problem breeding green bottle flies indoors

[Mantis Mama]

Hello all!  I am trying to get an indoor system to work in order to have a supply of green bottle flies to feed my Chinese mantises through the 6 months of winter.  I have 7 mantises to feed (L7s and L8s). This summer I was successful getting eggs laid, maggots, then flies when I used rotting meat scraps that I left in the sun outside.  But, I am not getting any eggs on meat indoors in a closed container.  I don't even think that the flies are mating.  Are there some requirements that I am missing for the indoor set-up.  The meat scraps that I used got really disgusting - stuff actually started growing on it, and 3 of the 4 flies in the container died.  I finally gave up; released the last fly outside and discarded the 'meat'.  Do flies need a lot of vertical space? Does the container need to have ventilation holes (so stinky)? I was misting the scraps every day or two in order to keep the moisture on the scraps.  The container had a snap-on lid and it was about 3 times the size of the retail rectangular salad containers.  I think I had two males and two female flies in the container.  Is this enough?   Any ideas? 

 

[hibiscusmile]

• Beats me, I could never handle the odor so I had to count myself out of that chore.

 

[Teamonger]

I'm with Hibiscusmile on that one, the smell alone had me looking for other options for the winter months. Perhaps someone more experienced will have some better words of wisdom but have you considered crickets or roaches? They are way easier to deal with then flies as well.

 

[crabbypatty]

Hello all!  I am trying to get an indoor system to work in order to have a supply of green bottle flies to feed my Chinese mantises through the 6 months of winter.  I have 7 mantises to feed (L7s and L8s). This summer I was successful getting eggs laid, maggots, then flies when I used rotting meat scraps that I left in the sun outside.  But, I am not getting any eggs on meat indoors in a closed container.  I don't even think that the flies are mating.  Are there some requirements that I am missing for the indoor set-up.  The meat scraps that I used got really disgusting - stuff actually started growing on it, and 3 of the 4 flies in the container died.  I finally gave up; released the last fly outside and discarded the 'meat'.  Do flies need a lot of vertical space? Does the container need to have ventilation holes (so stinky)? I was misting the scraps every day or two in order to keep the moisture on the scraps.  The container had a snap-on lid and it was about 3 times the size of the retail rectangular salad containers.  I think I had two males and two female flies in the container.  Is this enough?   Any ideas? 

Yeah breeding flies sounds like a pain, my local pet store has mealworms, superworms, wax worms, and any reptile shop will have roaches for sale, flies are great feeders but I only catch them when available.

 

[CosbyArt]

@Mantis Mama Yes they need lots of ventilation and space, see the youtube video at the end of my post for a look at breeding them.

This has been discussed several times by many that tried it, search the forum for topics, but I can tell you it is a large stinky maggot mess that does not work out.

I have tried a few attempts through the years myself, and always at some point it fails miserly, and is why no one does it. Many try a low/no-odor approach (for obvious reasons) and that is quickly lost as the maggots themselves generate lots of heat and a smell themselves, and the food source quickly turns in the environment - which is enough to stop many people.

Even if you give in to the typical rotted flesh food approach (or the smell generated by the low-odor one as well), the area for pupating larvae/maggots has to be just right for them to successfully pupate and emerge as flies after they grow and reach that point. Which pupating isn't as difficult to setup, but for them to emerge as a fly can be problematic and one of the biggest issues encountered (as the pupating must go perfectly for a fly to emerge).

Then to start a new generation the adult flies must be fed milk, sugar water, etc. often on cotton balls. Then to bred they must be offered a meat source (liver being the low-odor meat chosen by many) for them to breed and lay eggs.

Overall you will need a lot of room, plenty of heat, adequate ventilation, many trials/experiments, and a unbelievably/impossibly understanding spouse/family/neighbors. In the end it is much more affordable to simply catch them outside or order the fly pupae than trying to rear them in any sort of environment yourself - not to mention all the effort/costs/smells.

