Spider Pharm Inc.

[hibiscusmile]

Same here, but post office said the mail is slow due to the volume, they are having a time getting it all thru!

 

[ABbuggin]

Got my rather large order of fly pupae rather promptly. Very pleased. I can see my Empusa and Gongylus nymphs rubbing their hands together already! :lol:

 

[ismart]

Received some house fly pupea from chuck yesterday. Shipping was quick, and the pupea look great! My mantids will be happy!

Paul

 

[Katnapper]

I order from Chuck at least once a month. There have been a couple of times with minor glitches, but he always takes care of it. The majority of the time he consistently comes through with an excellent product, careful packing, and a reliable service. I find his Priority shipping usually takes 4-5 days, so I plan for that. And the paper towels... he must go through mega rolls like underwear! I keep them to do clean up in the bug room... but I never can use them all; I have a stack right now 3 feet high, lol. If you need lots of houseflies, SpiderPharm is the way to go. His flying D. melanogaster pupae have saved me more than once also. Highly recommended.

Becky Heacox

 

[Peter Clausen]

I've used Spiderpharm for years. Like Katnapper said...just a few minor glitches. I have a weekly subscrption and haven't received a shipment in 3 weeks now. I wrote last week and haven't received a reply, though I did receive a billing notification a couple days later on 12/30. I'm glad to see I'm the only one with hungry mantids, but the mantids themselves are not so happy chasing baby roaches down. Don't tell my wife I spend $520/year on flies! I'd like a little service, please.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Since the previous post, two fly shipments have shown up in 3 days time. Good, that means the two backorders I had to ship out are now sent and a few flies are starting to hatch for my hungry bugs!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yep, subscription orders are always fun with Chuck! If the order doesn't show up, I call him.

Sometimes I get his wife:

"Hi, this is Phil Rayner. My acct # is xxx and I'm wondering if you sent out the October 1st package since its now October 8th."

"Let me check, Phil.

Oh. The Post Office sent it back to us. They didn't give any explanation"

"Hello this Chuck. You didn't get your order last week? Well we kinda messed up..."

"No, it's O.K. Your wife has it sorted. Could you send it out again tomorrow?"

"Sure. O.K. Good bye..."

And on the 11th it arrives, nicely packaged in a cute drawstring bag with a cold pack and LOTS of high quality paper towels.

Sometimes it even arrives on time!

It would never occur to me to use anyone other than SpiderPharm for HF pupae, and as Katt says, their wild ff pupae are cool, too!

 

[Katnapper]

As I said before, if you order housefly pupae from Spiderpharm, be prepared and figure not to receive them for at least 4-5 days... or more at times (by Priority shipping). This is one of those times/glitches. :angry:

I ordered and paid for 400 grams of pupae on December 29,2009. When about 8 days had passed, I called Chuck and was informed they were experiencing technical difficulties with producing the fly pupae, and that he had shipped 1 box (100 grams) to me the day before. He said the rest would follow when they were back on track with production.

I finally received my first box of 100 grams of pupae today. That is two weeks, less one day! I grabbed them from the mailman, whisked them upstairs, unboxed them and put them under 2 heat lamps. This, along with a problem with my last order of Blue Bottle fly maggots (that I purchased elsewhere, at Forked Tree Ranch) not eclosing, has left me with a serious shortage of food for many of my mantids.

I know of no other place (other than re-sellers who get their pupae from him) to get housefly pupae, so he pretty much has a monopoly on his product here in the U.S. He's a really nice guy when you talk to him and his product is essential to me. I just wish he were more reliable time-wise, as I consistently spend a significant amount of money regularly for his pupae. Granted, his business deals with a living product that is more susceptible to glitches in production. But I too would like better service.

 

[yen_saw]

Sorry to hear that Becky. When Spiderpharm had problem on delivery, i go to this site for house pupae

http://www.oregonfeederinsects.com/feederinsects.html

The $$ includes shipping and handling and I have found thier house fly larger than Chuck's one. However, i still order from Chuck on regular basis becasue he provides HF of different sizes I need.

 

[Katnapper]

Sorry to hear that Becky. When Spiderpharm had problem on delivery, i go to this site for house pupaehttp://www.oregonfeederinsects.com/feederinsects.html

The $$ includes shipping and handling and I have found thier house fly larger than Chuck's one. However, i still order from Chuck on regular basis becasue he provides HF of different sizes I need.

Thank you very much for the info and link, Yen!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Ah! This must be the "other" company that was on with Chuck in the Dirty Jobs episode, where the husband drove around and the wife did all the heavy work (what a great idea!). Their flies work out a few dollars more than SpiderPharm, but not enough to be an issue when rows of hungry mantids are glaring at you.

