Housefly vs Bluebottle Flies

[beatsnotbombs]

My creo's and ghost refuse to eat their hydei, but they seem perfectly capable of catching them, but I've fed them bluebottles/houseflies I've caught. So, I've decided it's time to move on up!

What's the difficulty in houseflies vs blue bottles? (I've heard that one smells more than the other)

Can anyone refer me to how I'd enclose them/get them out of the container?

I know the the hatching rate decreases over time, so is it possible to get a whole bunch in one container (as adults) and keep them like so? What are the lifespan differences?

Lastly, are there any preferences all around for one or the other? Thanks!

 

[Bryce08]

i prefer blue bottles, more to eat, easier to catch and smell less.

i let them hatch feed them, put them in the fridge, take them out feed them, repeat cycle. ...they are slow moving when just out of the fridge, makes for easy feeding

 

[frogparty]

Where do you order your bbs from? I order hfs from grubco, but they don't seem to offer bbs. For now my orchids, ghosts and acanthops eat hfs just fine, they just eat a lot of them. I keep them in containers and feed a mix of hens blend and honey through the screen

 

[Rick]

Houseflies are really small as well so keep that in mind. First time I thought I needed them I was surprised at how small they were. I never noticed any smell with them since I wasn't culturing them or anything. I keep pupa in the fridge and take out what is needed and place into a 32 oz insect cup. They hatch pretty fast and then I feed the adults honey. I place the cup in the freezer until the flies stop moving and then pick them out with long tweezers and drop them into the mantis enclosures. I prefer the BB but there is a big size difference between the two.

 

[warpdrive]

personaly I don't breed HF or BB flys. too much smell/work for little benefit as compaired to just buying some when needed.

with that said, I order houseflys only when I need them.

I have ghosts molting to L3 now. I'll feed hydis till the last one in the tub turns, then houseflys will be added. bluebottles are too big and while some might eat them, they wil only eat maybe 1/4th of the fly and then drop them. in otherwords, BB are a waste at this time. the HF are perfect size and they will eat all of it.

by the end of L4 or the beggining of L5, my ghosts will be fine on BB and I'll no longer need to buy HF. but durring the time that BB flys are too big, it is a waste for me not to use houseflys.

my creos are the same way. at L3 use houseflys. at L4 start using BB flys once they are L4 for a few days.

so if you want to only keep one type of fly full time in your home, BB flys might be it. as they will be used for the life of your mantids once they are large enough to eat them.

Carrie may also have some good medea that she used to sell to have BB flys grow in your home. the smell was almost nill unless your nose was right near the cage.

Harry

 

[twolfe]

Frogparty, I think Grubco only sells bb larvae...at least that's all they sold when I asked them. I occasionally order bb larvae from grubco when I already have to pay for shipping when I order 20,000 mealworms.

I also order frquently from Rebecca because she offers both hfs and bb flies.

And I've also ordered the media from Carey and raised some of my own bb and hfs. I have bred some of my own flies, but when you have a lot of mantids to feed, it's difficult to keep up with the demand.

I agree with warpdrive. If you are only going to have one type of fly, go with the bb fly. Houseflies are too small for most adults, and if they escape from any of your enclosures, they are harder to catch. BB flies are bigger, and some of the nymphs are initially afraid of them. But once they get over the fear, they seem to be easier for the nymphs to catch.

 

[Bryce08]

i usualy get my BB from rebecca(mantisplace) but i normaly get bb and hf pupae and some bb spikes.

grubco usualy has bb spike(maggots) i think

Houseflies are really small as well so keep that in mind. First time I thought I needed them I was surprised at how small they were. I never noticed any smell with them since I wasn't culturing them or anything. I keep pupa in the fridge and take out what is needed and place into a 32 oz insect cup. They hatch pretty fast and then I feed the adults honey. I place the cup in the freezer until the flies stop moving and then pick them out with long tweezers and drop them into the mantis enclosures. I prefer the BB but there is a big size difference between the two.

exactly how i do it, except im afraid to use the freezer, lol i forget about them sometimes

 

[dlemmings]

I keep both BB & HF.

When I ordered from Carey I got BB spikes & BB pupa + HF pupa.

The day I get the shippment the spikes go in a bigger container and any that pupated are placed with other BB pupa... then spikes go in fridge.

Pull out pupa based on mouths to feed (remove double what you expect to need over the next 3-4 days)

each day pull out 1.5 days worth of pupa.

After the flys hatch I move them from hatching container to a gut loading container (32 oz deli cup) and feed honey and a bit of the BBF food that comes as a dry powder (got mine from Rebecca).

Then each day the ones from gut loading container get moved to the feeding container. this is their last stop before being somones dinner (feed honey daily).

After gutloading flys are moved to feeding container I move flys from hatching container to the gutloading cup and then reload pupa to the hatching container.

After around a week I also start pulling spikes from fridge and moving them to room temp in another container to pupate...once they do pupate keep them in a seperate container in fridge till the 1st batch stopps hatching. (rates will drop after 1-2weeks)...this yields more flys than needed but helps provide me a cushion in case my pupa stop hatching, or I freeze some too long (I dont even need to freeze blue bottles just refrigerate for 15-20 minutes and I have time to pick them out with tweeezers and devide them among all my hungry mouths (sometimes have to pop them back in the fridge halfway through if it is warmer)

I use the HF and BBF every other feeding for my creos and BB for my Gongy & SP Lineola. Ghost babies all went L2 so still on Mels.(Melaogasters) but will get hydei soon. (one of my ghosties got decapitated by another!!! ######...lol)

 

[Mvalenz]

I ordered House and Blue Bottle Fly pupae from Mantisplace.com. According to her feeder insect care sheet House fly pupae hatch rates drop after 7 days but flies will live for about 30 days with food and water.

I use this contraption to eclose house fly pupae.

I hatch out all of them as soon as they arrive. I place them in the fridge for a few minutes then remove the sponge from the side and stick the water bottle in the whole. Shake several in there; enough for 4-5 days. When I need some House Flies I place the water bottle back in the fridge and shake a few in the enclosures. I feed them by dripping some honey and water on the screen on top and they suck it up. The ones in the water bottle get honey and water through little holes i punched in it.

Blue Bottles live much less after hatching. So I just drop a few pupae in a water bottle everyday.

 

[hibiscusmile]

All very useful info and Tammy is right, grubco only offers bb spikes.