So I just buy my maggots off of them.

 
Quote "I've looked at the pupae pretty good when I've taken them out of the fridge. Before realizing you were talking about maggots and not pupae, I was thinking... Egads! Mine don't really move unless they're in the process of hatching. Hmmm.... will have to sit and stare at them for a while next time! Maybe I need the magnifying glass to see it! "

ha ha, while your r staring at them, try counting them too!

 
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Don't believe everything you hear. Never noticed any smell. Mine are from grubco.
Rick - be glad that you don't know the smell of pupae from larvae bought without sawdust - it smells worse than rancid faeces.

 
My cousin, who is a habitual yard sale fanatic, supposedly has a device for blowing bugs into a bottle/jug, but I haven't seen it yet. I was going to go by some horse stalls and see about setting it up, but I think I'll avoid horses that have been dewormed or had other antibiotics lately.

As to transfering, I'm considering, not tested yet, one of those little vacuum cleaners for computer keyboards, and hooking it to a tube with a sponge between it and the flies catch chamber/tube, then suck a few into the tube and cap it with a piece of sponge.

I want to see if there's an output on the little vacuum that I can use to push the flies out of the chamber/tube, into the mantis enclosure then.

The thing that limits the vacuum on a real vacuum cleaner, like my moms, a sleave that covers a hole in the suction tube that can be opened or closed to limit or let full suction be applied, is why I am considering this setup. When the amount or suction necessary is found, I can set the 'limiter' and pull them in, then close the 'limiter' and blow them out.

I think that using another smaller tube, that has a sponge to cap it, in the end of the larger sponge that caps the exit of the catch tube, would be nice, so you'd have a buffer area that the flies may not enter and would give time to uncap and insert the small tube into the mantis enclosure hole, preferably into a hole in the sponge that plugs the mantis enclosure so it seals around the tube, but with my luck the flies would all be forced against that sponge and die pinned to that sponge. I'm such a lucky guy ;)

What I'd like to do is just use a syringe and suck them into it, then 'inject' them into the mantis house, no infringements intended Rebecca B)

OR

I'm curious if a waterbed thingy, that pulls water from the bed or aquarium by vacuum created by running through a venturi type device, can be adapted to be used with some blowing or forced air device, to pull the flies in one port, then push them out when attached to the other port.

Some type of memory sponge that would allow the 'sucker pump' :) into a draw hole, that would close and not allow flies out when the device is removed, would be excellent. Even some normal sponge may suffice for this application.

 
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another thought occured to me, yes, another one, that those tubes like they sell at home depot and other hardware strores, that the rubber type ends with a slit cut in them, so when you squeeze the tube at the ends of the slit so that it opens, may be somewhat effective in delivery into the mantis hole, but closing that hole off before the flies get out of the mantis enclosure would be the trick, so back to the old drawing board ( a device like Mr' Phineas J Whoopee used to explain things to Tennessee and Chumley)

Maybe a snuffer bottle, like gold panners use, to suck up the flies, then blow them into the mantis enclosures plug hole, or sumpin like dat.

 
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