I ordered an extra 100Gm from Chuck this morning;in the hope of getting them by Saturday (only two days by Priority for me) ; we shall see what happens.

Many thanks, Yen!

 

[Katnapper]

The rest of my pupae that I ordered Dec. 29th (400 grams) arrived today finally (2 weeks and 2 days later). I hope glitches like this are quite rare in the future. I also might be giving Oregon Feeder Insects a try.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I ordered from Oregon feeders once, took me almost forever to get a refund, never again. They came in a usps box for vhs tapes (which I use) but there was no packing of anykind, just kinda floating around in the box and all had hatched and were dead, wrote the co a few times and got nothing return email or anything from them until I contacted paypal. Only then did they acknowledge me and then wanted to know if I wanted more? hahah, no just a refund, thanks. If this is not allowed here, could u please move it or let me know and I will so I don't have to retype it. thanks

 

[Katnapper]

I ordered from Oregon feeders once, took me almost forever to get a refund, never again. They came in a usps box for vhs tapes (which I use) but there was no packing of anykind, just kinda floating around in the box and all had hatched and were dead, wrote the co a few times and got nothing return email or anything from them until I contacted paypal. Only then did they acknowledge me and then wanted to know if I wanted more? hahah, no just a refund, thanks. If this is not allowed here, could u please move it or let me know and I will so I don't have to retype it. thanks

I think it's a noteworthy review of your experience with them, and justified to be here since these two companies appear to be the only ones in the US producing and selling housefly pupae. Thanks for the info.

 

[yen_saw]

Ah! This must be the "other" company that was on with Chuck in the Dirty Jobs episode,

yup that's the one Phil So you saw watched that episode too eh

I ordered from Oregon feeders once, took me almost forever to get a refund, never again. They came in a usps box for vhs tapes (which I use) but there was no packing of anykind, just kinda floating around in the box and all had hatched and were dead, wrote the co a few times and got nothing return email or anything from them until I contacted paypal. Only then did they acknowledge me and then wanted to know if I wanted more? hahah, no just a refund, thanks. If this is not allowed here, could u please move it or let me know and I will so I don't have to retype it. thanks

Oregon feeders moved inventory last year, i had the same issue too but ever since they settled down everything back in running again. They are more expensive as Phil stated, but more reliable in getting the order ship.

 

[Colorcham427]

yup that's the one Phil So you saw watched that episode too eh Oregan feeders moved inventory last year, i had the same issue too but ever since they settled down everything back in running again. They are more expensive as Phil stated, but more reliable in getting the order ship.

hey guys, i ordered 5000 house fly pupae and only 100 hatched... all the rest is still in the container at 77 degrees... its been two weeks... have you guys experienced house flies to take any longer?

i stuck them in the fridge at 39 degrees.

every couple days i would take out a dozen for my mantids. they all hatched. then i took out a few dozen, and wanted to see if it was 100% hatch rate. none hatched, so then i took out the container of A LOT OF PUPAE LOL and divided it into 4 different containers... none have hatched................. im worried... should i just buy more? these pupae are cheap so im not worried about money, although i wish i got the rest to hatch like the rest of you!

 

[PhilinYuma]

My educated guess is that they wont hatch. On his old page, I think that Chuck advised to take the bag out for a few hours every few days, and even then they don't always make it,for over two weeks, though at 39F your fridge is warmer than some. Try and use up all your refrigerated pupae within two weeks if poss. It is alkso worth remembering that you can keep 10Gm of eclosed pupae in a 12" cube for a month, provided that you feed them (powdered milk and sugar work) and keep the humidity up (mist at least twice/day). Other folks may have different techniques including keeping eclosed flies in the fridge, though I haven't tried that for longer than 24 hours, myself.

I was surprised to see that you gave numbers, since Chuck sells them by weight. Did you count them? Oh wait. Posting on two different firms is confusing. Did you get them from Oregon?

Admin: Shouldn't this thread be split?

 

[hibiscusmile]

Sometimes u get a bad batch of flies, mine were like that about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I have never had a bad batch of flies from Spiderpharm, but like Phil says, I use mine up in about 2 weeks. I didn't receive my "weekly" shipment from Spiderpharm last week and no notice that anything is on the way this week. My mantises are becoming increasingly annoyed.

(Phil, I'll move threads for Oregon Feeders after Brian A. edits his post.)

 

[Peter Clausen]

Got a note back from Spiderpharm today. They've cancelled their weekly "fly subscription" program and have refunded me for the month of January. I still need flies though.