House Fly Culturing

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mankoriginal

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Dearborn Heights, MI
I've been reading a little on producing house flies, but I just had a few questions for people that have experience with this. I'm just asking since I may have a small colony of orchid mantids coming my way if the female makes its last molt successfully.

I've read up on using dog/cat food and milk as a substrate for egg laying and feeding, but does this always lead to molding? and does this ruin fly production? (Also does methyl paraben work with this mixture?) I've tried it in a tall deli cup with no success. I suspect the mold was the main problem.( the methyl paraben wasn't used)

Also, is it generally more viable to simply purchase said flies? and if so, is there a website that provides a good rate for them?

 
For orchids you'd be better off with GBs & BBs. It's as simple as leaving the food out and letting nature take it's course. I have never had problems with mold. I sell excess GB and BB when I culture too many. Check the classifieds for the best deals.

 
Hibiscusmile has a thread about rearing flies... Hang on, I'll pull it up for you.

She uses meat in a bucket, then harvests the maggots or pupas...

 
Trying to find where I put that link... Here's a post that I copied and pasted from somewhere... Credits go to whoever wrote it. :)

The old "bucket method" site appears to be down at the moment, but the "Cow Patty" clip at post #45 is working well!
I now use a modified version of the mix described there for both HFs and BBs:
5 cups dog food -- the cheap kind with about 20% protein
1 cup casein -- this will bring the animal protein up to about 26%
1 cup brewer's yeast -- everyone says that this is good stuff, and i have a lot of it.
1TBs Paraben -- inhibits mold. You can get it at josh's frogs.
Add about 1.5 times the volume of warm (not boiling, it will coagulate the casein) until you have a wet but not runny mess. the mix will take a while to absorb the water. Toss in a couple of handfuls of wood chips -- the kind use for herp bedding, like Hartz natural Pine chips.
Place about three cups of the mix in an open, 1900cc cubical plastic food storage box (about 71/2" by 51/2") not a deli cup which has too small a surface area.
Date it and set it in the net cube with the HFs and a lid with their food -- I now use dry milk, sugar and yeast granules and wait.for about a week before removing it. It is important to keep the mixture moist -- squirt it through the netting at least onece a day -- and you should have no problems. Another good tip is to drizzle a little honey on the top of the net. It will seep through and be eaten by the flies. Good luck, and let us know how you make out.
If you are cost conscious, you may decide to forego the casein and brewer's yeast. You will get a poorer yield, but it will cost less and you can add boiling water, which might kill any mold in the mix.
Good luck! Tell us how you make out!

 
mankoriginal said:
Thank you so much for all the information! I'll get started on the various methods :D
Click to expand...
Haha, okay! Hope I helped. :) Still wondering where that link to my favorite posting went... I can summarize it for you, though. Hibiscusmile puts some meat outside in a big bucket. In a couple days, you should see maggots. The maggots will get larger and you can collect them, or wait until they begin to pupate. It had pictures too.... Maybe you can get in contact with her and find where that lovely post went.

 

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