I understand if you continue to try to raise them, and wish you the best, I just thought I should be upfront about the topic.

 

[Sarah K]

hey all,

I have recently experimented with breeding green bottle flies and house flies using similar approaches to breeding fruit flies! I figured with everything I have heard it wouldn't work, and the fruit fly media would not be gross enough for the flies to lay in, but it was a sort of what the heck, I have nothing to lose type thing, so I tried it anyway. I know this sounds crazy, but it has worked for me! Although it requires discipline to take the necessary steps during the necessary parts of the fly lifecycle. But I use repashy superfly and make a culture in a 32 oz cup, just as I would my regular fruit fly cultures with excelsior and everything! I put a bunch of adult flies in a 32 oz cup and they will actually mate and lay eggs in the 32 oz cup! Once the maggots hatch, I remove the adult flies and the excelsior. The maggots actually eat the superfly, and than when they start climbing the sides of the cup, I figure it means they are ready to pupate. So I cut the sides of the 32 oz cup off, so all that remains of the cup is the bottom part that has the media in it, and less than an inch of the plastic cup slightly above the level of the media. I take what remains of the 32 oz cup and put it in a bigger tupperware container with holes cut in the top of the tupperware container, and covered with screen for ventilation. I put the remainder of the 32 oz cup in the middle of the larger tupperware container, and about an inch of sawdust covering the whole bottom of the tupperware container. Most of the maggots climb out of the media, borrow to the bottom of the container, and pupate there. Once I don't see any maggots anymore, I remove the pupae from the saw dust, and put them in the fridge. The hardest part is dealing with the maggots that decide to pupate inside the media, but if you rinse Superfly in water long enough, it slowly dissolves, leaving only the pupae. I would like to figure out a better way to perfect that final step though, and it would be much easier if all the maggots would decide to climb out of the media and pupate in the sawdust instead.

 

[Mantis Mama]

Thank you to everyone for the feedback!  And that is quite the video on maggot farming!  Almost

makes me want to start up my own farm (I am so kidding).  I'm not ready to give up yet since I have

had some success along the way.  It looks like part of the problem is the lack of ventilation in the

container that I am using indoors.  That's interesting about using the fruit fly media, I have some homemade

mix left over from when my mantises were just babes.  I'll throw that into the experiment now!  I have a

room in the basement that contains the stink somewhat - sure don't like my whole house smelling like

that smell.  For a treat, when the mantises are ready for mating I'll spring for mealworms - from the pet store.

I'm hoping they will be enough to keep the female occupied.

 

[CosbyArt]

hey all,

I have recently experimented with breeding green bottle flies and house flies using similar approaches to breeding fruit flies! I figured with everything I have heard it wouldn't work, and the fruit fly media would not be gross enough for the flies to lay in, but it was a sort of what the heck, I have nothing to lose type thing, so I tried it anyway.  ...

Very interesting to hear Sarah that have had some luck with it. Hopefully you can keep it going a few generations and then post your experience and photos in a new topic - it would be much welcomed by many here for sure.

Ha, I actually tried the fruit fly cup/medium method before, but when the larvae/maggots all ran up the sides they settled on the container lid. Soon afterwards the commercial insect lid was so wet the larvae/maggots manged to get right out of the container, and it was quickly tossed when discovered.

Thank you to everyone for the feedback!  And that is quite the video on maggot farming!  Almost

makes me want to start up my own farm (I am so kidding).  I'm not ready to give up yet since I have

had some success along the way.   ...

Glad you liked the video, perhaps it can help fill in some details for you if nothing else along the way. I figured you would go ahead anyway trying, and it sounds like you have a good area to do it in too. So best of luck, and let us know your results.

 

[BigDazz]

You are a very brave soul...Catching a wiff from the bait trap I set outside aggravates me.. I couldn't imagine living with that stinch inside...

Good luck and may the force be with you!!!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Yea,  what he says and your family stay too!