bringing up an older thread?check this out guys, idk if any of you have seen this or not...
http://www.adcham.com/html/insects/insects-fly-rearing.html
Yes, this is the "granddaddy of them all" site. Thanks for bringing it up again. I still have a 5 gal bucket modified according to these instructions. The liver that he recommends, though, really does get to smell really nasty, really quickly as Christian mentioned recently. I used my notorious panty hose cover for the bucket (better visibility) and one day it popped off releasing 5gals of flies. Thank god my SO is only a dog -- I couldn't even use insecticide!
I have finally (today!) "perfected" a smell free, mold free, hassle free way of raising large numbers of house flies in two weeks from setup to eclosure. I have covered much of this before, but here is all the info in one go.
Equipment: Set up a 1' net cube with several layers of moist paper towel on the bottom (do not place this on varnished wood!). Place a 16oz delicup (size is not critical), full of peat moss and water (or as Katt has suggested, water crystals) and cover it with a standard cloth lid to raise the humidity. Also add a petri or other shallow dish of sugar and powdered milk (or buttermilk as the AdCham article suggests. It is sold with baking supples). I also keep a small pad of very wet paper towel in the cage for drinking water. I was somewhat reluctant to smear honey on the top of the net for the flies as Yen and Katt recommend, but it really does bring a smile to their little faces (the flies', not Katt's and Yen's), and though "gut loading" is not an issue here, the flies tend to live longer.
Medium: The following is not the ideal medium for raising houseflies -- I don't know what is and do not plan on spending the next six months trying to find out -- but it is very successful.
Place about 1/2 gallon (or your desired amount) of dry dog or cat food with the highest % of animal protein that you can afford in twice its volume of water and heat it in a large pan on the stove, or let it soak over night. Mash it with a potato masher, pour off the excess liquid and reduce it to a soupy, homogeneous mass with a food processor if you have one (or are allowed to use mom's). Be warned that over filling the processor can make a most impressive mess and that the mixture sets hard, like cement. Good luck!
Congratulations, you have now completed the hardest part of the task by far and will have enough medium to last you for over a month (depending, of course, on how many flies you use), in a freezer bag in the freezer.
After talking with Chuck, I now add an arbitrary 4 oz of flax seed oil and a few liquified carrots to the mix, followed by three cups of wood chips. These can be the hardest thing to find. I used "T Rex Aspen Bed" from my local store. Chuck uses much larger chips, but my "shavings", which aerate the mixture and also provide food, worked well enough. To be honest, I have had success without using any wood at all.
Next I put about a cup of the medium into a Rubbermade bowl and stir in a 1/2 tsp of Methyl Paraben that is available from Josh's Frogs, and which prevents mold. Finally, I sprinkle some dry yeast on the top and then place the container in the cage. Add flies (or pupae). Lotsa flies for lotsa maggots!
Aside from occasionally pulling out a container to check the progress of the maggots and give them a few words of encouragement, the culture thrives on neglect. As it dries, the medium will shrink and crust over. Country boys and girls will have turned over "cow patties" (
) and found that under the dried surface there is lots of moisture and yummy maggots. That's what happens here. The dry exterior maintains the moisture within. Don't mess with it beyond keeping the atmosphere humid. There should be NO rotting odor, though the mixture isn't completely odorless.And that's it. At between aproximately 75-85F (25-30C) the pupae will start to eclose in 11-14 days (YRMV). This will be more obvious if you transfer the medium containers to a fresh cage, set up exactly like the first.
Some extra thoughts.
1) The flies mate after a cupla days of eclosure and lay continuously thereafter (about 300 eggs/well fed female), so the medium contains maggots of all ages, though see 2) (if you are lucky, you may get to see the older ones tucking up the youngsters at bedtime, or maybe not). It is probably best to remove the media after two weeks and maintain it for two more, though by that time all of the soft food will have probably been eaten. Depending on the number of cages that you have available, you may want to remove several pots after a few days. You can leave them uncovered and mist them once a day or so, but LABEL THEM WITH THE INITIAL EXPOSURE DATE!! I know an old guy who failed to do this once and ended up with a bathroom full of newly eclosed flies.
2) Although I have not conducted a conclusive experiment, I would guess that the females have laid all their eggs within the first two weeks, and it is a waste of time to use them as breeders for the rest of ther lives (about two more weeks at most). Let them fulfill their destiny in a mantis enclosure.
3) In the setup that I have described, the maggots will not climb in order to pupate, they will simply pupate in the drier medium, where they are invisible. If you wish to see the process, for whatever reason, or harvest the pupae for storage, transfer a mass of maggots between 4-10 days old to a 32oz deli cup with a very moist paper substrate. Without food and in the presence of excess moisture, the maggots will crawl up the inside of the walls of the cup to the lid and pupate. By doing this to 4-5 day old maggots, you can produce smaller flies. Isn't this fun!
4) Finally, this is not an alternative to raising flies in 32 oz pots as I have described in the past. It is very easy for these covered pots to go bad. I can only fully recommend the method described here. I would also suggest that anyone trying this method for the first time follows my directions pretty much exactly before starting to improve it!
I am very happy about this setup. It should solve my feeding issues for all but the youngest, ff eating, nymphs and the largest adults. I hope that others will try it and report their success.
