Temperature for House Fly (Musca Domestica) pupae

[Jay]

Hi everyone!

Quick question: What is the optimal temperature and humidity for house flies to hatch from their pupae form?

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

mine hatched at room temperature 72F, 40-60% Humidity

 

[Jay]

Hmm. I have been keeping them at 80 degrees F in the mantid enclosures and they have not been hatching. Is this too hot for them?

 

[PrayingMantisPets]

I honestly dont know. Crack on open and see whats inside.

Ive ordered flys before that never hatched. i cracked one open and there were dry out flys.

 

[Ranitomeya]

You need to keep the pupae moist if you're going to keep them warm.

Fly maggots normally crawl from their food source and hide in the soil or underneath objects in order to pupate where they'll be safe from dessication and predation.

 

[PlayingMantis]

I've hatched mine anywhere between 70-80F, around 50% humidity. I feel that house fly pupae "go bad" pretty quickly, compared to blue bottle pupae. I can store BB pupae in the fridge for a few weeks. Once I stored my HF pupae in the fridge for a few days just to delay hatching, and ended up having none hatch. You can crack one open to check - if it's dead, it'll be dried up or foul-smelling/rotting.

 

[MantisMatt14]

My blue bottles even hatch in the fridge!

 

[Jay]

Thanks everyone - I think I found the problem. Some of the immature larvae were turning into pupae too soon, so I just left them in my outdoor rearing container longer and they are all starting to hatch out now (indoors). Yea!!!!

I have about 40 adult flies chillin in the fridge now. If the earth froze for a week I would be good for flies for a while.

 

[Jay]

Yikes! They started hatching! I am being overloaded by really big flies! :blink:

 

[CosbyArt]

Yikes! They started hatching! I am being overloaded by really big flies! :blink:

If nothing else they can eat honey and mist them a bit until you use them as feeders. I've read you can also keep them in the fridge to make them live longer as adult flies too, just get them out every 2 to 3 days and feed/water and let them warm up to room temp and put them back in the fridge.

I actually am in the same boat but intentionally. I was hatching 20 pupae at a time for my nymphs, but had to increase it to 40 pupae as they didn't last with all my nymphs even a single feeding. I'm over 200 nymphs easy as I just had another Miomantis paykullii ooth hatch.