House flies

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sueb4653

sueb4653

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what is the best way to get house flies to hatch from their pupae. Its seems that i always have a low hatch rate. Pretty soon gonna need lots hatching for the ghosts

 
I've noticed certain sellers have much worse hatch rates than others. I get approx 80% hatch rate and that's storing them in the fridge for weeks. I bet if I hatched therm all at once it would be higher

Try www.grubco.com. Best hatch rates I've gotten. I just take maggots out of fridge, and put them in a 32oz fruit fly cup to pupate and hatch. 78 degrees takes almost a week

 
I put mine in the refrigerator when they arrive and then take out what I need and leave them at room temperature. The longer they are in the refrigerator, the lower the hatch rate. I've had a little trouble this summer with housefly pupae. If they were shipped when it was really hot, then they may not hatch or the hatch rate will be low.

I order flies from Rebecca (mantisplace.com) most often because she is one of the few sellers I have found that offers both bb and houseflies. I like to order some bb larvae (aka spikes) because they last the longest in the refrigerator. You just have to plan in advance and take out what you need ahead of time.

mantispets.com used to sell housefly breeding media, and I've been using it off and on the past year to breed my own when I need them. I was disappointed to see that it was discontinued. Houseflies don't smell as bad as bb flies, and I breed them indoors.

Grubco has been in the business of selling bb larvae for years, and that's how they got their start in business. I order from them when I need to order mealworms to feed the birds. They only sell bb larvae and not housefly larvae or pupae. I've been a long time customer. They recently changed the containers they use for shipping, and the last order I got had bran all over the place. They also have had two price increases in the past year. They don't guarantee live delivery in the hot temperatures, but they automatically include an ice pack with your order. My bb larvae I ordered had pupated in transit, but they are still hatching.

 
I still get better hatch rates from grubco than anyone else. The last time I ordered bbs from mantisplace the spikes came in a glittery gold mesh bag. All the spikes were dried and those that did hatch produced malformed flies with crumpled wings, and I think I got a 15% hatch out. Previous transactions were only ever mederately better, honestly.

I dont think Grubcos packaging is that bad, I just got 1000 in the mail last week, some had pupated, but most had not, and they are giving me great consistent hatches as always.

The other place I really like is www.spiderpharm.com. Really committed to providing a quality product.

 
I have noticed the malformed wings on flies when the packages arrive when it's hot. Our black mailboxes that we have here get really hot. I try not to leave the packages sit in the mailbox.

I will continue using Grubco now and then. I've been ordering from them for over 10 years and have spent hundreds of dollars as I used to order 20,000 mealworms each month in the spring and summer to feed the bluebirds and other birds. However, I just prefer the 8 ounce deli containers with the plastic lids that they used in the past over the smaller containers that are not see through that they used with my last order. I already have hundreds of them, and the ones that aren't see through aren't as re-usable. Plus their care instructions on their website say "Keep fly larvae covered (nearly air tight) and near freezing (33-36 degrees). Fly larvae can be stored for 3-4 weeks. When packaging fly larvae for re-sale, it is important to punch only 1-2 pin holes in the lids." So, I think it's interesting that they switched to lids that they use for shipping smaller orders of waxworms or mealworms because the lids have about 50 pin holes...at least the ones did that I got with my last order. I asked them about the switch, and they said that they are no longer able to get the 8 ounce containers.

 
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ok what is with the pin holes when storing in the fridge? what is the reason ? reason I ask is because the larvae I have stored now bb has a fruit fly culture lid ( mesh lid)

 
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I assume that they mature slower if kept almost airtight in the refrigerator. I think Grubco started selling the bb larvae primarily as fishing bait. So, you wouldn't want them to pupate.

I wouldn't worry too much about using mesh or cloth lids for your own use. You probably won't be able to store them as long. I used plastic, mesh and cloth lids for ones I store in the refrigerator.

 
grubco buys from Pam, they do not raise their own spikes, and the reason for little holes is the fridge cools the air by removing moisture, the more holes in the lid, the more moisture will be lost, so thats the reason for that. Yea, flies will get crumpled wings from being old, too cold, to hot, and many other reasons, a lot do not hatch as Tammy said due to the heat we have had this summer, the hottest on record ever as of today! Most do not want to include insulation and cold packs, but without them, to many die in shipping, you got to realise that the trucks are not cooled or heated and the weather takes its toll on the shipments, even here, my mail person comes late in the day most days and goes right to the facility with the packages, but thats still over an hour to get there and they say vehicles get to over 130F in this heat! but really I keep them in the fridge till they come, I actually think that they put my packages under their clothes to cool off!

oh yea, frogparty, I do not pack spikes in bags,, that would of been pupae, which is how chuck from spiderpharm says to pack them.

 
I get 5000 HF pupae from SpiderPharm for $14 shipped priority, If anyone wants to start buying in on bigger orders to save let me know I order every two weeks. I usually just go ahead and hatch all the pupae when I get them as Ive had much better luck with numbers and keeping the flies alive than with keeping pupae in the fridge for weeks at a time.

Michael

 
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I purchase from Chuck every other week, I buy 45.00 worth at an order, the alternating weeks I buy the same amount from my other supplier, so each week they are fresh pupae, I think you can see the difference house fly pupae in the Bugatorium post, Chucks are a bit smaller than my other supplier. anyone here notice the larger darker pupae? Lets see who noticed.

 
I saw that thread, maybe they are just a different strains of HF. Thats alot of fly pupae you go through Im very happy to have limited myself to a certain number of species and cages. It used to be a full time job just feeding our collection.

 
Surely they are diff strains, diff suppliers, as Chucks are considered the smaller one and the others, well they are just bigger, I can't say more! and u can say that again, my fly bill per month is 3 figures! But thats important so I have fresh each week!

 
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The size difference may be due to differences in the amount of food supplied during the larval stage. More food will produce larger maggots, spikes, and finally larger flies. Just a thought. I notice size differences in my BBs all the time and can only guess why.

 
No, different type is all, good thought though, These are always dark color and like Chucks, always the same size, each dellivery is same color and size, dark and big, Chucks small and light color.

 
Could be due to being line bred, it could be a completely different sub species of HF. Climate, media and food differences in the two suppliers could be the differences in color as well.

 
Well I look at it this way, there are many species of mantis, and flies are the same way. I am sending a new forum supporter a mix of house flies, lets see if he post here and can give us a look into their differences!

 

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